W210 pre or post facelift - differences in owning them

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IanT

Active Member
Joined
Feb 29, 2004
Messages
487
Location
Orpington, Kent
Car
W210 320CDI
W210 pre or post facelift?

I've got an adequate pile of money burning a hole now I've sold my old car.

I'm pretty settled on a W210 as the replacement, having owned a 2001 E220CDI Avantgarde about three years ago and a C250 diesel a few years before that.

This time I'd like some more refinement, but don't want to get into E500 territory on fuel consumption (despite the lovely noise a V8 makes). That leaves me considering a 320 CDI in facelift form or the predecessor engine (300 DT), or perhaps one of the petrol V6s. My driving style probably suits a big diesel, I prefer big torque at low revs in general.

The E220 took an age to get warm, as did my Mk4 Astra (it burned so little fuel that you could leave it idling for an hour and it wouldn't get 'properly' warm), so I'd like to get away from that and have better winter mornings.

IIRC, the main changes in the facelift as of late 1999 were:
  • revised bumpers
  • new door mirrors with indicator repeaters
  • revised instruments with fuel computer etc
  • steering wheel control of radio, fuel computer etc

What I'm less clear on is when the mechanical upgrades were made throughout the life of the W210. IIRC the gearboxes were changed at some point, for example.

So, what are the pros and cons? On the face of it, they're all affordable now and should be great value. Which make the better car to own and which is the easiest to maintain myself, should I continue with the DIY?

Ian.
 
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we had a 2000 e320di avantgarde from new
without doubt the best, and the worst car we've had (and that includes the s class we have now !).
Economy ? Superb.
Performance? Shattering.
Reliability? I think we had a friday car (although its as rusty as hell now, I saw it recently...), 10 warranty claims in 3 years too much for me and we left the fold for a while.
IIRC we had the straight 6.
I frirmly believe these are the buy of the century at current prices IF you can find a really good one.
 
Hello, I also had an 2000 E320 CDi and agree with the above post, 40 mpg was possible on the motorway, and the sheer speed of the thing was fabulous! However, it was REALLY unreliable, corroded wiring looms, MAFs, rust (of course) failed electrical items, oils leaks and so on, so although we sold it in sheer desparation back to the dealer who sold it to us (with a cloth jammed between engine sump and plastic tray to hide oil leak (torrent) I remember it fondly as being one of the best performing cars I have ever owned. If you can find a good one then you'll love it!
 
Petrol v6 wont do much worse mpg wise than the v8s, maybe 2mpg difference.

Just come back from Norfolk 80 all the way 28.3 mpg.

As for the cdi diesels i dont think i would buy one and im a mech!

I should also imagine any diesel will have mega miles on it, even low mileage petrols are hard to find with a decent spec.

Dont forget newest 210 is going to be 7 years old.



Lynall
 
I'd save up and get a galvanised W211 ...
 
Hi Ian,

Heres mine a (very) late jan 2000 pre facelift model

merc1.jpg



V reg bought this for the princely sum of £1150 with 170K on the clock & full 12 months MOT

Runs as smooth as a cashmere codpiece .........LOVE IT

So, if I can get THIS fer £1150 imagine what YOU could get if you "Shop around"!!!!!

Good luck with your search!!!

Keith
 
My facelift e320CDi has 171,000 miles and for the past 60,000 miles has been trouble free - it has needed some warranty corrosion work done, a new crankshaft damper/pulley (£500!!!) alternator pulley (£90!) new heater fan regulator (£150) in the early years but once these faults (well documented known problems) were resolved its been routine servicing in the main.

The tiptronic gearbox with manual change control is a big improvement over the previous gearbox if you like this sort of thing and is still smooth as silk.

I consistantly get 43MPG motorway mileage/speeds and up to 50MPG when on cruise control at 50-MPH.

Service intervals with Mobil oil are around 16,000 miles but this impressive interval is likely because the car spends all its time on the motorway.
 
Thanks for the replies here, I was going to set a budget of £5k for a decent car, but keep wondering what 'a bit more' would get me. There's an E500 with acceptable mileage (W211) for sale for £10k in black with air suspension etc, but I think that's a bit strong for my money... Although if I thought I might be able to get 28mpg on a run I'd be sorely tempted to consider it. Speaking to a colleague at work today I said if I had just sold a V6 petrol, I'd be straight in there, but having just got out of a £35 per year RFL car that did 60+ mpg on average from almost every tank, it's a horrifying prospect.

Interesting points about the CDI engines - what specifically makes them a bad prospect? I see so many with monster mileages and would think that can't be the exception to the rule. My old E220 CDI had 176k on it when I sold it, and was running and driving perfectly still. The only mechanical fault it had was a MAF, which was easily diagnosed, the only painful fault to fix was the displays either side of the main fuel computer in the instrument cluster, which had lost multiple segments and had me disassembling them to repair them.

It certainly sounds like none of the W210s were ever galvanised, unless MB did some limited testing in the last of the production of them, so I will just have to go with one that isn't rusty the day I go to look at it. Sadly I don't have a paint depth meter so I'll rely on my 'looking for overspray and masking lines' skills to weed out the risky ones. I think it was Will that suggested buying should be totally based on condition and that mileage was very much a secondary consideration, I can't disagree. On the face of it, the 211 ie pretty easy (and dare I say probably affordable) to get in galvanised form with a few miles under its belt, but I read quite a bit about faults on early models that puts me off.

Plenty of reading would suggest that the V6 320 CDI was only available in the W211, so all W210 would be straight six.

Here's the rest of the discussion: http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/76298-should-i-swop-c220-e300.html#post849676 - perhaps I really ought to look at least at one of each (E300TD and E320CDI) and see if my head can beat my heart in the decision.

Keith, is that E240 as clean as the picture would suggest? It sounds like a bargain.

Ian.
 
I had a 2001 E320cdi for four years, and took it up to 180k. Good performance, good economy (46 mpg on a run, up to 50mpg at a steady 50-60 mph), generally excellent reliability.

Rusted all over the place. Had some places repaired, and the rust just came through again after a while. 211s were not galvanised until late 2003, so that would cost a lot more.
 
Keith, is that E240 as clean as the picture would suggest? It sounds like a bargain.

Hi Ian, YEAH it was the bargain of the century!!!! I'll post up a thread with all the Pics & stick a link back to it on this thread for you.

Keith
 
Very tidy. :) What with the full history and only a couple of owners, you have a fine car there.

I bet it came with all three keys too?

Ian.
 
Very tidy. :) What with the full history and only a couple of owners, you have a fine car there.

I bet it came with all three keys too?

Ian.

It did indeed Ian ........In fact it came with EVERYTHING!!!! red triangle, tool kit and (THIS I STILL DO NOT BELIEVE) the damned first Aid kit in the back Armrest !!!!!!!
 

You will also note the one i posted the link to was a 2006 model well into the galvanised period and one of many a quick rusty google found!

I think the thing is with a 210 if you can find a good one condition wise it will be pretty cheap for a std model ie 320 etc.

The reason i would avoid the diesel is its bound to have done serious mileage no matter what the speedo says! as said dont forget these are old cars even the big petrols will have done big miles.

Its a rare 210 with less than 100k on the clock.

Ive seen a few for sale with over 200k now for example in the for sale section ollies 210 is for sale and thats on nearly 200k and looks a nice car

Lynall
 
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You can't go wrong with either one.
 

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