W211 (facelift) E320 CDI or E280?

[James Rothwell]

Just a quick one, haven't used this site for ages so please move the thread if it's in the wrong place.

What sort of economy on long motorway/rural roads would you expect from a E320 CDI or a E280 petrol?
Both facelift W211 models.

Am I right in thinking the E320 always has the larger 80L fuel tank and the E280 it is an option and most of them come with the 60L tank.

Is there any important options to make sure the car has or doesn't have?
I want the better COMAND and memory seats for example and don't want AirMatic, anything you could add to that list?

 

[Alex225]

I have a 2003 E320 so that would be the 3.2 straight six diesel. With a light foot I can achieve over 45mpg. If you push the speed up a little you'll still get 40mpg on a run. I've not tested it from full to empty but I get an indicated 800 miles+ at that kind of mpg. Even if that was 700 miles that would do me nicely!

Mine has the airmatic and so far in the 17-18k I've driven the car it's not been problematic. Of course that's not to say it won't but even without it, the ride is probably very good.

 

[Turbo1]

Make sure it’s an avantgarde or sport to get the xenon lights.


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[Smart320]

My facelift V6 E320cdi, gave me 32/34 mpg local driving to town , about 8 miles of twisty, hilly B roads. 45/46 mpg on motorway at 70/75 mph ( bit lower in cold weather )
Loved mine, go for the 320cdi with V6 and 7g box, great power and very quiet for a diesel, Avantgarde gave great ride and nice handling, definitely would want xenon lights! Did not have Command, just got it it my replacement ML and like it!

 

[horatio]

I found the avantgarde 211 estate I had was crashy at low speed over bumps/potholes etc. That was with small wheels and new Sachs shocks all around too. I would actually look for an elegance, they float around.

 

[Will]

Airmatic makes a big difference - my E55 with the 18” wheels is very comfortable even around town on the usual crashy roads, much smoother than most steel sprung MBs I’ve owned/driven.

If you find one with airmatic and it’s had recent new struts I’d definitely say it’s a plus point if ride comfort is of concern

 

[James Rothwell]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I'm pretty sure it would be an Avantgarde I would go for since at least looking on autotrader it's those models that generally come with COMAND, which I don't want for navigation but only because I understand it can play MP3, and they come with xenon lights which I would prefer.

The fuel economy seems really very decent. I'm only looking to buy something to take on a European road trip for 3 weeks so that 45mpg on a run would be amazing. I'm only nervous about airmatic since I had bad experiences with it. Before when I lived in UK I had a couple W220 that obviously went wrong and since I left UK I did actually end up working for Mercedes Dubai for 3 years and that pretty much cemented by desire to avoid airmatic. However as you say if the struts have already been replaced which is possible if I'm buying something with 100k miles at the bottom end of the fiscal spectrum then I should be more open to it but in any case airmatic does seem very rare on the E320 CDI. The Harman Kardon system I would love but that also seems impossibly rare.