w212 review

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steve333

MB Enthusiast
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Oct 22, 2009
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4,201
Location
Dorset
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Cls350cdi in palladium,C200k in tenorite,Slk320 in red.
As my E350cdi sport edition 125 saloon is exactly 3 months old with 2,400 miles on the clock i thought i'd write a review.Firstly,i was a little anxious about jumping out of my 5.5ltr v8 petrol cls into a 3ltr diesel v6 & i can now honestly say i needn't have been & am more than happy-ok it's just under a second slower 0-60 & has a little less mid range power but it's quick enough in the real world & very smooth,there is no noticeable difference between the 7g in my old cls & the 7g+ in the w212 apart from the flappy paddles(don't use them much to be honest)although the drive in sport mode makes the car very lively & is first choice unless stuck in stop/start traffic when economy is useful.The steering is the lightest i've ever had on any car(amg steering wheel is the nuts)& makes parking(parktronic front/rear)a doddle.The sport suspension is simular to sport 1 setting on the cls's airmatic(although normally sprung) & is just right for me(not to firm & not too wafty) & paired with 18"amg alloys give a great alround ride.The leather heated sport seats are the most comfortable i've ever sat in(took a while to get the adjustment right but now programmed into the memory function!)the side bolsters wrap around nicely & the easy entry function is a useful touch.The car came with Harman kardon & although it's nice to have theres no noticeable difference to a standard mb sound system,although the weather hasn't allowed me to use it much the black pano roof really looks good on the iridium silver shell (imho) & am looking forward to putting into use now it's getting warmer:cool:.As for running costs,£195 a year road tax(cls was £465),full comp insurance with guaranteed no claims£425(cls was £510 like for like) a set of tyres £800(cls was £1200) & fuel economy over a tank in the 3 months has been 36mpg brim to brim calc(obd shows 39.2) against the cls's 21mpg brim to brim calc(obd showed 23.1mpg) for the same journeys/times.The bluetooth hands free is brilliant(transferred all contacts in a couple of minutes) but can't get on with linguatronic:doh:,so overall,so far i'm a very happy bunny & long may it continue!
 
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As my E350cdi sport edition 125 saloon is exactly 3 months old with 2,400 miles on the clock i thought i'd write a review.

3 months and 2400 miles.... what have you been doing! Had my E220 CDI AG estate on 2nd Feb and will pass 11000 miles on way home tonight. Did 1200 miles in first week I had it!

I like mine but I cant say I love it - the seats are good, but not as good as the Volvo that it follows, the engine has enough go but a 4 will never be refined like a 5 or 6 cylinder, as an estate it is untouchable and it feels solid and well built.

Hopefully, over the next few months the positives will grow and the bits I miss wont bug me too much!

Ian
 
3 months and 2400 miles.... what have you been doing! Had my E220 CDI AG estate on 2nd Feb and will pass 11000 miles on way home tonight. Did 1200 miles in first week I had it!

I like mine but I cant say I love it - the seats are good, but not as good as the Volvo that it follows, the engine has enough go but a 4 will never be refined like a 5 or 6 cylinder, as an estate it is untouchable and it feels solid and well built.

Hopefully, over the next few months the positives will grow and the bits I miss wont bug me too much!

Ian
Hi Ian-some might think i'm daft buying a diesel & only doing around 8k miles a year(apart from dropping the wife to work each morning my day is spent in my work van covering 30k + annually) but for me the performance/economy/running costs we're the draw;)
 
Hi Ian-some might think i'm daft buying a diesel & only doing around 8k miles a year(apart from dropping the wife to work each morning my day is spent in my work van covering 30k + annually) but for me the performance/economy/running costs we're the draw;)

had a similar debate with a former neighbour who was an estate agent and running a Boxster S - he was complaining that he couldnt use it for work (image in the area he worked!) and therefore a nice car was a waste for how often it got used - and I was complaining that at 35k a year a nice car was a waste as it just got wrecked!

8k sounds the perfect distance to justify having a nice car - although being a tight accountant I'd drop the wife at the station in the van anyway!

Ian
 
had a similar debate with a former neighbour who was an estate agent and running a Boxster S - he was complaining that he couldnt use it for work (image in the area he worked!) and therefore a nice car was a waste for how often it got used - and I was complaining that at 35k a year a nice car was a waste as it just got wrecked!

8k sounds the perfect distance to justify having a nice car - although being a tight accountant I'd drop the wife at the station in the van anyway!

Ian
Not sure the mrs would appreciate that-white transit or silver saloon dear?:D
 
Hi Ian-some might think i'm daft buying a diesel & only doing around 8k miles a year(apart from dropping the wife to work each morning my day is spent in my work van covering 30k + annually) but for me the performance/economy/running costs we're the draw;)

The V70 we had and the current 1er we still have are both diesels purely because of the much better performance for the money and because the power starts really low down it feels like a much bigger engine most of the time. Only do around 5k a year so economy isn't much of a factor, in fact the difference in overall running costs isn't that much at all when you factor everything else in, especially depreciation, run it on decent fuel and you shouldn't get any bother from the DPF etc.

If buying new, the diesel scores extra points because it will be worth more when you come to sell as that's how the market is.

If I hadn't had a senior moment and gone for the AMG, I certainly would've gone diesel again for the same reasons, more bang for the buck, as opposed to a lot more bang for the buck slightly offset by a few quid more on fuel.
 
Forgot to mention one of my favourite features on my 212 that i haven't had in an mb before,gear selector on a stalk-brilliant,no more knocking the gear selector into manual mode(done that more than a few times in the past:() as you reach around & a nice free space area between the driver/front passenger seats:cool:
 
The V70 we had and the current 1er we still have are both diesels purely because of the much better performance for the money and because the power starts really low down it feels like a much bigger engine most of the time. Only do around 5k a year so economy isn't much of a factor, in fact the difference in overall running costs isn't that much at all when you factor everything else in, especially depreciation, run it on decent fuel and you shouldn't get any bother from the DPF etc.

If buying new, the diesel scores extra points because it will be worth more when you come to sell as that's how the market is.

If I hadn't had a senior moment and gone for the AMG, I certainly would've gone diesel again for the same reasons, more bang for the buck, as opposed to a lot more bang for the buck slightly offset by a few quid more on fuel.
As someone that drives manual diesel vans for a living i never considered anything but an auto petrol for pleasure until i test drove my current E350 cdi;)
 

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