W221 S320L Cdi

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GH421

Active Member
Joined
Mar 2, 2009
Messages
314
Location
Bedfordshire
Car
W221 S320L Cdi
Hi Guys,

I'm looking to buy a W221 S320L cdi. I've driven one of these (pre-facelift) and was impressed with everything about the car.

I have around 12-13k to spend so will be looking for a 07 plate Limo variant as I love the fact it has rear reclining heated seats!

Anyway what are the common issues with these vehicles? I'll be purchasing an after market warranty with these and I think the must for me are:

Panoramic Roof
Night Vision

With the nice to have's being everything else available!

Can I have your experienced views on this beast please? Am I realistic with the spec and my budget?
 
Anyway what are the common issues with these vehicles? I'll be purchasing an after market warranty with these and I think the must for me are:

Panoramic Roof
Night Vision

With the nice to have's being everything else available!

Can I have your experienced views on this beast please? Am I realistic with the spec and my budget?

Hi GH421

I bought a car similar to your spec and budget. Yes you are realistic with the spec and budget as you choose a car with the features that suit your requirements. Your budget is maybe somewhat low but that depends on what mileage you are going to accept. The warranty is a good idea as after 8 months/2.5k miles of motoring mine has developed leaks! :( (Any help on how to approach getting this sorted would be most appreciated!)

I will say this, about a few things, for people considering the W221:

Pan roof - I went all out to get the pan roof and they take some finding. To be honest I don't know now whether it was worth the effort. I test drove a car without the pan and it was good. Opening sun roofs - everyone complains about their hair blowing around. The back sun roof doesn't open. An electrically operated shutter opens inside to show a large tinted sky light. Same with the front sun roof - but it opens too. But some people in the back say the sun is in their face! lol You can't win!! The shutter operations and roofs do look cool though I must say.

Night Vision - The night vision is especially good on small country lanes as it shows the hedges and road contours ahead, earlier than dipped headlights. On motorways all the oncoming traffics headlights into the night vision camera tend to overexpose the image and make it hard to see detail. So easy to operate - just one switch nest to the main lights switch turns it on/off - the LCD speedo changes into a black and white CCTV lick monitor screen. The speed of the car is displayed as a bar graph along the bottom.

LWB - the long wheel base is good as you get 5 inches of extra legroom in the back of the car and it gives the car a more luxurious feel. Also with the LWB option several other optional extras are bundled with it.

Distronic+ is great and one of my fav extras. Use the small column stick above the indicator stick to nudge up (stick up) and down (stick down) in 5mph increments the speed you want the car to travel at. This is then shown on the LCD screen speedo with a red arrow. The car will then only go to this speed maximum. Should the car in front slow down you slow down and track it by the pre-set distance you set on a rotary control on the same stick. If the car in front comes to a stand still so do you. When the car in front sets off again you touch the accelerator once and Distronic+ starts again (not sure on the last sentence need to read the manual). If the car in front goes over your max speed set then they will leave you behind and you will cruise at your max set speed. Going through a 30mph speed limit is a doddle as you just nudge it to 30 and the car doesn't break any speed limits! To resume distronic+ you pull the leaver back and to disengage do any of the following: push the leaver forward, touch the accelerator or brake. Always read and fully understand the manual yourself for distronic+ before operating the car.

Interior cabin noise reduction is standard and my fav above all the extras! I don't have the double glazing which comes with the £3k entertainment/DVD screens pack I believe - but that improves the noise reduction even more. Also the favs are ride/air suspension - so smooth and the way the car stays level when you zoom around long contour motorway bends - no roll/dipping like its on rails - to quote a famous movie phrase! Also the smooth and powerful acceleration of the S320L is impressive to me - and passengers :cool:

Power close doors are cool but people get confused and think the door hasn't shut properly because it closed without a bang so they open it again and bang it closed! With the door resting on the locking mechanism you can push the door with your fingertips or slightly pull from inside and the doors motor will pull the door the final part of the way and close it. All well and good when you know this.

Keyless go is good as you keep your key in your pocket all the time. To close the car - make sure all the doors are closed then touch the sensor with a finger or thumb on any of the door handles or with the power boot option and the boot open press the red close boot and lock car button. The doors close and the wing mirrors electrically fold back. To open the car put you hand inside one of the door handles and wait for the car to unlock - maybe 2 secs. Or open the boot and the car will unlock. Press a button along side the sterring wheel to start the car. The car won't start unless the keyless go key fob is within the car.

Power close boot is very James Bond and gets the most laughs of excitement when demonstrated! Just press one of two red buttons inside the boot lid. One simply closes the boot and the other closes the boot and locks the car.

Etc, Etc... !!!

Enjoy the hunting - from my recent experience, good high spec LWB with Pan roofs are hard to find. Better to find if you live around London way.

Scott
PS disclaimer: Always read and fully understand the manual yourself before operating the W221 car.
 

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