E class diesel estate

kyote00 · 08-08-2007 9:49am #1

Can anyone provide any "first person" experience with an E220 or E270 diesel (estate).

I am looking at getting a 02/03 with some 60/70k miles on it...

I have looked at the usual Honest johns, spokes to a few owners and can find no actual owner who has had anything other than minor problems....

Specifically, the press mentioned problems in the early cars with electrics -- is this the case --- anyone got a list of what failures might occur...

Are the engines and turbo bullet proof ?

Anan1 · 08-08-2007 10:04am

I've never owned one, but I have driven a few. They're a great drive, and they look very well. The interior, however, is cheap to the point where I wouldn't be able to live with it. I'm afraid I have no experience of reliability or otherwise.

galwaytt · 08-08-2007 5:24pm

I had an 01 E200K Avantgarde, the W211. I liked it a lot. I know a few people who've had bad experiences with the newer on (W212??) - nearly all electrical.

Enright · 08-08-2007 6:48pm

i previously owner a 220d (1996) and currently own a 220 cdi (2001)
the 220d gave very few problems with the exception of a stuck heater plug, because the car seems to last forever, they simply never got chnged. Eventully when i went to change them, i got 2 out (with difficulty) and a third cracked, allowing air into the engine when cold. So the car spluttered etc until the heat closed the gap. Tried the usual (wd40, heat etc) to remove it to no avail. eventually tightened it using welding gear and left it in. I subsequently sold the car. It as a very nice car and as solid as a rock.
Oh yea, one other problem, seemed to be a common one, the tail pipe of the exhaust came off!
My current drive is an avantgarde, im really happy with it. Second gear is a little stiff when cold, mabye thats me getting used to it (any others with this problem??).

kyote00 · 08-08-2007 7:05pm

thanks....pretty much as I thought.

On fuel economy, what can I expect on urban and extra urban...

I will most likely bring the E270 in from UK as there is a super (or a large at least) selection...

(PPS. There a S320 cdi on the back page of buy and sell at the moment --- also tempting....)

Enright · 08-08-2007 8:53pm

got 47mph on long journeys with the 220d, the dash tells me that im getting 55.6mph with the 20cdi. dont really know about short journeys, ask any taxi driver

unkel · 08-08-2007 10:09pm

Make sure you get the newer W211 model and not the older W210 model. The W211 is vastly superior in every way. I'd go as far as to say it was the best car in the world in its class, even beating the BMW 5-series (E39). The W211 was introduced in early '02 but RHD not until late '02. Beware!

There were some problems (mainly electrical) but they should have been ironed out by now, probably under warranty. Make sure to test every single bell and whistle to see if it is working...

unkel · 08-08-2007 10:13pm

kyote00 wrote:

Are the engines and turbo bullet proof ?

Too early to say really - which applies to most modern common rail diesels

Mr.Diagnostic · 08-08-2007 10:39pm

unkel wrote:

Make sure you get the newer W211 model and not the older W210 model. The W211 is vastly superior in every way. I'd go as far as to say it was the best car in the world in its class, even beating the BMW 5-series (E39). The W211 was introduced in early '02 but RHD not until late '02. Beware!

There were some problems (mainly electrical) but they should have been ironed out by now, probably under warranty. Make sure to test every single bell and whistle to see if it is working...

Sorry Unkel, I have to disagree. The 210 was a better car than the 211 and the E39 was better than both of the Mercs.

The problems are better described as electronic rather than electrical, ie more expensive to repair. The faults were not ironed out which, besides being a shame, is the real problem.

unkel · 08-08-2007 11:03pm

Mr.Diagnostic wrote:

Sorry Unkel, I have to disagree. The 210 was a better car than the 211 and the E39 was better than both of the Mercs

I guess our criteria are different

The W211 is far superior as a drivers car compared to the W210. As regards to which gives the most trouble, I bow to your daily experiences. And I guess you don't do rust

The E39 is probably more reliable than either but I guess you have diagnosed Nikasil on more than one occasion

junkyard · 09-08-2007 12:13am

I've owned a 01 BMW 530d, a 06 X5 3.0d and have a 07 535d touring at the moment and never had any problems with them, either electrical or mechanical. I've had a 02 220d and the thing was plagued with intermittent electrical faults that the dealer could only reset but never fixed, so much so that I only stuck it for 6 weeks. I had a 04 ML 270d jeep and apart from falling apart, it was always in trouble, gearbox, cold starting issues and niggly electrical problems. The dealers are unhelpful too to say the least.

unkel · 09-08-2007 8:43am

junkyard wrote:

I had a 04 ML 270d jeep and apart from falling apart, it was always in trouble, gearbox, cold starting issues and niggly electrical problems

I was right behind a new model ML last Monday and the complete exhaust fell off :eek:

kyote00 · 09-08-2007 9:52am

given that almost every car gets a bashing here....

what car (2nd hand) would you recommend for 30k ish with following requirements:
- diesel (at least 2.0lt)
- large estate (at least 600ltr luggage space)
- leather
-abs,ebd...and as many others tla's as affordable
-Reliable
-wont have to wear a paper bag over head when driving it

Many plan is to keep it indefinately (rather than trade on in a few years)....

tc20 · 09-08-2007 12:40pm

First one that springs to mind in this bracket is the other obvious German -
A6 Avant. Might be down slightly on loadspace vs the Merc, but i think the Merc is class leading in this respect.
Would a tooled up Mondeo estate fit the bill? One with all options ticked may be a bit tricky to find tho..and surely come in under budget.
If you're willing to drop a few years, well a decade

, the W124 estates were pretty bombproof, and come from the era of MBs that were hewn from rock. This would also leave you with enough for another car!

maidhc · 09-08-2007 12:48pm

kyote00 wrote:

given that almost every car gets a bashing here....

what car (2nd hand) would you recommend for 30k ish with following requirements:
- diesel (at least 2.0lt)
- large estate (at least 600ltr luggage space)
- leather
-abs,ebd...and as many others tla's as affordable
-Reliable
-wont have to wear a paper bag over head when driving it

Many plan is to keep it indefinately (rather than trade on in a few years)....

Mondeo Ghia X 2.2 TDCI. You should get one for a good bit less than 30k.

bazz26 · 09-08-2007 1:57pm

E class diesel estate

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