Car hunting

[adamr8965]

Yesterday I spent the whole day looking for a new estate car for the misses to use, which is big enough for two black lab, two kids and all the guff that goes with it.
My first thoughts were a hdi 110 estate, but then i changed my mind. I went to look a "german" cars, I've never had one and have set my heart on one now.
So off i mooched to the dealers it wasn't long before i was in merc and then bmw. The merc was a E320 cdi estate with 235 bhp and about 600nm of torque, fully loaded and all toys. Then off i wandered to bmw and looked at 535d touring m-sport with 286bhp and 600nm of torque again. Both went like proper mother bleepers. and yet on the test route both returned nearly 40mpg.

Has anybody owned either a merc or bmw? and have a tips to look for when owning them.

P.s the only other car i have looked at is a Volvo v70 t5 ex police car.

[steve_earwig]

When owning? Pray it doesn't go wrong, it's going to be expensive. DOn't park it anywhere the kids can key it. Did you check how much the insurance is going to be yet?

[adamr8965]

When owning? Pray it doesn't go wrong, it's going to be expensive. DOn't park it anywhere the kids can key it. Did you check how much the insurance is going to be yet?

We have good kids up here lol, its parked on the drive or in the garage!!

Insurance would be around £400 to £600 i would have thought we 9yrs ncb.

[steve_earwig]

Thought? Be certain, they messed with all the insurance groups last year...

[adamr8965]

I will check steve.

[plod]

Car hunting?

Last time I had that, it was a leak on the intake manifold

ok, time for a sharp exit

[steve_earwig]

A leak? It used to mean the mixture's too rich. Or on these modern monstrosities it means the lambda's gone kaput and the engine management's winding the mixture up and down trying to get a reading.

Fnar fnar.

I suppose you could have interpreted it as meaning standing on a street corner with a harpoon...

[waue1978]

Yesterday I spent the whole day looking for a new estate car for the misses to use, which is big enough for two black lab, two kids and all the guff that goes with it.
My first thoughts were a hdi 110 estate, but then i changed my mind. I went to look a "german" cars, I've never had one and have set my heart on one now.
So off i mooched to the dealers it wasn't long before i was in merc and then bmw. The merc was a E320 cdi estate with 235 bhp and about 600nm of torque, fully loaded and all toys. Then off i wandered to bmw and looked at 535d touring m-sport with 286bhp and 600nm of torque again. Both went like proper mother bleepers. and yet on the test route both returned nearly 40mpg.

Has anybody owned either a merc or bmw? and have a tips to look for when owning them.

P.s the only other car i have looked at is a Volvo v70 t5 ex police car.

Sounds like the budget is healthy enough to expect a comprehensive warranty anyway, but depending on the age of the Merc, it could be a bit of a shabbily built rust trap. Build quality has improved over the past 5 years though. With the Beemer, my main experience was with the previous E39 shape, but they're much less prone to rust & if economy is what you're looking for, don't write off the 525d - it's still a quick old motor.

[Gary406]

scrap the merc and get a 406 , cheap to run, cheap to repair, cheaper to insure

probably heaps cheaper to buy , cash left in your pocket instead of buying the merc

do a bit more searching and you may find yourself a really nice SE model

[rwb]

407?
X-type?

[Gary406]

i owuld defo go for a late 406 over a 407.

[Doggy]

I wanted something with more go than your average diesel estate and looked long & hard at a 530d before buying this one - tales of expensive turbo replacements, general running costs and having to but an older car to fit the budget persauded me the 406 was a safer bet. Only problem being the DPF, but now that's sorted....

[FarmerPug]

As already said the age of the merc will determine how good it will be, early 2000s ones have plenty of electrical problems. Rust was a problem on the W202 c class, and the w210 e class and apparently the cause of the rust was mercedes switching to water based paint, as well as cost cutting by using much less wax injection than they had done on older models, some cars were fixed under warranty in the case of someone i know and the rust never came back. The w211 e class appears to have less of a rust reputation, but ive read about early models suffering from rust, post facelift w211s seem to be back on track with mercedes quality, but they are still an expensive choice.

[adamr8965]

Changed my mind now, its either going to be a 406 hdi 2.2 with full leather and cruise, sat nav. Or a Volvo v70 t5 just because of the power and the size which is really good.

What year and plate did they stop making the 406?

[highlander]

2004 I believe was the last date of UK manufacture, I think they went up to a 54 plate, but you may luck out and find an 05 or 55 plate one (it's not unknown for cars to sit around unregistered for a while after arriving in the UK).