new boy needs help

[sparkymenu]

please please please can some one give me a straight answer after having to suffer all afternoon at the hands of a slightly not so straight car sales man!
I want my first merc but i have to make sure its the right one.
i travel 800-1000 miles per week,which is mostly motorway but 30per cent in towns. i have approximately 10 stone of weight in the boot if that makes any difference and i do not recieve a car allowance or fuel allowance so getting the best merc for the job is causing me a few headaches as you can imagine.
i cant seem to get a straight answer as to which merc would give me the best fuel economy but somebody has mentioned to me about the c220 cdi, anybody care to help me? i have a budget of approx £6000.
cheers guys

dean

 

[BlackC55]

C220cdi is the ideal model for your budget and needs.

There are many on the markt as they are a popular company car

 

[Blobcat]

I agree a C220CDI would fit the bill nicely

 

[jberks]

I agree about the model, it's really the only one to go for.
However, at £6k and 50k pa I'm not convined I'd be buying a Merc at all. For that money you'll be looking at a 2001 ish model if you're lucky. 2001 was during the cost cutting years so whilst good ones are round, so are bad ones. Secondly, most at that price range will already have >100k on the clock. in 2 years you're looking at clocking up 200k. OK - it will do it, but there is a pretty big chance that something expensive is going to need attention by then.
Whilst it may be a £6k car to buy, you must remember that it's a £25-30k car to fix and service. Gearboxes, SAM modules, injectors, glow plugs, turbos etc can all be costly and you're going to need some if not all within the next 2 years.
If you did 12kpa then I would be saying go for it, 100k is nothing and it should do 150k without any real issues so 4 years - fine, but at your mileage I'm not so sure. Not when you consider the Mondeo or Puegeot you could get for similar money and the respecitively lower running costs, including fuel consumption (a mondeo will crack 55mpg - a C220 won't). Factor in the wider availability of parts and lower maintenance costs for more common machines and the merc starts to look like a pricey option.
At that mileage IMO you need to be spending around £15k to have any real chance of trouble free motoring. I'm not saying don't do it, but just think carefully.

 

[Blobcat]

Excellent advice from Jberks as usual however possibly not what you are wanting to hear. Lets face it there are quite a few mainstream models that would fit all our requirements almost as well as a Mercedes.