Relative running costs of the whole W210 range

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Top Cat

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Drat - busted! :Oops::shock: My fault I'm afraid. :( You could ask the jury to ignore my comments? (but they have already heard them!). :rolleyes:

No worries Alex, I should have made it much clearer to start with :Oops: Anyway, it was also useful for a few people to have ironed out a few other issues, ie: the cooking oil discussion
 

Jack the Lad

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I've got a 2000 W210 E320 petrol avantgarde. Owned it about 16 months. Done 30,000m at about 31 mpg (I drive like a grandad though). Superb wafting car.

Only 2 services so far, 12,000 miles between them - 1st cost £600 or so including 4 tyres. Second cost about £200. Will get spark plugs changed at the next one (around 80,000 miles) and that will cost about £200 on its own. Brake discs may also need changing then too, so it will be another £600+ service. Tyres might need replacing again around then too. I reckon on £1000 a year for essential servicing and wear and tear (at the sort of mileage I've been doing).

It is difficult to compare with a 230K as I've not had one. There are fewer spark plugs to replace, it ought to be slightly lighter on fuel and very marginally on tyre wear. Everything else ought to wear at pretty much the same rate. I don't know whether the 4 cyl engines are more/less reliable or long lasting than the V6, but the latter does have a good reputation, many say better than the diesels in the long term.

I would buy on condition rather than engine, although I did try an E200 first and couldn't even get it to accelerate up to 70 on an uphill slip road on an M62 incline. That engine was too small for the size of the car.
 

Alex M Grieve

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I would buy on condition rather than engine, although I did try an E200 first and couldn't even get it to accelerate up to 70 on an uphill slip road on an M62 incline. That engine was too small for the size of the car.

Good points here. Condition (bodywork neglect, or rust) is probably harder to fix, assuming the car has been serviced. So condition would be a "given" for me.

Secondly, it is easy to adapt from a less powerful to a more powerful car. You very quickly get used to the extra power, and will soon think that all cars are like that. The journey is different from more power to less! I always say, if you don't intend buying the more powerful version, don't try it! It takes a certain amount of oomph to make a car go, so for a similar size of body (the W 210 variants), the least powerful cars can feel short of puff, and don't necessarily use less fuel as they have to work harder. On the other hand the larger engines can deal with the weight more easily, and may not be thirstier than the asthmatic smaller power plant.
 
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