V8 E 430 is it worth buying?
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Great engine in a lovely car
Father in law has an E230, my brother has a E240, pal Roger has an E200 I've driven these a cars, I've owned an ML430 and an S430 which have the same engine and gearbox as you are looking at.
The 4.3 engine is great with the touchtronic auto box, its very very smooth, its got loads of torque most of which seems available all the time. It's smooth all the way to the red line as well and even at redline full throttle changes the gearbox still makes very smooth changes.
Fuel economy on the 4.3 V8 is surprisingly good given power and weight of the vehicles, at its worst in the S Class (1900 kg)(0.30cd) the engine would give 17.5 mpg in round the town in heavy traffic commutes. At 85 mph cruise you could get 24.5-25.5 mpg, get 30 ish at 70mph. The E class has a fraction better drag co efficient (0.29) and is a bit lighter so should have better economy.
To drive reasonably quickly you didn't have to push beyond 3-3500 rpm and only would need to kickdown one gear at say 50 mph to overtake (although you could kick down 2 or 3 and over take really quite quickly).
I only had one really high speed cruise in the S class covering around an hour and a quater spending fairly long periods at 130 mph plus, the car has enough acceleration over 100 mph to allow you to get back up to 130mph quickly after passing through traffic, at one point I did see just over 150 mph on the speedo although the car does take its time to get there, lighter E class (1650kg) should be better at this if required.
The E Classes I have driven are very roomy, loads of room in the back, good firm ride which was well dampened, with pretty good handling for a big exec (430 I would think should be better on its settings, wheel and tyre combo). Good cruisers, well made, real presence on the road and should be safe in the unlikely event of a crash.
The only thing that affects the refinement of my father in law's E class estate is that to maintain good progress you have to push the 4 cyl 2.3 unit, which is a little bit harsh at high revs, with the 4.3 engine at normal to fairly fast pace you should need hardly use any revs over 3000 odd revs so the car should be more refined and even if you do exploit the 0-60 time of around 6 secs, the engine is really smooth even at the top end.
Auto Car tested the E430 26/11/97
0-60 6.5 secs
0-100 15.4 secs
30-70 5.4 sec
No MPG measured
Technical specs from Mercedes
E Class
Engine type 4,266-cc SOHC 24-valve V-8, high-pressure die-cast alloy cylinder block, alloy heads.
Net power 275 hp @ 5,750 rpm
Net torque 295 lb-ft @ 3,000-4,400 rpm
0-60 mph in 6.2 sec
Coefficient of drag 0.29 Cd
Curb weight 1,650 kg
Great car you should buy one
Father in law has an E230, my brother has a E240, pal Roger has an E200 I've driven these a cars, I've owned an ML430 and an S430 which have the same engine and gearbox as you are looking at.
The 4.3 engine is great with the touchtronic auto box, its very very smooth, its got loads of torque most of which seems available all the time. It's smooth all the way to the red line as well and even at redline full throttle changes the gearbox still makes very smooth changes.
Fuel economy on the 4.3 V8 is surprisingly good given power and weight of the vehicles, at its worst in the S Class (1900 kg)(0.30cd) the engine would give 17.5 mpg in round the town in heavy traffic commutes. At 85 mph cruise you could get 24.5-25.5 mpg, get 30 ish at 70mph. The E class has a fraction better drag co efficient (0.29) and is a bit lighter so should have better economy.
To drive reasonably quickly you didn't have to push beyond 3-3500 rpm and only would need to kickdown one gear at say 50 mph to overtake (although you could kick down 2 or 3 and over take really quite quickly).
I only had one really high speed cruise in the S class covering around an hour and a quater spending fairly long periods at 130 mph plus, the car has enough acceleration over 100 mph to allow you to get back up to 130mph quickly after passing through traffic, at one point I did see just over 150 mph on the speedo although the car does take its time to get there, lighter E class (1650kg) should be better at this if required.
The E Classes I have driven are very roomy, loads of room in the back, good firm ride which was well dampened, with pretty good handling for a big exec (430 I would think should be better on its settings, wheel and tyre combo). Good cruisers, well made, real presence on the road and should be safe in the unlikely event of a crash.
The only thing that affects the refinement of my father in law's E class estate is that to maintain good progress you have to push the 4 cyl 2.3 unit, which is a little bit harsh at high revs, with the 4.3 engine at normal to fairly fast pace you should need hardly use any revs over 3000 odd revs so the car should be more refined and even if you do exploit the 0-60 time of around 6 secs, the engine is really smooth even at the top end.
Auto Car tested the E430 26/11/97
0-60 6.5 secs
0-100 15.4 secs
30-70 5.4 sec
No MPG measured
Technical specs from Mercedes
E Class
Engine type 4,266-cc SOHC 24-valve V-8, high-pressure die-cast alloy cylinder block, alloy heads.
Net power 275 hp @ 5,750 rpm
Net torque 295 lb-ft @ 3,000-4,400 rpm
0-60 mph in 6.2 sec
Coefficient of drag 0.29 Cd
Curb weight 1,650 kg
Great car you should buy one
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