W211 E320 vs E270CDI

[OZE1]

Hello from Adelaide Australia!
I am presently driving an immaculate 92 300E-24, and am considering a W211 having driven one a bit back. My W124 has impeccable provenance, has cream leather, sunroof, cruise, aircon, alloys and gorgeous metallic green paint..and 142000km. Ok..so I'll probably keep it!

W211's are readily available from Merc dealers down here with their "Approved Used" programme. My specialist mechanic seems to harbour deep suspicion of diesels, and keeps warning me off buying one. This now has me worried, as I know if i do and something goes wrong, he will be delighted!
He tells me nothing ever seems to go wrong with the V6's, but there is lots to play up on the E270.

Diesel is slightly more expensive here than unleaded (as I believe is the situation in the UK), but the fuel consumption is lower on the E270.
Can someone tell me what is the "real world" mileage of the E320 and E270's??
Also what do I need to look out for with the W211. I will be looking at '03/04 models.

 

[Blobcat]

My W210 E320 CDI with the IL6 engine averaged 36.5mpg for ~110K miles in my ownership. It was a most excellent engine and gearbox combo (5G).
My new W211 E320CDI with the V6 engine is averaging 27.5mpg for the ~ 7K miles I've had it. A most excellent engine and gearbox combo (7G).
The new V6 is a lot quieter that the IL6 and quite a lot faster, which I wasn't sure was possible.

There have been quite a few 270cdi issues on here, however it is a very popular engine so the number of issues might just be down to how popular it is.

 

[OZE1]

Unfortunately MB Australia never brought the E320CDI to these shores. The only diesels we got were the C220CDI and the E270CDI in both the W210 and W211. The new V6 diesel is curiously only available as the E280CDI. The ML's are available as both M280CDI and ML320CDI.
The E280CDI is a bit new (and rich for my blood) just yet.

There seems to be a few E270's available in W210 and W211 models. They are not plentiful as there never has been any incentive in this country to drive a diesel..quite the opposite in fact. the only incentive I have is that the fuel consumption is lower and may be worth looking at.
Having said that, E320's are more readily available.

 

[jberks]

My E270cdi (W211 - there weren't any here in the 210) returns 40-47 on the computer on a run and around 27-33 in traffic.
Real world conditions and a recent trip to Edinburgh which was 400 miles@ around 70 and another 200 of town work showed an overall average of 42mpg and my daily commute which involves lots of queing interspersed with full bore blasts when I see a gap, and I'm averaging 27.
The only downsides of the 270 are refinement (it's no V6) and turbo lag which requires me to floor it a full second or so before I need to move. That said, when the power arrives, it makes you grin and once rolling, turbo lag isn't an issue.
Reliability wise - 47k so far and nothing to report, though engine mounts don't seem to last too well.