What car - Diesel motorway muncher, radar cruise, for 10k or

[RikJonAtk]

I've been running my 2007 350z up and down the motorways a lot for work recently and feel the need to swap for a barge.

I want a diesel auto with radar cruise. 10k budget (Petrol maybe, but it needs steady motorway MPG of 35 or more).

What ya got?

[ZX10R NIN]

I think you'll struggle with the Radar Cruise Control but if you want that then a Mercedes with distronic fitted is the one to look for or just settle for normal cruise control.

Here are a few decent mileage munchers:

2009 E320cdi Sport 49k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2009 E350 SE Coupe 56k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2007 A6 Le Mans 56k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2007 BMW 525d Sport 60k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

2005 535d Sport 38k

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

All of the above are good motorway cars.

[Jimbo.]

Do you need a 3-3.5 litre car for motorway cruising? An E220d, 520d etc is hardly torture for motorway work!

[ZX10R NIN]

No but they are smoother plus the extra power means you're not working the engine as hard.

[daemon]

ZX10R NIN said:

No but they are smoother plus the extra power means you're not working the engine as hard.

You're not going to be working "any" diesel engine hard on a 70mph motorway cruise and a 520d has as much power as a 530d did not that many years ago.

[RWD cossie wil]

Pointless having a big heavy car like a 5 series with a 4 pot wheezing away, a 530/535d is a great place to be for long motorway cruises, plenty of grunt, great chassis & comfy & quiet, with all the toys you could want.

[ZX10R NIN]

daemon said:

You're not going to be working "any" diesel engine hard on a 70mph motorway cruise and a 520d has as much power as a 530d did not that many years ago.

The 530d is still smoother & should you want to overtake anything it's still quicker, I chose my 3.0 diesel for exactly those reasons & for me the two litre version didn't cut it, plus the OP is coming from a V6 so I assumed he'd want something that felt close on power to his Z whilst giving better economy.

Would you recommend the 520d over the 530/535d?

[culpz]

Did they even do radar cruise control for cars in your budget? On top of my head the only way of getting that would be a Mercedes S Class.

That not being a deal breaker, i'd got for a 535D every time. You'll get 50+ mpg on the motorway with a lovely bit of effortless poke when you need it. The perfect cruiser IMO.

[R8Steve]

A Jaguar XJ 2.7 diesel would be my choice.

I've done 10's of thousands of miles in them and they are night and day compared to the german offerings.

Like this one - https://www.gumtree.com/p/jaguar/2007-jaguar-xj-2....

[Krikkit]

culpz said:

Did they even do radar cruise control for cars in your budget? On top of my head the only way of getting that would be a Mercedes S Class.

That not being a deal breaker, i'd got for a 535D every time. You'll get 50+ mpg on the motorway with a lovely bit of effortless poke when you need it. The perfect cruiser IMO.

Quite a few cars with adaptive cruise coming into budget now.

The facelifted Volvo S80 (2007-on) has ACC, look for a rectangle in the grill.

[Osinjak]

Radar cruise is an utter pain in the hoop, maintains a massive distance from the car in front, waits an age for the car in front to move over before it accelerates. Slams on the brakes when some berk pulls out in front of you which happens quite a lot because of point one. Want cruise? Get a car with a standard set up.

[Jimbo.]

ZX10R NIN said:

daemon said:

You're not going to be working "any" diesel engine hard on a 70mph motorway cruise and a 520d has as much power as a 530d did not that many years ago.

The 530d is still smoother & should you want to overtake anything it's still quicker, I chose my 3.0 diesel for exactly those reasons & for me the two litre version didn't cut it, plus the OP is coming from a V6 so I assumed he'd want something that felt close on power to his Z whilst giving better economy.

Would you recommend the 520d over the 530/535d?

When MPG has been highlighted at an requirement, yes. It'll also greatly expand the number of options available.

Along a motorway, there's no perceptible different in "smoothness". Overtaking? A 2.0d won't be out of its depth doing so at motorway speeds. I'm struggling to think of a scenario on a motorway cruise wherein you would "need" any extra BHP/torque a 3.0+ diesel would offer over a 2.0d.

But then again this is PH, when even motorway overtakes are done sideways in a cloud of tyre smoke.

[R8Steve]

Osinjak said:

Radar cruise is an utter pain in the hoop, maintains a massive distance from the car in front, waits an age for the car in front to move over before it accelerates. Slams on the brakes when some berk pulls out in front of you which happens quite a lot because of point one. Want cruise? Get a car with a standard set up.

The system in the jaguar doesn't do any of these things and you can adjust the distance with a button on the steering column from 2 car lengths to 20 car lengths.

[Fittster]

RWD cossie wil said:

Pointless having a big heavy car like a 5 series with a 4 pot wheezing away,

At UK motorway speeds a 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder diesel is going to be wheezing?

[Dannbodge]

I've driven a few passats with radar cruise, and my E90 BMW has it fitted too.

There are loads out there with it, especially newer cars

[RWD cossie wil]

Fittster said:

RWD cossie wil said:

Pointless having a big heavy car like a 5 series with a 4 pot wheezing away,

At UK motorway speeds a 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder diesel is going to be wheezing?

That's probably 20% of your driving, how often do you get a clear 70-80mph run? Then you have all the other driving you do around towns, A roads etc, the 4 pots just don't make sense IMHO. Add to that a number of the 4 pot engines are suffering from timing chain failure, my money's on the big 6.. Having covered 243,000 miles in my E39 530d, and close to 100,000 in my 535d I wouldn't swap them, but it's the OPs call.

[Dan_1981]

What MPG will a 520D or a 220d return vs the 3 litre equivalent?

Interested as I think my current motorway stead is deteriorating - granted it's done 210k

[ZX10R NIN]

Officially there's a 6mpg difference between a 520d & a 535d so in reality maybe a 8mpg difference between the two.

[Fittster]

RWD cossie wil said:

Fittster said:

RWD cossie wil said:

Pointless having a big heavy car like a 5 series with a 4 pot wheezing away,

At UK motorway speeds a 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder diesel is going to be wheezing?

That's probably 20% of your driving, how often do you get a clear 70-80mph run? Then you have all the other driving you do around towns, A roads etc, the 4 pots just don't make sense IMHO. Add to that a number of the 4 pot engines are suffering from timing chain failure, my money's on the big 6.. Having covered 243,000 miles in my E39 530d, and close to 100,000 in my 535d I wouldn't swap them, but it's the OPs call.

By far the majority of my mileage is done on the M6 during peak periods. There's no pleasure to be had, no VMAXing, no opportunity for chassis dynamics to be exposed, no 0-60s. The things that matter are comfort, reliability and economy which a 2.0 will do just as well as a larger capacity at lower cost.

[nc11]

Currently thinking of c-class, a4 and XE for a motorway cruiser. lookig at new or nearly new on PCH. Out of those I've driven the c-class 250d is very nice, punchy and comfortable. The a4 (190ps) is a close second and I didn't enjoy the XE at all (2.0d). I've also driven a 535d (I know, not a direct comparison) and enjoyed that one too! I don't need a bigger car but as I've owned a few 320d's wanted to try a 5 series for once...

Any other contenders you guys can offer?