Thoughts on 2017 E350d v6?

Thoughts on 2017 E350d v6?

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Discussion

montecarlos

Original Poster:

23 posts

73 months

Thursday 6th August 2020
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I like oil burners and I quite fancy a 6 cylinder variety.

Looking at the 272ps Audi A4 (I know this is a smaller class) and the BMW 530d (newer shape) or to lower my budget a bit a 435d (or 430d)

Looking at the cars, the Mercedes looks to be the nicest place to be in terms of the interior space. I'm also a tad concerned that the Audi and BMW competition are all wheel drive to put that power down whereas the merc is RWD.

RWD is fine with me, I would quite like it actually however my issue is my commute is on A roads and B roads. Will the car try and murder me?



Edited by montecarlos on Thursday 6th August 19:11

Ian-27xza

221 posts

98 months

Friday 7th August 2020
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I've just completed 42,000 miles in a 2017 E220d estate.

I think the 350 will obviously give you more' shove' but the rest of the car is very similar. The V6 has air suspension on the rear as standard but all round was still an option, I believe.

Anyway, the ownership proposition will be similar. The E Class is very refined cruiser, super quiet and smooth, it cossets you and looks after you in sort of calming way that most other cars do not come close to matching. Whilst it can be hustled and it certainly grips, it's not a B road blast machine by any stretch. But then that was never in its' design brief!

With regards to putting the power down, I can get the rears to spin up if in Sport + and that's with 400NM. With 600NM I'm sure there are opportunities to spent £270 a corner on a more regular basis.... And that's before you remap the 350....

Overall, I think the BMW would give the more engaging driving experience but the ownership proposition and overall 'feel good' experience will be significantly higher with the Mercedes.

Horses for courses et al......




montecarlos

Original Poster:

23 posts

73 months

Friday 7th August 2020
quotequote all
Hi thanks for the response

That's sort of what I expected, looking at the interior the Mercedes just looks more comfortable.

I've got test drives booked for both cars (although a 530e rather than d as my local garage doesn't have a D).

On the other side of things, I can get a nicer E class for the same money. Can stretch to a AMG spec and there's a few options across the country to try, whereas the 530d appears to have held its value better and is really pushing my budget.

You can get a decent e350v6 for 20k with low mileage but not AMG line, but the newer shape 5 series are sitting around 22k for a 30d variant.


Dicky Knee

1,054 posts

136 months

Friday 7th August 2020
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I have an earlier version of the V6 diesel and it has never tried to kill me and I rarely see the ESP light on.

The only time I genuinely lost it was in fresh snow at about 10mph. I run winter tyres on it now and never had a problem since.

off_again

12,768 posts

239 months

Friday 7th August 2020
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A friend had an earlier E350d from the dodgy period (cant remember the years, but the one where build quality clearly dropped!) and he loved it. Never had an issue with it and hit nearly 200k without a problem. Loved it and was actually very sad to see it go in the end. Yes it looked a little ragged towards the end and it wasnt the most economical diesel out there, but never missed a beat. Replaced it with a Lexus IS with the V8, yes mid-life crisis.....

Though, I understand that the early ones had quality issues, but this was pretty much fixed several years before 2017, so you should be fine. Hell, you might even get some sort of warranty left on that!