Am I being silly?
Discussion
I’ve been on the hunt for a car for a month or two now and currently careless.
Criteria has been a petrol Volvo V90, 69 reg and older with less than 20k. Quite a few cars fitting the bill, but most are 250-300 miles away. Common car, so not exactly in a rush.
I’ve spotted an estate e-class that fits the bill, except it’s diesel. I do about 6,000 miles a year…hence the petrol. Most journeys are 5 odd miles a few times a week. With the odd 20-30 mile run in there too. Only one problem with the Mercedes…it’s a 220d. Wife could take it twice monthly 50-60 mile blast up the motorway to her work.
Am I being utterly daft for considering the merc? Looks like a lovely place to be and whilst has way less creature comforts than the Volvo, I have had 2 Volvo S90’s previously and could be tempted with a change.
Criteria has been a petrol Volvo V90, 69 reg and older with less than 20k. Quite a few cars fitting the bill, but most are 250-300 miles away. Common car, so not exactly in a rush.
I’ve spotted an estate e-class that fits the bill, except it’s diesel. I do about 6,000 miles a year…hence the petrol. Most journeys are 5 odd miles a few times a week. With the odd 20-30 mile run in there too. Only one problem with the Mercedes…it’s a 220d. Wife could take it twice monthly 50-60 mile blast up the motorway to her work.
Am I being utterly daft for considering the merc? Looks like a lovely place to be and whilst has way less creature comforts than the Volvo, I have had 2 Volvo S90’s previously and could be tempted with a change.
Having gone from a V90 (Cross-Country) to a diesel E-class Estate (E400D); I would say the Merc is the nicer car to drive.
Both have lovely interiors, though quite different from each other. Whilst mine were both AWD; the rear-drive element would win it on the E-class for me - that and the fact that the infotainment isn't a touch-screen.
Either way - both good cars. As said by somebody else - E-class Petrol or PHEV?
Both have lovely interiors, though quite different from each other. Whilst mine were both AWD; the rear-drive element would win it on the E-class for me - that and the fact that the infotainment isn't a touch-screen.
Either way - both good cars. As said by somebody else - E-class Petrol or PHEV?
5 mile and 20-30 mile journeys will really not suit a diesel. It'll get woeful MPG since it'll almost always be warming up. Plus the DPF will likely be very unhappy too after a while. I'd not be buying any diesel with your use.
I agree with what another poster said; you'd be really well placed to look at something hybrid, or maybe even a plug-in hybrid if you've got a driveway or garage with easy power.
Most of the plug-in hybrids (such as the 330e and others of its ilk) have piddly small batteries, so the complaint often levied against them is that they run for 10-20 miles on battery, run that flat, then they're running a petrol engine to drag around the (flat) battery. OK, it'll still hybrid a bit by regen braking when you slow down & using that power to get going again, but on a run, they're pretty naff.
EXCEPT that your journey profile suits these to a tee! So do consider having a look at one, it might well be worth adding to the shortlist for further consideration!
I agree with what another poster said; you'd be really well placed to look at something hybrid, or maybe even a plug-in hybrid if you've got a driveway or garage with easy power.
Most of the plug-in hybrids (such as the 330e and others of its ilk) have piddly small batteries, so the complaint often levied against them is that they run for 10-20 miles on battery, run that flat, then they're running a petrol engine to drag around the (flat) battery. OK, it'll still hybrid a bit by regen braking when you slow down & using that power to get going again, but on a run, they're pretty naff.
EXCEPT that your journey profile suits these to a tee! So do consider having a look at one, it might well be worth adding to the shortlist for further consideration!
Whilst not ideal I've just finished running a 2018 V60 diesel for the last 2.5 years, doing 8k a year. Most journeys were 30 miles roundtrip to work, weekly 60 mile round trip out to dad's and 5-10 miles here and there to the local shops etc. Average MGP was high 30s, which was roughly half of what I would get on the rare, motorway long-runs.
I would have held out for a petrol variant but they were so rare, and the perfect spec came up but with the D4 engine. I really liked the car so don't regret it, but it never sat right with me that I wasn't using the car/engine to it's full potential. In an ideal world I would have gone for a second hand estate like a 9-5 or similar, but I really needed a reliable, turn-key load lugger for a few years and the vast majority in budget were diesels.
That said, no issues with it in the 2.5 years I had it.
I would have held out for a petrol variant but they were so rare, and the perfect spec came up but with the D4 engine. I really liked the car so don't regret it, but it never sat right with me that I wasn't using the car/engine to it's full potential. In an ideal world I would have gone for a second hand estate like a 9-5 or similar, but I really needed a reliable, turn-key load lugger for a few years and the vast majority in budget were diesels.
That said, no issues with it in the 2.5 years I had it.
Jonno02 said:
I’ve been on the hunt for a car for a month or two now and currently careless.
Criteria has been a petrol Volvo V90, 69 reg and older with less than 20k. Quite a few cars fitting the bill, but most are 250-300 miles away. Common car, so not exactly in a rush.
You know they'll deliver right? You're talking about a new, 69 reg car. Just ring them up and have them deliver it to you.Criteria has been a petrol Volvo V90, 69 reg and older with less than 20k. Quite a few cars fitting the bill, but most are 250-300 miles away. Common car, so not exactly in a rush.
I did that with my current Jag and traded in the old one; no issues. Came from about 200 miles away in the spec I wanted.
If your doing a decent run a few times a month I would think you would be ok but as others have said I’d always lean toward a petrol.
We have run diesels for several years now and do around 8k a year with varied journeys, no real issues to speak of yet.
Problem for me is the petrol equivalents in most normal models lack a bit of useable grunt and the tax gets ridiculous.
Plus when diesels go wrong they tend to go wrong in style.
We have run diesels for several years now and do around 8k a year with varied journeys, no real issues to speak of yet.
Problem for me is the petrol equivalents in most normal models lack a bit of useable grunt and the tax gets ridiculous.
Plus when diesels go wrong they tend to go wrong in style.
robemcdonald said:
Monkeylegend said:
If it is a BlueTec Merc diesel, ie Euro 6, I would do a bit of research into the adlue and NOx sensor issues before you commit, particularly with your low mileage.
100% this. You can’t even get the £600 replacement part…That is additional to the £600 for a NOx sensor, mentioned by Rob, of which there are two, that are currently on many weeks/months back order.
It is not a question of if, but when, this system causes issues.
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