Leggy GT cruiser for £10k - BMW 640-Jag XJ- Merc CLS - A7

[Deangtv]

I’m on the look out for something luxurious but leggy, I do around 25k miles a year due to the boy playing football around the country most weekends.
I have £10k to play with and would like some thoughts on the above.

I’ve had an XJ X350 before and loved it and miss it dearly

It needs 4 seats

[Summit_Detailing]

I've had 2x X351 XJ's, 640d GC and currently a CLS.
Not a fan of the styling of A7 so never been on my radar.

Unless the 640d has adaptive suspension (I tried both) it is not as comfortable as the Jaguar or Mercedes.
640d also feels big on the road and doesn't shrink around you, I put that down to the shallow window line.
Lovely engine/gearbox combo, but not without fault.

XJ's marginally quieter than other two, probably down to the double glazing but all are consummate, comfortable mile munchers.
My first XJ was a 2010 LWB Portfolio and it was completely reliable in my ownership, no rattles or squeaks and felt well built.
6spd ZF box which in isolation is fine, isn't as good as the later car's 8spd or the 9g box in the Mercedes.
Despite having Xenon headlamps the lighting performance was rubbish.
Touchscreen although functional was laggy and if you have the button beep turned off can have you prodding the screen multiple times.

Later car was a 2016 R-sport which righted my gripes of the earlier car - LED headlamps, 8spd ZF and Pivi Pro touchscreen which actually responded in real time to touch.

Current CLS is a lovely place to sit, ride quality sits in the middle ground between BMW and Jaguar and I actually prefer the power/torque delivery of this engine over the other two - much more linear with no lag.
Multibeam LED headlamps are just fantastic, unless you've driven a ContiGT or Porsche with PDSL+ you won't find better lighting performance.
Boot space is also the best of the 3, in terms of floor space and shape.

Try and drive all 3 back2back or as close to, to see which works best for you.

Cheers,

Chris

[Deangtv]

Thanks for the indepth insight Chris

I'm airing towards the CLS and I given have a soft spot for the shooting brake, a little marite for some but I really like it.
Can I ask what enginer you are running?? Did you test drive the 250 and the 350??

[Summit_Detailing]

Deangtv said:

Thanks for the indepth insight Chris

I'm airing towards the CLS and I given have a soft spot for the shooting brake, a little marite for some but I really like it.
Can I ask what enginer you are running?? Did you test drive the 250 and the 350??

No worries.

Definitely a marmite car;)

Only the 350, I experienced the 250 in an e-class estate loan car a few years back - not for me.

Once you've owned 6cyl diesels in various cars for as long as you can remember you don't consider a 4cyl!...well I don't anyway

Cheers,

Chris

[ZX10R NIN]

CLS350:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310102...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309121...

XJ Portfolio:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202308301...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202309021...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310303...

These are the two I'd be looking at.