Hi

We've always had petrol cars in our familiy, so I never thought I'd be posting in this part of the forum, but anyway.

We're picking up a brand new S320 CDi next Thursday. It's in Obsidian Black, with Sand Leather and it has the 5 spoke 18" AMG alloys. My dad will let me have a drive, so I'll let you know what I think!

Hopefully post some pictures next week.

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Oliver

Ahhh why don't they bring the good cars to the states! I want an S400CDI, is the S320CDI the same engine as in the E320?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I presume it uses the same engine as the E class. The S400CDi is great - for some reason it's also not available in England. I'm only aware of it for sale in Germany.
When my dad took another s320 cdi for a test drive he said he could see the difference between the 500 we used to own, but it was still quick and refined. According to MB, 0-60 in 7.9 and 148mph - amazing for such a heavy, diesel car.
I think my dad is looking forward to the economy more than anything though. We travelled around Europe earlier this year in the 500 and it cost a fortune in petrol - especially with the euro fuel costs!

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Oliver

Oliverp:

Good luck with your new Mercedes. Were you on a waiting list for the new Mercedes diesel?

-George

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'81 300TD (White) 225,000 miles
'85 300SD (Burgandy) 239,000 miles
'86 300SDL (Silver) 340,000 miles

Your dad is a brave man. I am allergic to repairs I can't do myself. I've heard some reliability stories about the CDIs that would make your hair curl. One of the big French car magazines compared frequency of repair and found that newer Mercedes diesels are about as reliable as Peugeots.

I'll stick with my OM603. Its exhaust smells and it won't go 148 mph, but it has never failed to start or run. Besides, with all the automatic radar cameras France is installing, 90 mph is all I cruise at anymore.

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Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)

The car we have bought is one that was ordered by another customer but he cancelled at the last minute. So we got a bit of a discount.
I'm surprised to hear of the reliability issues, all the articles I have read (Mercedes Enthusiast magazine, top gear etc etc) have all said what a good car it is. Time will tell I suppose.

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Oliver

Drive it carefully and keep the oil changed. I may want to buy it in 8 or 9 years.

lol! Thanks! Just hope I get the chance to drive it!

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Oliver

There are three issues at play here that affect reported reliability.

1. You're in the UK, and I'm in France.

My info comes from AutoPlus, a big magazine here. The French beat their cars more than Germans or Brits. They tend to just hop in, fire it up, then drive hard right away with no gentle warm-up. They're aggressive drivers, such that I've only seen worse in Rome, so they're on the gas hard most of the time. Gotta beat that other guy to the next red light. After beating their new car for a few years, it breaks down, then the French national sport of griping and whining (second only to cheating on their wife) takes over, and everybody within 100 meters hears about how their new Mercedes brown down. And how much it cost to fix it. You get the picture.

2. About half of the CDI problems were due to fuel quality.

Water, specifically, being implicated in damage to the injectors. Those little suckers are complicated and sensitive. BTW, other brands of cars suffer from the same problem. If it's a recent high-pressure injection diesel, fuel quality can bring it to its knees. I also own one, but it's a Yoda, so I *hope* I'll fare better. Being carefull about where you buy fuel, and using an anti-condensation additive every now and then are wise moves. France has a lot of mom&pop service stations where water more easily gets into the rusty old storage tanks.

3. It takes a few years to compile repair statistics.

As you said, time will tell. There was one CDI that the French magazine reported as reliable. I believe it was the 270. Why that one would do better than the others, I don't know. Maybe it has a better fuel/water separater?

Finally, there are so few motors over here larger than 2.2 liters that I doubt that the magazine's study had much statistical significance for larger-displacement CDIs. They haven't been out that long, and French buy smaller motors. I was just pleased to see them list the OM603 atmo as a motor that runs just about forever with no problems.

Cheers!

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Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)

:p

__________________
Thx/Reno
An American in France
88 300TD 5spd Sportline (lowered factory susp) - totalled by a flying deer
89 Range Rover V8 - the 4wd beast
02 Toyota minivan
05 Peugeot Partner 4x4 Dangel
88 International Harvestor 633SA
--Gone but not forgotten:
1970 250/8 C (sold to buy 450 SLC)
1972 450 SLC (sold after battling wiring harness problems too long)
1971 300 SEL 6.3 (sold after destroying two *very* expensive rear LS diffs)
1986 560 SEL (now my little brother's pride and joy)