Just got back from a test drive of the 2005 E320 CDI, black on black.
First impression....extremely fast... MB says 0-60 in 6.9 secs. It did feel that fast. Brakes excellent...steering good as usual. Very quite at idle and acclerating. Very gas-like. With the hood up there was the typical diesel vibration...not bad but no different frrm my 98 E300D. Glad to see no more shock-tensioner for the pulley.
What was not so good was the transmission....I know supposedly it is not broken in, and I know it is adaptive... however several times from a dead stop very bad lag till 1st gear kicked in. Salesman said it had to learn my style of driving....I said to myself...BS. I have the adaptive transmission on my 98' E300D and never had this delay. The shifts were a little abrupt from first to second.
Personally, don't care for the instrument cluster with a large clock and small vertical gas and temp gauges. Not as nice or as informative as the orange on black gauges. Seats firm and comfortable.
Supposedly close to 780 miles on a tank, EPA was 27-37 on the sticker. Just will have to wait to see if the electronics are going to be as troublesome as the ones on the E's of 2003.
Richard

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RSL007
1999 ML430
2001 C320 Sport
2000 SAAB 9-5
1998 E300DT
1998 C280sport
1991 300D
1991 350SDL
1982 300DT
1972 Porsche 911 Targa