Faults:

Rear signal lights.

General Comments:

The Mercedes E270 cdi is the most comfortable car I have ever driven to date.

I have test driven a BMW 523i and later a BMW 728i over a weekend, thanks to my local dealer whom I got to know and trust and eventually settled for the Mercedes E270 cdi.

(I have also driven a Mercedes E240 and the older E230 some years back)

About the only thing that I have changed on my Mercedes E270 cdi are the standard Michelin tyres to Continental 2. I was considering a set of Pirellis at first, but decided that quietness were my priority aside from grip and road holding.

So far, I have only replaced a rear lamp bulb. I do have the car serviced properly by a Mercedes specialist to keep it in peak condition.

The Mercedes E270 cdi is a silky smooth car that possess very good torquay! It may sound like a typical diesel engine from the outside, but once inside, it even beat many Japanese cars (petrol/diesel) for quietness.

The road holding and grip round the corners are every bit as good as the BMW 728i. In fact the Mercedes E270 cdi has better power delivery being a common rail injected V6.

I personally feel that it has practical space for a family especially for long distance driving.

The seats are very nice and great for medium to heavy set people.

There is nothing much like going for a test drive yourself to discover that the E 270cdi is one beautifully engineered car Germany has ever produced.

Faults:

None...

General Comments:

Mercedes is beautiful both inside and out. Body contour is great and flawless. Although I hit the wall of my garage once, it just made a small scratch on the bumper which is easy to fix.

Faults:

Cup holder will not close.

General Comments:

This is a very nice car. It averages over 20 MPG and has plenty of V8 power. The ride is a bit more to the sporty side rather that luxury side. The sport package adds AMG type ground effects and sets it apart from a standard E430.

Faults:

Nothing serious. Brakes squeak, headlamp bulb burned out.

General Comments:

When the time came to by a new car to replace my old 1995 E200 with 150000 miles on the clock it was a choice between Lexus and Mercedes. On past experience I chose an E240 Elegance with 30000 miles on the clock. Unfortunately as they say in the movies things ain't what they used to be. On the whole everything works, but there is a noticeable deterioration in the build quality compared to my old Merc.

The leather seats on long journeys become very uncomfortable, the driver seats leather stretched and looks old and tatty. The cloth covering on the bottom of the doors and various other bits is poor quality. The Blaupunkt sound system is a joke compared to Pioneer or Kenwood.

The paintwork some places especially on the plastic parts is wafer thin. Trying to "T Cut" out a small scratch I was through to the base after a few seconds of rubbing.

My biggest gripe is the automatic gearbox. It is one of the worst gearboxes I have ever experienced in some 40 years of driving a collection of different makes of cars. Lazy, noisy, unpredictable gear changes up or down.

I wonder how long Mercedes is going to try and live on the past glories of legendary build quality and reliability.

My honest opinion is that it's now no better than any run of the mill car at half the price. My next car will be a Lexus.