Argh!

Seen as tyre and repair costs matter, if I really wanted the Jag badge I'd probably get the Mondeo based one, the X-Type is it? In AWD 3.0 estate guise, like Clarkson used to skiing down a country lane on Top Gear heh.

Personally my £12k, if it had to be Saloon with a corporate image would be a Merc of some such I think. Jag are a bit 'old man' and all the Mercs I've ever been in have been well comfy, aside from the old A Class, that was a bit jiggly.

No cheaper in tyres than an S-type, though. I doubt repair costs are significantly cheaper, either.

Most of the fancy toys are shared between the cars and pattern parts for the S are stupidly cheap.

(Brake discs for 15 quid each, ffs)

I don't really like modern Mercs, though - the C-class (old and new) has shocking quality materials on the interior and the E-Class is just a Kraut taxi.

Well maybe an S then, but as a company tool I had to pay the repair bills for I wouldn't want an XJ. The extra economy doesn't matter, they have huge tyres, like we discussed, if a shock goes and you wanna do them in pairs as you should, that's 4 shocks...

I really like the new C types, as in the brand new ones. I'd have a C63 AMG over the Clio hehe :-)

And tip-ex out the engine size on my MOT and insurance documents?

We have to keep the documents on file, which makes buying something with a big engine, even if it's quite economical, a bit problematic.

This man talks sense, but there is no

All those taxi drivers buy them because they're actually quite good.

Odd that, so would I. In fact I'd have a C180 over the clio.

Perhaps not current model, but there are the bigger ones sub 60k an 3 years for £12k.

really? I only see the little ones...

What counts as which heh? I was thinking something like this -

I know that is 58k, but there are some 05 platers and stuff with less miles that make it under the money - I just liked the wheels on that one :-)

Although that one is a nicer spec, but I dunno the details of that C230 spec

1.8 supercharged engine, is it good?

This one might be worth a look, I bet it's a high miler though :-(

Best engine of all though, mentally smooth straight 6, and what is it,

267bhp?

Not true on the later cars.

Hmm, not quiet in comaprison to what? I couldn't tell any difference between the XJR and the E-class in terms of noise. Oh hang on yes I could, less tyre noise in the Jag.

Indeed. The X350s are also quiet but you get the V8 noise which is unlike any other V8, a glorious howl, but not the rumbling you get from a Ford or Chevrolet V8.

Quite a badly built taxi. I had mopre problems and visits to the dealer with the E320 then I ever had with a Jag. Also every complaint was incredibly badly handled, Merc dealers suck.

A lot of the E class bodywork is plastic and that brings its own problems, like poor colour match between steel and plastic panels. The quality issues were like the bad old days at Ford. The engine ran poorly from new and needed frequent trips to fiddle with something that never worked. A broken spring, warped disks, complete electrical failure at one point, and it always felt asthmatic and pedestrian.

I was really, really glad to see the back of it.

OTOH as said elsewhere, the E class, even the E200 seems to have an enduring social cachet that the Jag sometimes misses. It's just that I really prefer the Jag.

The C is the smallest merc saloon. C230 is quite nippy. 220CDi the best buy.

They seem a bit more money. Seen as someone else is paying the tax and fuel bill, I'd be going petrol, and 'it's only a 1.8' *cough* :-)

Actually, I reckon the E-class has definitely lost its halo. Apart from the fact that the new ones are awful, every chav in Birmingham seems to aspire to owning one, so the not-vastly-different visually (curiously, they seemed to have largely skipped the W124) late 90s models that are banger-basement money now are tinted, "blinged" and ubiquitous.

The Jaguars, despite being an upmarket car, seem to have largely passed this market by - they're a bit "fake tan and mock tudor" aspirational middle-class, but not quite LV/D&G chavtastic. Partly because chavs appear to love a good pub debate about cars and the "Jags jussa Mondeo, innit" image seems to stick, since they're clearly too thick to differentiate between the X and the XJ.

I certainly don't assign any cachet to the E-class, or indeed, any Mercedes now. I like the A-class as a very clever city car, but that's the only modern Mercedes I like unreservedly - the CLS is quite attractive too.

Richard

Ah this is a C230K is appears (K been the 1.8sc suffix), with 192bhp, and there is a C230 with a 2.5 na motor as well, that makes 204bhp according to Parkers and is half a second slower to 60 than the K (8.4 as opposed to

7.9). The C230K was introduced in 04, so whether it replaced the normal C230, someone else will have to answer that. It was a bit less Co2 output as well, 214 as opposed to 222 - both band F.

Look at that interior..... it's very basic, and I don't fit in a

3-series very well.

Kept banging my knees on the bottom of the dash.