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[miked]

Its been a long time since I last owned an Omega.  I parked next to a Star silver CDX today.  Looked rather nice I must say and I wondered if I had made the right choice?

I now own a 2003 E320 Avantgarde (petrol),

Plus side :-
53k miles, 6 Mercedes services, very very clean

Negative side :-
Built in the cost reduction days hence some electrical issues, break by wire electrical system and a dodgy radiator that can split and leak into transmission.

I am using an independent chap, Mercedes trained, to service and maintain.

So far, needed a new main battery (it has two, one main in the boot and one motorcycle battery in the engine compartment).  Error message 'non essential electrical consumers disabled'.  Battery voltage had dropped below 11.75V on the very cold mornings.

Heater control valve is sticking (common apparently), £25 part but 4 hours to fit.

Last night, car reported that left hand side rear number plate bulb had blown, which it had.  I have never owned a car with this level of on-board diagnostics!.

Now looking at getting a CAN bus interface kit.  Capabilities look rather interesting and a bit like a busman's holiday!

[joshwyatt]

I had two 2004 E Classes, an E220 CDI manual estate and an E240 auto saloon. They were good vehicles, although had the battery issue on the E220. Suprisingly every E Class owner I speak to, their HBC hold never works. This function allows you to use the cruise control stalk to operate the brakes in very slow moving traffic so you don't have to keep your foot on the brake pedal - or at least that was my understanding of it. Try pressing the brake pedal quickly 4 or 5 times and it should activate HBC hold.
One big gripe for me was the lack of an engine oil dipstick, the engine oil level can only be checked from insdie the car using the computer...all fine, but there's no way you can check the condition of the oil - seems crazy to me 

[Marks DTM Calib]

Bad luck Mike.

Yes, Mercs are truely shite these days, has the rust started to arrive yet?

And by reconing, you have about 20K miles before the auto box starts to shift roughly and need a rebuild

[Del Boy]

Drive e-classes all time, they're good cars, a lot of them with huge mileages too, gearboxes can causes issues, a couple of cars I've had have had a dicky heater, a few other niggly bits too.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

.....a nice E55 with a supercharger might be worth a punt....I've seen 2003 models for around the £15,000 mark....