Mercedes-Benz E270 CDi Classic: A Survey

Introduction

The surveyed car was Mercedes-Benz E270 CDi Classic, displayed at the car's dealer office. The following are brief description of the car given by the dealer:

• 4 Doors


• Automatic


• Saloon


• Diesel


• 71,000 miles


• Metallic Silver


• MOT-02-2011


• 1 Owner


• Full Service History


• Electrically adjustable passenger seat


• Electrically adjustable drivers seat


• Space saver spare wheel


• Solid Paint


• Cloth seat trim


• Alarm


• Trip computer


• Steering wheel reach adjustment


• Steering wheel rake adjustment


• Rear electric windows


• Height adjustable drivers seat


• Front electric windows


• Drivers airbag


• Audio remote control


• ABS


• Alloy wheels


• Cruise control


• Front armrest


• Lumbar support


• Immobiliser


• Passenger airbag


• Rear armrest


• Side airbags


• Radio/CD


• Rear headrests


• Telephone.

Another point that was not mentioned in the above descriptions is the car was previously owned by the Metropolitan Police Service, London.

Engine

The engine looks brilliant, but some parts are lightly rusty such as screws' surface near the engine covers. As the dealer refused to open the covers, no further inspection could be done to the engine because the covers obstruct the sight to the inner part. Notice that the covers consume almost 80% of the engine area.








Lightly rusty screws' surface.


The engine

The engine can be easily started in a single try. As it is a diesel, the engine sounds a little bit noisy.

Running engine: Part 1

Running engine: Part 2

The engine was serviced according to the recommended mileage interval. The first one was done by the Mercedes. This was to secure the warranty of the car. However, the following services were done by the owner themselves (The Metropolitan Police) as there were quite valuable equipments installed in the car and it was quite risky to ask somebody else to service the car.


Interior

The interior of the car as a whole looks nice and pleasant.

-The Seats
As the car is Classic level (other levels are Elegance and Avantgarde), the seats are not covered by leather but wrapped with dark cloth. However they still look lovely.





There are wear and tear in some parts of the seats of the car. For instance, at the lower right side of the driver's seat, tear can be seen clearly. As for other parts, the tears are not clearly noticeable.


The seats were torn near the driver's seat

-The Instruments
All the instruments were checked and tested. They are all functioning well.

Exterior

The exterior of the car looks fine and shiny.












However, some areas of the exterior were scrathed/dented. The most obvious ones are on the top of right passenger's door and on the left rear bumper.


Dented near the rear passenger's right door.


Some scratches on the left side of the rear bumper.

It is reckoned that the scrathes on the bumper as a direct result of hitting an object while the car being parked. This has also resulted in the left side of the bumper became improperly-aligned with the other part of the car.


Notice that the bumper just under the left tail lights is not well-aligned. The gap between the lights and bumper's border can be seen clearly.

Underneath of the car is mostly covered by a black metal shield. This prevents the rust to take place around there.




However, there are small dents in this area that have allowed rust to occur.




Test-Drive

No test-drive took place during the inspection as it was not allowed by the dealer. The dealer said, it was virtually impossible to test-drive the car for today. The only reason was, too many cars surrounding the Merc, and those cars need to be moved first before the Merc can get out from its current space.


The surrounding cars hindered the test-drive.


Conclusion

As a whole, the car looks nice with the advertised price (the price actually can be lowered if there is a confirmation that the car will be bought). However, the aforementioned minor defects in the interior, engine and exterior could make it a little bit unworthy to buy. Also, as it was not test-driven, it is really hard to decide whether to buy it or not.