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Message: <blockquote data-quote="peckchoonheng" data-source="post: 195463" data-attributes="member: 812">Hi, Below are my observations.SEATINGThe back seats of the W211 are not big enough for its class.  I feel that whenever I’m back in Singapore taking those diesel powered E220 taxi.  In the Changi airport taxi stand, sometime I see that Europeans in a group opting not to take the E220.  They would choose the old-fashion Toyota Crown or Nissan Cedric instead.I suspected that it had nothing to do with the 20 cents or so premium so I asked one Toyota Crown Taxi driver. He boosted that the E220 is nice on the outside but its back is not big enough to comfortably accommodate 3 long-leg guys.  He quoted a few occasions when the big Caucasians preferred his Crown to the E220.POWERI have a banker friend who has just upgraded from a CRV to an E200 bought brand new in 2005.  The first remark he gave was “too slow”.  He no longer has the kind of confident turning from a junction like he had with the CRV.I don’t quite understand him as the paper stated that it has163hp, which is very respectable.  I have a friend who drives an Audi A4 1.8T just can’t stop being impressed with its power when the A4 has almost the same.Curious about the power issue, I asked another friend who drives a C200 Compressor, which I believe to be sharing the same 1.8-litre engine, about his feeling.  He wasn’t excited about discussing his “Power” experience of his car and dismissed it with “driving a Merc is not about how fast it can go”.He is thinking of changing his car. When asked on what car he would change to, he gave me Air Trek, WRX and even Jeep Grand Cherokee. Could this be a sign of power-deprived-syndrome?  As for other associates who drive an E class, some just need to have one and never dare to venture further. While some bought an E200 because it is the most affordable E they would pay for as they have done so since W124 era.  For these people, they have one thing in common: they never talk about power.COMPRESSORThe same C200 guy mentioned earlier has his compressor partially failed. It gives irritating noise but bearable enough to continue driving.  He was quoted RM8, 500 Cycle and Carriage for the replacement.  I checked with my mechanic and was quoted on the spot without much thinking to be RM7, 500. When asked on how experienced they are on this kind of job, the mechanic said that this is a common problem and they have done it many times.  So I draw a conclusion that the compressor is very likely to fail in less than 5 years of use.Assume that it can last 5 years; it works out to be RM1, 700 per year. The road tax for a 3.0 litre car like the 530i is slightly under RM2, 145. The road tax for the 1.8 litre should be around RM325 and it sum up to be slightly under RM2, 025.Can this compare to an E60 530i?MY CHOICEAfter driving the company’s E34 520i for years, I think I’m starting to develop the power-deprived-syndrome like my friend did.  If one day the company had decided to upgrade it to a Merc E Class, it has to be E240 or I would beg for a BMW or Audi.</blockquote>

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