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Have an 05 plate E320. Tows really well a 1520kg van, which is almost on the limit if you want to achieve the ideal 7% noseweight limit, (85kg for the Merc). Without incurring the wrath of the 85% rule brigade, I would be happy to tow up to about 1600kgs, but no more. You don't state what weight your van is?
It tows well, power wise, and you can get up to a comfy 60 ish very quickly. Also car has the self levelling suspension and ESP in addition to the standard Merc safety features. Is excellent in cross winds and with lorries passing, but I have found this is better when the car is as loaded with weight(awning, luggage etc.) Had a bit of a scare in the early days when towing the van for a service with both it and the car unladen and a coach went by at high speed really upsetting the combination and starting a snake.Recently had to do an emergency stop on the motorway, due to a pillock in a truck, and the whole unit stopped in a dead straight line with caravan tyres smoking and ABS working like a mad thing on the car. Ordinary Mondeo, not towing, alongside me, in lane 2, actually took longer to stop!
Everyday MPG on the car is about 35-36 and this drops to 27-28 when towing, which I think is a fair return. This also means we can go about 400 miles on tankful when towing, which is useful as we go to Europe a lot.
Practically the car is superb, with loads of space and as we have the Avantgarde it has all the Merc toys. I used to use a large 4x4, which was comparable as a tow car but the Merc is hundreds of time better when being used as an ordinary car, which lets face it, is most of the time.
Finally you mention an 03-04 plate, most experts reckon to ensure you get the newer designed engine, which changed over on 2004. Sorry cant recall exactly what the change was.
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Topic: merc e320 est
