Merc E550 vs Jag XF vs BMW 550 vs Audi A6

So I am thinking of selling my M35x in a couple of months after we move into our new house and I have narrowed down the possibilities to these cars. I am looking for feedback from owners mostly in terms of reliability but also what do you like / dislike about these vehicles.

I would consider the newer 2012+ Infiniti M56 but the back end looks like a buick and the interior would be identical to my QX60 - so not much of a change - plus I hate how only now Infiniti's are getting LED signals.. my 2014 QX60 still has halogen turn signals. :banghead:

I do love my current M35 but its getting old and has 160k kms on it now - so looking to get something newer with low kms. (under 50k kms preferably) and not looking to spend over $40k ish

I am a bit worried about maintenance costs - My M hasn't given me too much trouble - never spent over $1k when something broke (yet) so I'm a little hesitant when it comes to something older than 2011 and more than 60k kms. I would probably put about 12 - 15k kms on the 'new' car that I end up getting.

1. 2010 - 2012 Mercedes E550 4Matic

I test drove a 2011 the other day and really liked how it drives - really comfortable but has power (obviously). It also had active side bolsters that made sure I didn't slide off the seats during a corner - I loved that feature!

However, not a big fan of how the interior controls are laid out - especially the heated steering control - who thought putting it there was a good idea?? And it took me a good 2 minutes to figure out how to put the damn thing in reverse :rofl:

I would consider the E550 coupe as well but the wife doesn't want me to get a 2 door :dunno:

I know there are a few owners on here - whats your experience / opinion?


2. 2012+ Jaguar XF

I like the redesign Jaguar did in 2012 (all LED's on the outside with HID headlights) - I drove one this past weekend and really liked it as well. It only comes in 5.0 V8 I believe from 2012 on with about 385 hp (unless you get the XFR or the supercharged).

It came closest to my M35 in terms of how it drives because it was comfortable over bumps (not as comfortable as the Merc) but still had the sporty feel and plenty of power for sure.

I am not in love with the interior but its not bad - I do worry about those automatic vents that close and open when you turn on climate control - just seems like something that WILL break soon. And the touch-screen - wtf - so noticeably slow!

Any owners on here with experience?

3. 2011+ BMW 550xi

I haven't driven one yet but love the look of it. When they first came out 5 years ago I knew I wanted one - however, I am worried about maintenance costs - should I expect random shit / electronics / sensors to start breaking now that it will be 4 years old when I buy it?

It is on my list to go test drive soon - I'm told its got a good mix between the Merc and the Audi in terms of sport vs luxury?

4. 2012+ Audi A6

I test drove a 2011 A6 last weekend and didn't like the interior at all. I know the 2012 interior is much better but haven't had a chance to sit in one yet.

I wasn't a big fan of how the Audi drove however - it didn't seem comfortable and its sportiness was a bit brash I thought - good power for sure but it shifts too hard imo.

I like the hidden touchscreen in the 2012 + A6's though. What should I expect in terms of reliability?

I'm told oil consumption is a problem with the turbos?

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I'm not a big fan of going the turbo route - prefer naturally aspirated.


I spent a good amount of time looking before buying my M35x (which I have now had for over 4 years - longest car ownership ever for me :D ) but I spent less than a week deciding on the QX60 lol

I am not in a rush to sell and upgrade so want to take my time and be sure I want to go with one of the above - especially because I plan on keeping whatever I get for at least 3 - 4 years.

I owned a 2011 550i. I have no experience with the other vehicles. Honestly it is one of the best cars I have ever owned. My m5 is incredible, but when I consider how much power and how luxurious the 550i was, I'm not sure the m5 is worth the premium. Don't take me wrong, I smile every single time I set foot in the m5, but the 550i almost gave me the same level of enjoyment.

The 550i is the only car I have experience with, and I love it.
I must admit, it does feel a little old-manish compared to what I have become accustomed to though. I had an Sti before the 550i so the 550 feels like a slower more gradual acceleration, but when you look at the speedo, it is accelerating faster than you think.
It cruises on the highway like it's parked, 2500rpm doing 120-125ish in 6th.

So far so good regarding maintenance. I have had a couple issues though. One with the battery losing charge because I wasn't driving it enough, and it had some emissions issue with the cat which caused the engine light to come on.
According to my BMW service rep, it has 200,000km warranty on emissions parts, so I was covered. Oh and the battery issue resolved itself when I drove it up and down stoney one day.

Good luck on your decision

Don't have any experience with any of those cars but if I were buying I'd probably go for the 550xi just based on what I've read in the past.

I'm a big bmw fanboy but I say if it's an option go with the jag. Sweet car!

I own a 550i non x-drive. Also have a 2015 STI at my house and the 550i is definitely faster.

Power wont be an issue on any of them, they are all boats and comfortable as well, but I just like the BMW's interior more. Unless you go for an AMG pack or M pack, none of those cars feel sporty by any means.

It might be tough to find any of them for less than $40k and have less than 50km tho.

A6 is a boring drive
E class has fugly interior
XF sucks on reliability

I would do 550i out of that list.

I have a 2011 535i and at the time I looked at the E350 and A6 as well. The BMW is definitely the best looking and has the nicest interior styling IMO and the idrive beats the others too. Those are the things that sold me as well as the HUD that wasn't available in the others.

That said, I voted A6 because what I have disliked about the F10 is the handling. The ride is too soft and the handling is not as good as the Audi. It is an amazing highway cruiser cruiser though.

If you are interested in a 535 though, mine will be for sale sometime this spring depending on when I finally decide what to replace it with. It is a space grey 2011 model with sport pkg, HUD, power open/close trunk, 6 year 160k extended warranty, 3M, tint, studded hakka 7's on second set of OEM wheels and it will be nearing 90k when I sell it. Probably worth about $35k although I haven't looked into that yet.

As for maintenance, I don't think BMW's are bad. I just did my first oil change outside the 80k included service and it was just over $150 with GST. Next one will be due next January. In the next two years the only other service this should need is to have the brake fluid changed and that isn't much either.

MB's are brutal for maintenance costs. Blows me away what they have to pay every year.

I have an XFR. There is an option to keep the vents open all the time. The touchscreen is very slow, I thought this was fixed for 2012. Anyways I usually only use the home screen. There is a setting for the screen to go to the home screen after X amount of time. I have that set and do not have to deal with the slow transitions much.

I love the exterior look of the Benz, it's just a boring car to drive. I feel like Im in my grandpas car.

Audi hasn't done much with the A6, nothing special about it, looks like every other Audi.

The Jag is a great car but resale is shit and the dealer is not the best to deal with.

Always loved the 5 series with the M sport package. Drive a 535 and 550, I found the 535 to be a little more responsive. Im also a big fan of the 528 as well, the turbo 4 seems more potent in the 528 than it does in the X1.

I drove 2 of those on the list when I was shopping 2 years ago. My thoughts from this thread:

http://forums.beyond.ca/showthread.php?threadid=359682

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Originally posted by rage2
2. BMW 550i xDrive - Probably the most fun "big car" I test drove. Handles well, and throttle blip downshifts. Awesome. Gets kinda pricey when you check off the options though...

3. Mercedes E550 4matic - Not as fun to drive as the BMW around corners, but the new V8TT motor is awesome. 12.8 1/4 mile stock (400hp), and 11.7's chipped (530hp). Felt like an old man's car, and next year the facelift is coming, so I'll have old car syndrome in 12 months. And being a fanboy, it's so damn familiar.

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I probably would've ended up with the BMW if it wasn't so damn expensive, both base price + finance rates.

Those BMW options depreciate pretty fast, so I'm going to guess the BMW should be more closely priced in the used market, which makes it a no brainer.

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Originally posted by Nate
I have an XFR. There is an option to keep the vents open all the time. The touchscreen is very slow, I thought this was fixed for 2012. Anyways I usually only use the home screen. There is a setting for the screen to go to the home screen after X amount of time. I have that set and do not have to deal with the slow transitions much.

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What about reliability and maintenance? Any repairs (even if within warranty?)

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Originally posted by blownz
I have a 2011 535i and at the time I looked at the E350 and A6 as well. The BMW is definitely the best looking and has the nicest interior styling IMO and the idrive beats the others too. Those are the things that sold me as well as the HUD that wasn't available in the others.

That said, I voted A6 because what I have disliked about the F10 is the handling. The ride is too soft and the handling is not as good as the Audi. It is an amazing highway cruiser cruiser though.

If you are interested in a 535 though, mine will be for sale sometime this spring depending on when I finally decide what to replace it with. It is a space grey 2011 model with sport pkg, HUD, power open/close trunk, 6 year 160k extended warranty, 3M, tint, studded hakka 7's on second set of OEM wheels and it will be nearing 90k when I sell it. Probably worth about $35k although I haven't looked into that yet.

As for maintenance, I don't think BMW's are bad. I just did my first oil change outside the 80k included service and it was just over $150 with GST. Next one will be due next January. In the next two years the only other service this should need is to have the brake fluid changed and that isn't much either.

MB's are brutal for maintenance costs. Blows me away what they have to pay every year.

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Has anything broken on it? Regardless of warranty?

I want to stay away from turbos which is why I was leaning towards a 550 but it seems both the 535 and the 550 are twin turbos... makes it harder to decide. I need to drive one of these.

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Originally posted by Redlyne_mr2
I love the exterior look of the Benz, it's just a boring car to drive. I feel like Im in my grandpas car.

Audi hasn't done much with the A6, nothing special about it, looks like every other Audi.

The Jag is a great car but resale is shit and the dealer is not the best to deal with.

Always loved the 5 series with the M sport package. Drive a 535 and 550, I found the 535 to be a little more responsive. Im also a big fan of the 528 as well, the turbo 4 seems more potent in the 528 than it does in the X1.

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I don't mind if the 550 is slightly less responsive - I like the idea of having loads of power if needed but not necessarily needing to be damn responsive. I'm assuming there's a mode selector in the 550 that can make it slightly more responsive when I feel like driving like a teenager :D

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Originally posted by Xtrema


{snip}

E class has fugly interior

{snip}

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AND Exterior in my opinion.. at least the 2010 - 2013 model. I'm not a big fan of the driver interface system... not intuitive at all. And I still can't get over the heated steering controls haha

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Originally posted by avishal26
Has anything broken on it? Regardless of warranty?

I want to stay away from turbos which is why I was leaning towards a 550 but it seems both the 535 and the 550 are twin turbos... makes it harder to decide. I need to drive one of these.

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The turbos make a huge difference in power in Calgary. The 2011 E550 had a 5.5L V8 rated at 391hp, and the 2012 E550 was updated with the 4.7L V8 TT rated at 402hp, and it feels like 150hp difference.

I haven't heard of any turbo issues in the 2012+ MB E550, and a small handful of HPFP problems for the BMW 550, but not as drastic as the 535 HPFP problems, which I would stay away from off warranty.

Quote:

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Originally posted by avishal26
AND Exterior in my opinion.. at least the 2010 - 2013 model. I'm not a big fan of the driver interface system... not intuitive at all. And I still can't get over the heated steering controls haha

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It's what you're used to. That era driver interface (NTG 4.5) is my favorite, because all my cars have it. Easily drive, throw in a movie for the kids, switch to iTunes radio, and read my text messages nice and quick.

The BMW system drives me nuts whenever I rent a 3 series, and even the new MB system (NTG 5) is confusing as fuck too. Spend a month with whatever system, and you'll get used to it IMO.

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Originally posted by rage2

The turbos make a huge difference in power in Calgary. The 2011 E550 had a 5.5L V8 rated at 391hp, and the 2012 E550 was updated with the 4.7L V8 TT rated at 402hp, and it feels like 150hp difference.

I haven't heard of any turbo issues in the 2012+ MB E550, and a small handful of HPFP problems for the BMW 550, but not as drastic as the 535 HPFP problems, which I would stay away from off warranty.


It's what you're used to. That era driver interface (NTG 4.5) is my favorite, because all my cars have it. Easily drive, throw in a movie for the kids, switch to iTunes radio, and read my text messages nice and quick.

The BMW system drives me nuts whenever I rent a 3 series, and even the new MB system (NTG 5) is confusing as fuck too. Spend a month with whatever system, and you'll get used to it IMO.

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Hmm good to know the 535 may have more problems.

Agreed that the interface is a matter of getting familiar with it.

I just read your other thread and didn't realize the CLS was an option :D but there are none from 2010 - 2011 for sale lol and the 2012's are too expensive for me.

Scam?
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

This dealer seems to consistently have cars priced lower than market value... should I be suspicious? I believe this specific car has been on sale at a couple of other used car dealerships before too...

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

The 2012 CLS should start tanking in price this spring. Leases coming to an end, and facelift is out.

Shoot me a PM if you want to try it out.

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Originally posted by avishal26
Scam?
http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

This dealer seems to consistently have cars priced lower than market value... should I be suspicious? I believe this specific car has been on sale at a couple of other used car dealerships before too...

http://www.kijiji.ca/v-cars-trucks/c...ationFlag=true

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I'd run a carproof and see what it comes up with. Seems like a good price.