Convince me an E Series is better than a 5 Series BMW or Audi A6
 

I am a long time BMW guy, having owned more than 15 over the last 30 years. Decided to try an Audi about 3 years ago and bought an A6. Really like the car but my wife hates the front seats, says they are very uncomfortable on long rides. Seriously considering an E Series and there seem to be some good buys right now. I plan to test drive one next week. What should I expect and why should I buy one? Thanks.

She won't like the seats. The rest is subjective.

Go test drive it.
No need to convince.

I test drove Audi S6...no comparison to E IMO.

+1

The current-gen TT V8 or previous V10? Do tell, please.

I'll admit it. I've kinda got a thing for the current S6, though I've never sat in much less driven one.

I was actually asking for RS6 or RS7 for test drive.
But they only had S6...

I can't remember which year model it was.
The sales kept saying its 450hp.

I really don't like its interior.
As for the power, My butt didn't feel a thing.

No amount of online convincing would change your mind. You need to see and feel the differences and most of them are subjective. BMW makes great sporty cars and if you are used to it's layout and functionality then you may not like E class, but if you go with an open mind you'll appreciate the differences. I tested all three you mentioned during the purchase and none was better than E class in ride and quality feel (YMMV). Of course if you are looking for sporty ride things might be different. Good luck and let us know how did the test drive go.

I took my e63 to the car park and let it roam free, when we got home it pooped out audi and bmw in the garage and growled.

Are you looking at E350 or E550? Sport or Luxury versions? The Luxury has the comfort suspension and rides much better than the Sport. NOTE: OP asked about E vs. 5 vs. A6 (not S6).
I have always considered that BMW and Audi were more for performance and MB was a little less performance, but more luxury and comfort.
If looking at new, watch for ECO and run-flat tires.
Might want to just Google MB E vs. BMW 5 vs. Audi A6 and see what comes up.
One thing to be very wary of on all is cost of options.

Drive them,
Drive them all!


The only way to know.

At 450hp, that S6 should be Audi's latest and greatest model. Let me guess, it had the carbon fiber int trim pkg?

Sounds like you're comparing your tuned E550 to the S6, but nonetheless I'm disappointed to hear the Audi didn't pack enough reward. As an E550 owner (stock), maybe I should be happy by that.

Thanks for sharing. :y

BMW 5 series is good when under warrantee with free maintenance but after that watch out! You can get hit pretty hard. You can easily spend thousands dollar in repair at dealer. I don't go to dealer for repair. Last repair bill came to $4,300 with leaks. I went to independent and had them done for $1,500 total.

Do search in my a year old post covering at least 17 clear advantages of E class against 5 series. My list is based on ownership two cars 2014 E350 and 2014 535i. I am confident that E class is much better. it is easier to tell where 5 series wins. 5 series has leather seats and slightly better acceleration (against E class in S mode still faster). You won't regret getting E class trust me.

Just forgot to tell about Audi. A6 is a dull car, it couldn't even pass my test drive, so I never own it. it is years behind of MB and BMW, do not waste time.

Not free
 

BMW has included maintenance, not free. You either pay for it with purchase price or when you take it in. Neither BMW nor dealer is going to eat the costs.
Regardless, are you confusing "repair" with maintenance? Maintenance is what everyone is supposed to do at certain periods. Repair is either covered by warranty or out of pocket for something that broke.

I currently own a 2011 E350, 2009 535xi and 2011 A4. Hands down the Benz has the best comfort, if that is your wife's biggest priority go with an E class. I have the plain MBtex seats which arent bad but go with the Comfort and leather option if possible. The E350 is extremely smooth for highway and around town. However when the it comes to speed the E class (disregard the v8's) is not your guy. The 535xi on the other hand is an animal when is comes to speed, including its stiffer steering and overall harder ride quality. The A4 I own is essentially a smaller A6. I find Audi to be the middle man between Mercedes and BMW. Comfort is not bad and speed is ok. The faster more sporty cars suffer from lower ride comfort.

2011 BMW 535i 3.0L -----------------0-60 mph 5.5
2011 Audi A6 3.0L --------------------0-60 mph 5.8
2011 Mercedes E350 3.5L ------------0-60 mph 6.1

If you can find a way to rent one and really drive it then you might get a feel for the differences. I guess that's a little hard to do in the States. For me, there was really no decision after driving all of them a considerable amount but it is VERY subjective. Good luck with your decision.

All three are expensive to maintain out of warranty. The Audi is probably the least expensive to maintain.

When it is actually working, the BMW used to be the most sporting, BMW has now lost its sporting ways. The Audi has the best interior and is the most ergonomically designed controls. The nav is the most advanced as well.

The Mercedes has the most "grown up" feel with well thought out features but with some quirks.

Since I would never buy another BMW is the US, my choice would come down to Audi or MB. I've owned both and both are good quality. Much of the ownership experience comes down to your local dealership.

Wives seem to love riding in the MBs

love riding wives in the MBs

Have yet to hear my wife complain about riding in or driving the Mercs.

I just took my '10 e350 on a 10 hour trip. Very comfortable. Only made 3 quick stops. I got almost 27mpg on the trip, I tried to do 80 most of the time, but traffic kept me down in the 50's - 70's a lot of the time.

The only thing I don't like about mine are the MBTex piece of **** seats. F MB for using such crap material in a 50k car. Other than that I love the car. I had some alignment issues that my good alignment shop took care of. The seat heater broke on the drivers side that I fixed. Drivers seat ripped also.

I used to have a 1998 bmw 528, I liked that car. I bought it cheap because it had a busted head and damaged piston. I replaced those things and drove it for years. It was very reliable. I didn't have a lot go wrong with it. I got rid of it with about 150k on it.

Audi looks so boring to me, end of story, won't even bother to test drive one. My sister had a new 2009 A4 2.O quattro. It was ok fun, the seats were stiff like a BMW, wife hates that. The dash and buttons on the A4 felt like I was in any old VW, and buttons rub off. I thought about buying a 535i and tuning it, but drove a used one with 5x,000 miles and it felt worn out like any other car at over 100 miles. I can't even think about reliability issues once tuned.

I got the E550 biturbo and the engine is magnificent. I would say to buy one, but they decided now if you want V8 power you have to get a coupe or an AMG.

Biggest reason I didn't consider BMW much is because I have lots of friends that have them, or did have them in the past and they're always in the shop, and parts are super expensive.

My E550 has 67k miles, feels like new, got 25+ mpg on 1000 mi trip, always felt comfortable, wife likes the ride for a sedan, but prefers higher vehicles. It will do 12.8 quarter mile without any modification, and its not a special high performance model, so maintenance is very reasonable for a luxury vehicle.

In the end, it will come down to you're styling preferences, and how your wife likes the test drive of each, then how you like the performance of each. Audi and BMW are more performance or handling oriented, but it comes at a cost of comfort in everyday driving. MB does better on luxury and comfort, but still puts some powerful engines out there if you want some excitement now and then.

It is hard to convince someone without having the other cars or not having them in the past but I did have an Audi Q7 for about a year. I used to be 100% Audi guy in my mind and this is why I bought it but after driving it for a year it was time to get something else. Audi was so stiff for suspension my back could not handle it. And the seats were REALLY hard. It ain't soft seats on the MB E either but Audi was like no bolsters at all.

Traded it in for the 2011 E350 but after 15 months traded that for the current 2010 E550. Never going back to E350 or equally low powered car.

Audi and BMW make nice cars but they are not MB. Perhaps the word from my MB sales guy tells it all: "Wannabe" is how he described Audi and BMW and if you look back in the history of cars that is exactly what they are. Wannabe like MB, period.

Yep - I agree with that. I had a 2008 535 xi - and I had to get rid of it because it was just getting too tedious with all the repairs. The extended warranty paid for more than itself in a year and a half into extended warranty. BMW takes too many short cuts - like the plastic water pump that fails around 50K or 70K. Or the plastic housing for the engine oil cartridge at the bottom of the engine.

The c7 A6 is the sportiest of the three cars, but since you are not happy with it, sportiness is probably not your top priority. As far as the seats goes, the A6's seats are horrible, I believe Audi started offering optional sport seats in the 2016 A6. Mercedes' multi-contour seats are pretty nice for the half of the price of BMW F10's multi-contour seats and Audi's sport seats. Quality wise, you simply cannot beat Mercedes, every knob or button I touch is higher quality than my old F10 5 series and Audi C7 A6. The E class is gear toward comfort instead of sportiness. If you want something more sporty, you might want to consider the CLS, C class or the E63 amg.