I don't necessarily feel it's inferior. I may have bought a 250 except for a couple of things. First I won't buy a turbo right now. I've seen terribly expensive repair bills from Audi's and VW 4 cyl turbos after a few years. If it had been un-turbo'ed and close to 200 hp that would have been ok, or else a six with around 200 hp would have been ok. I don't really need 300 hp. I can hardly use it, everytime I step on the gas it's dangerous from a law-enforcement POV. The c350 just demands to be driven harder than the law supports. Otherwise the tach and shifting patterns keep it about 1500 rpm's which is unexciting to say the least. Miss some of my old sports cars where I could rev them with out hitting a hundred.

But I'm sure the c250 is fine. I saw one in the dealer show room optioned out and it was $5k more than my C350 though. My C350 was about $44k msrp and the C250 was about $48. Crazy. I have 18"s and keyless go but no NAV or panoramic or Comand. Don't miss them either.

 

The C250 coupes I looked at recently while my car was in for service were all 45-48k, as well. No C350s to be found.

 

Reflectors do a fine job on Benzes.. The only downside to it is that a HID upgrade won't look as good. If I were sticking with halogens, I'd want reflectors. If I were upgrading, I'd want projectors. If I had stock HID.. either would be fine.

 

That thought did cross my mind with the 60 degree V6 and I would agree with you on it too. The C350 does have a new degree since it is able to save 4mpg more than the 2011 model. I was thinking just exactly what you mentioned to let the gremlins be sorted out. With that being said, I know that I am stupid enough to buy it anyway.

I won't buy a 4matic as I mentioned in my previous posts because it does not pertain to the area that I live in and insurance is higher as well the cost of fixing if it breaks down. The vehicle is heavier and therefore consumes more gas.

 

All that matters is that you consider these things.

 

The 08 to 2010 c250 were really base. IMO never saw panoroofs or Kardon stereo. The 2012 c250 has many opitions now and i see more now than any other C-Class. Rare to see C350's in Canada. People just buy the E350. The Early w204 C300 was just as good as the C350 so it killed the market here.

 

Depends on what you want. Do you want more power or better fuel economy? How do you drive? Is this your only car? I think the C250 is more than good enough for SoCal commuting.

I didn't need the power and the car is a nice change from my 12mpg 500+hp cars, that's why I chose it. Plus, who knows what the tuners will do with it.

 

350 with P1 and command isn't missing much, I have P2 C350 and I only have a rear sunshade and a cute little spoiler and HIDs to show for it.

If you get a P1 C350 you can Add drop in HIDs, buy a cooler CF spoiler, and the sunshade you can comp for with window tint.

Blind spot/lane tracking is for people who don't know how to drive or turn their head to check their lane IMO

Only thing I wish I had was Pano, but Ive lived with the sunroof, plus I think I enjoy the extra 100Hp and the smoothness of a V6

Plus when it comes to resale, the more expensive base C350 will be worth more then the C250 with the few options it has over the 350

The 3.5 you will enjoy every push of the pedal, pano you will enjoy in nice weather, and bliss only when you aren't paying attention, so Id go with the daily joy of a 350.

I love My C350 and its not even the new 3.5 you'd get in yours with gets even better MPG then the M272 and has more power. Even though I eek out about 30MPG highway in mine, so the "it saves" fuel argument it not really a matter when the V6 gets almost the same or is 2-3 mpg off
Most except people who own 250s will prob say 350 for the hp, smooth 6 and extras just coming with a 350

 

I have a hard time understanding what you wrote but I am interested in understanding more of what shared in these paragraphs. Thanks

 

What don't you understand? P2 is a package that has more stuff then a P1 and HID=High intensity discharge headlamps, CF=carbon fiber, and sunshade, is a rear roller blind.

Premium 1 Package
SIRIUS Satellite Radio
Heated front seats
Auto-dimming driver's side and rearview mirrors
Garage door opener
Rain-sensing wipers
10-way memory driver's seat with
Integrated compass in rearview mirror

Premium 2 Package
Includes all items from the Premium 1 Package plus:
Bi-Xenon headlamps with Active Curve Illumination
Heated headlamp washers
60/40 split fold-down rear seats
Rear sunshade

 

Thanks.

Can you show me the picture of the CF spoiler?

 

sorry man I don't have a Cf spoiler, I have the P2 spoiler which looks like every other one LOL. Check some of the guys sigs on here some of them have pic post with the spoiler, or check ebay for a 305 with P2

 

I drove a 250 for a few days last week, at first it was fun knowing that it was a turbo, within a few hours it sort of lost that fun factor for me. In normal driving it is too noisy and underpowered, unless you are into the throttle all the time it feels like an underpowered four banger, not at all the smooth powerfull car that Mercedes is known for. Bottom line that in normal driving it is not responsive, if you start to ask it for power it becomes very busy and loud, and the trans is forever shifting all over the place to keep the car moving. Totally drives like a ricer and not like an MB. I am surprised that the wonderfull 3.0 motor is now only available in the 4 Matic.

 

Sport mode versus comfort makes all the difference.

I seriously don't know where people are coming up with this stuff. It's no louder than the 3.0, just a different type of sound...

 

This is pretty much how I always felt about the M271 engine. Not to mention its previous reliability which was horrible. I'm sure the new one will be somewhat more reliable, but there's no way its going to meet the reliability of the V6.

 

Only time will tell, so speculation is useless. Suppliers and parts may have changed in its 7 year hiatus from the US, and the turbocharged version is going to have different characteristics than the roots supercharged version.

Statements like
have no merit until we have more of them on the roads.

How soon the 300 owners who are used to being crapped on by the 350 owners change as soon as there's a car with a lower number in the model.

 

Exactly! you could not have described better!

 

There has been no hiatus of the M271 from ROW and it is not the toughest engine. Aside from it's cam magnet oil leaks etc. etc, it's most common failure is that damn simplex chain drive on the cams. We have far too many chains jumping & driving the valves into the pistons. The head problem has been pretty much solved. However - an 1800cc engine working it's butt off will never match the longevity of the V6's. A friend in Malaysia has just sold one of his V6 C240 W203 Taxis at just over a million kilometres since 2003. Doing service from the Regent (now Four Seasons) Hotel in KL to the airport. Zero major mechanical defects in that time. Standard servicing by Cycle & Carriage & lots of brake pads, rotors & tyres & some suspension bushes & joints. We have an E240 in Cape Town doing airport service from our Head Office and it has just gone over 800,000 Km's and drives just fine still. Also zero major problems.

Mercedes is the taxi of Europe. The major choices for good reason are V6 Petrol’s or 4 & 6 cylinder Diesel models.

The last really tough 4 cylinder petrol engine built by Benz was the M111 if you could tolerate it leaking coolant from the rear of the head & it's rough & raucous behaviour. It's NVH characteristics were woeful - In the words of the European motoring press "Coarse. Noisy. Crude. Hardly words you'd expect to hear applied to a car bearing the famous Mercedes badge. Yet, when describing the company's M111 four-cylinder petrol engines – the 180, 200 and 230 Kompressor – all are entirely accurate." It behaved as though someone had cobbled it together in a shed at the bottom of their garden.

Anyway. Even the M111 would not do close to the mileage of the V6's or old inline 6's for that matter – especially the twincam 2.8. In ROW people expect a Benz to last.

I think the M271 EVO turbo performs just fine for what it is but I would not want to own one when the Mobilodrive (Motorplan) runs out. In the US it's OK. The cars are cheap & you can throw them out with the trash. Small turbo engines are part of the future & can run stoichiometric or leaner in this form so they are economical. I would rather let the technology mature & drive a V6 meantime.

 

Glyn has it right as always.

I'm sorry MDMercedesGuy - I have no intentions of offending you. If you prefer the 4 then that's good enough, but as far as reliability concerns go, it's an engine with a very poor track record. Don't fool yourself by thinking otherwise. If it were a different engine then I would agree completely that only time will tell, but time has already told the story for that engine. The good news is there have been improvements to it over time, so many of its most common problems shouldn't be as much of a concern in this implementation.

This is just a ridiculous comment. The 250 engine is what it is, and people are simply stating its faults. The new 350 engine also is what it is - more powerful and more efficient than the 300 engine. It is a better engine. It's just facts man! Only big question remaining for the new 350 setup (in my mind) is how reliability will be with regard to carbon build up under American fuel. Each engine has its pros and cons and that's really all I see being discussed. Feel free to talk about the lack of fuel efficiency on the 300 engine in comparison to the 250 and 350 engines.

 

This is what I am betting on. The C250 is going to be a cash cow for Mercedes in the US. With the new 4 in the F30 3 series, MB knows they can't drop the ball. I used to drive 25K/year - I live pretty much on top of a Metro (subway) station now, and drive about 5K a year. If it is misbehaving at the end of that, it'll be replaced by another one.

Glyn is definitely correct - sometimes being in the US with our limited choices, one tends to forgot about ROW applications.

I don't think it is so much ridiculous as a statement of opinion. I'd love to see exactly how much seat time the people who are commenting on the NVH of the US c250 have. Taking reliability aside - I personally find it to be a much more pleasant engine to listen to than any of the V6 engines. It has a more pleasant mechanical "voice" to me than the grumbling exhaust note of a V6 (not just MB - I'm not a fan of any V6).

This is definitely a concern of mine with the 250. I'd like to hope that an Italian tuneup every couple of days will help with this.

 

I'll bet that US cars have the ultra lean burn disabled as they have done in Asia & SA due to poor gasoline quality. We are a year away from Euro4. They can't fit the latest three way Cats in the US due to fuel suphur & the production of Benzenes at the tailpipe.

Does anybody know?

 

Glyn M Ruck, how do you know so much about these mercedes and its history?

 

An enquiring mind & a lot of work done with all OEM's in my oil company career. See my profile.

 

I really regret getting the 2012 C300 instead of the C350. The 250 must be incredibly slow.

 

The 250 is certainly the least powerful of the current 3, but it's still great compared to the old C240 I was driving - now THAT was a slug.