2012c350

I placed an order for a 2012 C350 back in October. They (dealership) said that it will be built on Jan 26.

So, a few questions...why so long for it to be built? When I've placed an order for my Fords, I had the vehicle in 2 months...

Second, if it goes into production on the 26th, when can I expect it to arrive in Pennsylvania? Never ordered/owned a MB before so any help is appreciated. Thanks.

Also...is there any online way of monitoring the build/delivery of the vehicle?

MDMercedesGuy

I ordered a C250 sedan November 2, and mine is slated to be built on 1/25.

If you ordered the lighting package, that is what is shoving your production date out so far. They are allowing limited numbers of the Xenon equipped production through at a time as there are a shortage of parts due to the Tsunami.

Is yours a South African build (most likely), or a German build?

MB doesn't offer a way to track it through the production process, however once it is assigned a VIN you may have some luck tracking it on the ship (I did this with my smart on a Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship). There are sites like vesseltracker.com that will give the ships location on a map.

I've been doing some research on what shipping routes and who the carriers are that MB is using - but am having a bit of a hard time. Best I can tell, the ship will leave the port of East London, South Africa, go around the western coast of Africa, up through Europe and making a stop at Bremerhaven - then cross the Atlantic and come down the eastern seaboard starting at Halifax, NS, but I am not 100% sure of the routing.

biglee73

I ordered a C63 with lighting package on Nov 8th and my build date is Feb 3rd. Something happened with MB and my dealer which caused the delay.

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/ is another site to track the shipping process. Just get the ship's name from your dealer.

MDMercedesGuy

That's a good one. I have used that one, vesseltracker and digital-seas to do some tracking.

If I had to make an educated guess, my guess is that our January 25/26 production cars will be on the same ship. Going by the date listing here, I would place money on Höegh Treasure on 2/1/2012. From there - probably 3 or 4 weeks at sea if I had to guess - I think yours will be offloaded at Baltimore.

2012c350

Thanks for the info! Yes, I did order the lighting package so that's likely why mine is delayed as well. As for SA vs Germany, I don't know which plant it will be assembled in. Going by the dates you listed I guess I can plan on a ~early March delivery. As much as I'd like to have it sooner I guess the plus side is that it's that many less days to worry about RWD in February. :-)

Thanks again for the delivery info and the links!

MDMercedesGuy

Yep... while I am chomping at the bit, I'm not looking forward to dealing with 18" wheels and snow - so if mine happens to get here after snow season, it won't hurt my feelings. I grew up/am very comfortable driving in snow - but am more concerned about others around me and not being able to get out of their way quickly. I'm not buying snow tires for it for the first year.

I keep telling myself it will just make for a bigger down payment and lower monthly payments the longer I wait

venchka

A few bits of information based on my experience with a GLK350 ordered on Sept 3, 2011.
Bremen built. Lighting package & 6 disc DVD/CD changer ordered. 6 disc changer deleted & single disc player substituted.
Build date: October 11, 2011. Another member of this forum had a GLK350 built on October 10, 2011. The Oct. 10 built GLK arrived in Baltimore 2-3 weeks ahead of my GLK arriving in Brunswick, GA. My guess: The Oct. 10 built GLK was last on a ship and mine had to wait for another ship. If you look at the schedule, these ships seem to arrive in pairs with 5-7 day gap until the next ships arrive/depart. Also, each vessel follows a slightly different route after leaving Bremerhaven and takes a slightly different amount of time.
I think my GLK departed Bremerhaven on Oct. 19, 2011 aboard the Topeka.
Arrival Brunswick, GA: Nov. 6, 2011.
Email confirmation of arrival from dealer Nov. 7, 2011.
Arrival Tyler, TX: Nov. 12, 2011.
The good news for you: Baltimore is the first port on the route. You are a lot closer to the VPC than I am. Allow 3-4 days from VPC to your dealer.
I was never able to learn the name of the vessel or track it's progress.
I hope this helps.

Wayne

2012c350

You just had to go and mention 18" wheels... I keep going back and forth on this. I think the larger wheels will fill the wheel well much nicer, but I'm trying to convince myself that this is just a commuter car and I shouldn't go getting all fancy with it...**sigh**...

Having a 4x4 truck made the RWD a non-issue, other than the fact that my wife somehow now thinks RWD is 100% unsafe under all conditions (don't ask me to explain...I have no idea...)

counting the days, counting the days, counting the days...

MDMercedesGuy

It all started off as looks for me. I didn't really care for the standard 17s on the sedan - they are growing on me, but I figured I would go all out. The only wheels I really liked were the 7 spokes.

I'm a bit nervous about having them with the roads around DC - but I figure that I haven't managed to mangle one of the 15s on my smart with low profile tires in 3 years, so I will deal.

venchka

Keep proper air in the tires. Your Smart has no inertia.

Wayne

daniel1113

Here is the timeline for the 2012 C350 that I ordered at the end of the summer:

Order Placed: August 10
Produced: October 10
Stateside (Baltimore): November 11
Dealership (Richmond): November 14
Delivery: November 16
Rear-ended: December 16

I ordered mine with the lighting package and dynamic handling package, so that may explain the longer wait time. Hopefully you won't experience the rear-ending, too

MDMercedesGuy

Was yours a SA production, or a German production car?

daniel1113

South Africa.

acela11

how do you like the dynamic handling package? mine is coming with that

daniel1113

Sadly, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet. I was waiting to break in my engine and got rear ended at 700 miles. My car is in the shop at least for another 3 weeks :-/

MDMercedesGuy

Holy God... anywhere between a couple of weeks and a month at sea as well.

This makes me think that it probably is going from SA to Europe and across the northern Atlantic.

I'm pissed - my cars are more well traveled than I am

2012c350

UGH! Obviously you're okay...hope the same is true of your car.

2012c350

Another reason I didn't get the 18" wheels is that would likely lean me in the direction of Dynamic Handling Package. And being that my oldest will be driving next year I figured a car with shift paddles on the wheel will only entice him to be as dumb as I was....

venchka

All of the early 2012 C250s that I have seen on the lot where we bought our GLK were built in Breman. That saves 3-4 weeks in the delivery schedule. You could virtually collect your car from the Baltimore VPC. That saves another 2 weeks compared to those of us in the wilds of Texas. If built in Breman, 4-5 weeks from build date, depending the boat schedule. Be glad you aren't in California. South African cars bound for California would be ready for an oil change when they come off the boat.

Wayne

MDMercedesGuy

I want to tour the Baltimore VPC - MBCA does tours occasionally of it.

Dundalk isn't the best area, and the port is very secure. That said, I was in the area the day my ship was coming into port with my smart on it and I was able to get a few pics with my phone.

franki523

New User here and thanks to everyone for all the good info through this process... My C250 says delivered from in Baltimore on 5/18/2012, does anyone know if that means its at the VPC? Also is there anyway to track it from now on other than annoying the hell out of my dealer? I ordered the vehicle from Ray Catena in Central New Jersey and I think I may have worn out the keys on my mac refreshing the search from the shipping company lol!

AgilityControl

I ordered my C350 Sedan September 5th, 2012, dealer emailed middle to late October. I'm guessing from other threads it's coming from SA.

Hardly any C350's in CA, the lots are full of C250's. I drove 3 C-Class cars back to back to find which had the smoothest suspension. I drove C350 Sport Sedan, then drove C300 luxury, and then C250 Sport with Advanced-Agility Control. The Advanced-Agility Control in the Dynamic Handling Package was so comfortable, an option not on MBUSA website as a box to check, but special order item you ask for at the dealer.

Here's Mercedes Benz Audio Link on Advanced Agility Control
http://media.daimler.com/dcmedia/0-9...0-0-0-0-0.html

_____________________
2013 C350 Sport Sedan Palladium Silver Dark Ash/Leather, Park Tronic, Lighting Package, Keyless go, Lane tracking, Multimedia Pkg, and Dynamic Handling package which includes AMG 18" 5 spoke wheel/Tire upgrades.

HaroldStewar

Something happened with MB and my dealer which caused the delay.

AgilityControl

How do you like the DHP? Interesting your order time is similar to mine, but Fall of 2012 and I'm west coast.

AgilityControl

Update: Delay in my arrival date has been moved to Jan 15th, but NetStar VII gave ship name (GRAND ORION) which I am tracking http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=371798000&zoom=10&olddate=las tknown


I am lucky in some ways, I just received the Winter Event Coupon $2000.00 off plus the private offer of $500.00. I'm selling my Q5 to my friend end of December, because of delay they will loan me a car. Signing for car on Jan 2nd, coupon expires then.


AC