TechSuperstar

Been driving a CLK350 Cab for 10 years now. I'm looking at buying a 2015 CLS400 and I'm stuck between two:

Two very similar cars below, but the one with airmatic is $4,000 more. Would you buy one with airmatic or one without but has the other extras? I test drove a 2014 CLS with airmatic just for a couple miles and to tell the truth I really didn't notice a big difference between the settings (maybe I just didn't drive it enough).

I like this silver one. Does NOT have airmatic but does have AMG package, surround view, and active parking.
https://www.mercedesbenzofnatick.com...552fb98507.htm

Vs

This white one HAS airmatic but not those three packages.
https://www.mercedesbenzofnatick.com...168140b1b2.htm

Thoughts? Anything would help.

mschamberger

I'd get the silver one. Airmatic is nothing special and it's a potential point of failure. Surround view and active parking are much more useful in my book.

TNTim

I second that. My car went in to have the Airmatic fixed within a month of me owning it and it's about to have to go in to get another issue fixed (18months later). It's definitely more trouble than it's worth to me.

It seems to be the only thing that really fails on these cars and it isn't all that cheap to fix.

I'd go for a 550 over a 400 too if you can, you won't regret it

bhdien

What are the issues with your airmatic? From what I've read before buying my car, the airmatic seems to be great on the W218.

TNTim

Really? I haven't heard anything good about Airmatic's reliability. My dad has had issues with his on his E-Class too.

On mine the rear driver-side was leaking and that was replaced under warranty. The part alone was $650 apparently. Now the rear passenger-side is dropping and sometimes both rears drop together which has me thinking that the distributor block is faulty. It only does it when the car is locked and pumps back up when I start the car so I haven't been too bothered about it getting it fixed.

unlukky

Parking sensors are just as much of a disaster. Only cheaper to fix.
John

rumb

Airmatic is a fantastically smooth ride. lower it and put in sports mode driving curving mountain roads is awesome. active parking is a complete waste. harder to figure out what it does than just parking the dam car. If you cant parallel park by now.......

TechSuperstar

Thanks for the input everyone! I really wish there was some statistic on how often the airmatic fails. I'm heading over to take a look this weekend. @TNTTim I was originally looking at the 550's but I really like the new styling (front end and electronics) in the newer ones, and buying a 2014 at 5 years old is starting to not sound so good. Although I admit I haven't driven the 400 yet the 0-60 times between the 550 and 400 look awfully close (4.6sec vs 5sec) so I'm imagining the feel must be pretty similar. Of course I could be wrong here.

bhdien

I was in the same debate as you. I went ahead and picked up a 14 cls550 a month ago. I absolutely love it! I am so glad I went with the 550 instead. I'm not too worried about the airmatic as I did my research before buying and it seemed that major of the people didn't have problems. While the problem does exist, it doesn't look too expensive to fix.

bob2011

I used to think airmatic was an unreliable, unneeded piece of equipment. Right up until I owned an E550, then I fell in love with airmatic! The adjustability with a push of a button alone was worth it, but the buttery smooth ride, and the fact that the car won't sag when it's full isn't bad either!

Magnus100

I have a 'bog standard' 2011 new shape CLS 350 which has the spring suspension: rear spring has snapped and I went to a breaker's yard to get another. He went to take it off the donor car and found it was snapped too - makes me wonder whether it's a weak point on these cars, maybe they were all meant to have Airmatic?