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Today marks 1 month + 1 day since taking delivery of my 2018 E400. I have traditionally driven Mercedes of various models over 22 years BUT I have been “outside the family” for the past 3 years with a BMW 535d. My new 2018 E400 is Black on (Obsidian) Black, with AMG styling, P3 package and Designo seats (MSRP $78K). It was love at first sight. I would like to compliment LOUM67 on his review of his new E400 and share some additional thoughts after my first 1,100 miles and 31 days of ownership:
SHOP REPAIR
The trunk opener/closer needed replacement in week #3. This is the only mechanical issue encountered although I did experience something I never have in 30 years of driving: I drove over some newly laid asphalt with the usual pebble debris still present. Moments latter I heard what sounded like cow-bells dragging behind the car. I actually thought the muffler assembly was dragging (it was LOUD). I stopped the car, got out and looked under the chassis and saw nothing. It went away when I drove off. In the end, (and another trip to the dealer) this was attributed to a stone getting caught in one of the rear brake shields. Scared the hell out of me. There is a first time for everything
COMMAND system
Coming back into the Mercedes family after a few years using BMW’s iDrive system, I can say without equivocation that BMW has the best in-cabin system by a thousand percent. Period. The system is fast, intuitive, and a pleasure to use. I am a CTO by profession and I have a guiding principal: If it takes more than 3 clicks to get your desired information, the user interface is less than optimal. Getting back into a Benz, after using many earlier versions of COMMAND systems, I found the intuitiveness was no better albeit in a shinier package. Luckily, for a new system I’ve come across only minor bugs : Voice commands don’t always load the contacts from my iPhone (via bluetooth); I notice an occasional lag between clicking and screen response during navigation use; Streaming media from my iPhone (via bluetooth) shows the artist/track but if you want to scroll forward or backward, the display shows only track +1, track +2… not the actual track information; The Burmester sound system ($800 option - not the BIG $4K Burmester system) sounds incredible, truly wonderful; Touch pad is useless to me - it doesn’t register swipes half the time and with the scroll wheel underneath, I haven’t bothered to mess with it further. I have not tried Apple CarPlay or using my iPhone connected to the system via USB.
Adaptive LED Headlights
As LOUM67 mentioned in his post, these lights do a little dance when you start up the car. 80+ LEDS all individually controlled allow for truly superior road-lighting and automatic high-beam control. I have never had headlights so perfect. Now, if only there was an OFF switch (there isn’t one - just AUTO).
V-6 Twin-Turbo
It does the job just fine. There have been only a couple times I have had to punch it. There is a bit of turbo lag but, again, it gets the job done. I get 31-34 MPG on straight highway runs and upper 20s in mixed driving.
Seats and Doors
I wouldn’t have ever optioned a car with $4,000 Designo seats but that’s what came on this car and I don’t regret the expense… These seats are the most comfortable seats I’ve ever had in any car. Smooth leather, looks, ventilated and superior back support. I have not tried sitting in the back seats. I love the ability to control the passenger seat's ventilation, heating, position and with memory save settings too. The doors are heavy, vault - like.
Controls
Mercedes has always prided itself on ergonomics and for a reason: Sitting in the driver’s seat, I feel wrapped into a cocoon of oneness with the car. Cockpit view, instrumentation, controls all envelop the driver into that sense of oneness. My only wish (ok 3) are: Let me set a default to keep the auto start-stop OFF; Let me choose to turn OFF the headlights and let there be more intuitive behavior of the COMMAND system (already mentioned above).
P3 - Semi-autonomous driving
This is why I turned-in my BMW before lease end and purchased this car… I was in Sweden in early August and my brother in-law was too busy talking to notice a pedestrian jumping into the cross walk. The TOYOTA locked-up the brakes. I knew then and there I wanted all the safety features on my next car. The P3 package fit the bill perfectly. It drives in stop-n-go traffic and on the open road. It alerts you when you are coming upon a stopped car (or one that decides to swerve into your lane) and will apply brakes if you are too slow to intervene. The lane keep assist feature can be aggressive: If you start to cross a solid white line, the brakes on one side of the car along with a steering nudge will put you back on the right side of the line. I say aggressive because there are times when this feature isn’t so desirable but there is a button you can click to deactivate it. On my daily commutes, I like knowing the car “has my back” even when I choose to do the driving the old-fashion way. Another feature I learned to enjoy is the HOLD feature. It keeps the car stopped (and the brake lights activated) during those long red-lights without taking the car out of gear.
FINAL TAKE
The car drives and feels like, well, a Mercedes. That is something so unique that no other brand can duplicate in quite the same way.
Last edited by Benz44; 09-22-2017 at 09:14 AM.
Reason: Correct stereo system from HK to Burmester
COMMAND system
I can say without equivocation that BMW has the best in-cabin system by a thousand percent. Period. The system is fast, intuitive, and a pleasure to use. I am a CTO by profession and I have a guiding principal: If it takes more than 3 clicks to get your desired information, the user interface is less than optimal.
Yep. I've just come to Benz from BMW as well, and while the COMAND system may be more elegant to look, it is generally a lot faster and easier to get things done with iDrive.
Originally Posted by Benz44
Controls
My only wish (ok 3) are: Let me set a default to keep the auto start-stop OFF; Let me choose to turn OFF the headlights and let there be more intuitive behavior of the COMMAND system.
I appreciate the contribution of the ECO functionality to my fuel economy, but they really should give the driver a means to select a default setting as desired.
The always-on exterior lighting confounds me. I've never before driven a car that offers no means of completely turning off the lights.
Great review, agree on all your points from my experience.
Originally Posted by Benz44
I have not tried Apple CarPlay or using my iPhone connected to the system via USB.
Am I missing something or are there no other auxiliary inputs other than USB and Bluetooth? Bluetooth seems to introduce lag making me thirst for a direct headphone jack type connection.
Thanks for the comments about your new E400. I've got an E400 Cab on order and am eagerly awaiting delivery. It will be my first Benz. Glad to hear you are enjoying it despite the few software issues. Hopefully that will improve after a few updates.
Great review, agree on all your points from my experience.
Am I missing something or are there no other auxiliary inputs other than USB and Bluetooth? Bluetooth seems to introduce lag making me thirst for a direct headphone jack type connection.
Ok, so this may not be applicable, but in my 2014 E550 there was an aux option....but no ability to use aux because that was the year they started shipping with the lightning cable and not the iphone/aux cable. AFter talking with the dealer, they refused to help, so I did a little research because I hated the bluetooth lag on the E550...it was far worse than my C250. In any case, I ended up purchasing this
It plugged into the MMI port (which I'm unsure if the new coupes have this or not) and basically added another bluetooth option. The lag is nearly unnoticeable in 99% of situations with this adapter....the MB bluetooth is garbage. However, you cannot control music via the steering wheel or car controls when it is in this mode. This device is more for watching video content.
Seats and Doors
I wouldn’t have ever optioned a car with $4,000 Designo seats but that’s what came on this car and I don’t regret the expense… These seats are the most comfortable seats I’ve ever had in any car. Smooth leather, looks, ventilated and superior back support. I have not tried sitting in the back seats. I love the ability to control the passenger seat's ventilation, heating, position and with memory save settings too. The doors are heavy, vault - like.
do you have any problems with interior things rattling as described in the review above? The guy sounded (as he said himself) like a MB hater.
I think it's pretty clear he is not a Benz guy - he spends most of the video complaining about Benzes. Don't know how he got that as a loaner if he doesn't drive a Benz though.
With regards to rattling interior I also get quite the opposite-if everything is off (radio, etc) the car is super quiet. No wind noise, rattles, nothing. Even in my sedans there was no interior noise so don't know what he's talking about. As it's a loaner who knows what it could be.
He also mentions that it handles like crap. For one thing, if he felt like the car was going to flip over, the video certainly doesn't show that - he looks to be in a very smooth, controlled turn. While this car isn't a sports car, it handles really, really well, and jug handles in Jersey I could do in my sleep with one finger.
I will agree with some of his exterior styling comments. Benz seems to be bent on making all their cars look the same. One of the reasons I didn't get another sedan was that to me, from more than 20 ft away the E looked exactly the same as the C and for that matter the new S looks really similar too - with so much cost difference between the cars, they should, as they used to, each have their own unique styling. Similar family look, but I should have to look at the back to tell them apart.
I also agree with his comments on the screen in the other models. It looks like they forget the screen and screwed an iPad in at the last minute. Not the look you want at these price points. I wouldn't have gotten this car if the screen was like that.
Do't agree on the seats. Maybe he doesn't have dynamic seats, or maybe he didn't bother to look, but the side support is perfect. The seat cradles my torso and is comfortable while still being supportive plus it has the most adjustments I've had in any of my cars. The one thing that seems to have changed (though not in the video) is that what they call "dynamic" now isn't what it previously was. My E350 had those seats and the side support would actually move in a turn and press against your torso. These don't. They're supportive, but they don't adjust to movement like they older seats did.
Though he mentions it in the video briefly, this isn't a "sports car" and therefore if what you expect is the handling of a Porsche, get a Porsche. It's a luxury coupe that has some sports-like performance to it. Personally I think in terms of what it's intended to be, the design and performance is where it should be - at least where I'd expect it to be.
Ironically the Infinity Q60 he keeps referring to in it's standard form comes with a 2 liter turbo Mercedes motor! But the Q60 Red Sport that he refers to is by no means a direct competitor to the standard E400 loaner that he was driving! A better comparison would be either a C43 or C63 as the Red Sport is the top of the line Q60 Sports Sedan with an eye towards all out sport! Actually the C63 S would be a Mercedes max effort to compare to the Infinity Q60 Red Sport. But then you get that stupid iPad in the dash in the C class!
I also agree with his comments on the screen in the other models. It looks like they forget the screen and screwed an iPad in at the last minute. Not the look you want at these price points. I wouldn't have gotten this car if the screen was like that.
I don't understand why all of the car manufacturers seem to be going towards this "installation" of the multimedia screen. It looks like somebody just stuck a tablet on top of the center dashboard, which also strikes me as a precarious mounting position from which it could easily be ripped. I bought a CPO 2016 model primarily because it still has a spare tire in the trunk and the multimedia screen is set inside the dashboard, not on top of it.
Just leased a new E400. Previously had an 2012 E550. Of course the power differential is substantial. But while the ride of the E400 is softer and smoother, it functions as I believe it is meant to. I find that speed comes up fast without me knowing it. Power is smooth and linear while not surging. Still getting used to the handling. It does seem "waftier" than my E550, but that model had it's own problem as the big V8 was well out in front of the wheels and always felt nose heavy. The E400 seems much more balanced as I had discovered in repair loaners of the C300. The interior of the E400 is a home run. While not all of the buttons and bells and whistles are needed or efficient, the seats, the dash, the wood, and all the materials are first rate. I installed a sub-woofer in the trunk to improve the audio and still experimenting with the system.
09-21-2017, 05:22 PM
