N.sobevski

PaulE550

First off, it's good that you're looking not only at the purchase price of the car, but also the ongoing upkeep. Not sure what you would classify as a serious repair, but all luxury cars are expensive to properly maintain. Just because the car you're looking at has depreciated to a level that is affordable to you doesn't mean parts for it have. They are still priced based on what the car originally sold for when new. Also unless you wrench things yourself, a good indy mechanic competent to work on these cars still costs money. So if you're looking to buy a luxury brand, you should budget accordingly. That said, the E coupe, with proper winter tires, should be fine in normal winter driving. A 4MATIC in heavy snows will handle a lot better than RWD, but if should you hit a bad pothole at 50 mph and screw up your suspension, the repair expense associated with 4MATIC will be somewhat higher because of the extra components potentially involved. No luxury brand car, from any manufacturer, is designed to plow through deep potholes at highway speeds regularly without requiring expensive repairs. For that matter, no car sold in the U.S. from any manufacturer is designed to repeatedly plow through potholes at highway speeds, in any weather, without requiring repairs to the suspension system. That's what trucks and certain SUV's are for. In normal winter driving with the proper tires, the MB E coupe will handle quite well.

As for 350 versus 550, if you're chief concern is rough winter driving (deeper or packed snow covered roads), the 550 E coupe does not come with 4MATIC, if that is your preference based on winter weather conditions where you live. So your only option in a E coupe would be the 350. Around here, the main roads are usually plowed clean within the day and the side streets within 24 hours, so traction is not an issue. Never been stuck yet or had problems with getting traction or maintaining control. Even with only all weather tires, the E550 coupe handles just fine for winters here. For really bad winter weather, I have other vehicles for those days. Potholes on the other hand in this state are ridiculous and the roads usually aren't fully repaired until June or July. So that is a year round issue in the northeast.

400ixl

I would look at getting a set of winter wheels which are of a smaller diameter (17's) and can have winter tyres with a larger profile fitted to them. This will minimise the amount of force going through the tyre to the rim and ultimately onto the suspension. This advice would be for any car which has low profile summer tyres. You could go with just winter tyres on the 18's, but if it has 19's fitted I wouldn't use them in the winter.

For handling, if you don't have 4Matic, then a couple of bags of sand in the boot over the rear wheels can make a real difference if you find the rears struggling for traction.

a64armt

Rick-F

In mid August I traded my 2014 BMW 535ix M-Sport of my 2017 E400 Coupe 4Matic. Bent wheels is very common problem with the 19-20" BMW wheels--and most all the M-sports are 19 or 20 inch with run flat tires). I don't think the problem is near as bad with the Mercedes wheels. My E400 sits on 18" and I'm very happy with that-- it also has a spare tire which is one factor in why I left the BMW. This is not my first Mercedes, but nevertheless I have great respect for the 5 Series Bimmer.

SMG_CT

If you decide to do with dedicated snow tires, the recommended wheel size is 17" x 7.5" and the recommended tire size is 235/45 17". I have attached the information from the MB 2013 E350 Coupe Owners manual regarding recommended winter wheel and tire setups.

Based on 12 years of winter driving experience in Connecticut on snowy winter road with potholes, I have not had wheel or tire problems with this winter tire wheel combination on an Audi A6 Quattro. My preferred snow tires have been either Michelin Alpin PA2 or Blizzak WS70.

This will be my first winter in my 2013 E350 4Matic Coupe. Instead of running dedicated snow tires, I am going to use All-season, Grand Touring Tires that have a high snow rating. I will be installing these Vredestein Quatrac 5 tires from TireRack. I will be changing the staggered wheel/tire set to a more traditional square wheel/tire setup. Since the US does not allow Autobahn speeds and my E350 has 4Matic, there are no real benefits to the staggered wheel/tire set other than appearance.

I will be using 18x8 ET 35 wheels with these tires. Here are the TUV-approved, Italian-made wheels that I will be using. These wheels using the MB wheel bolts and center caps. This setup will allow me to rotate my tires every 6000 miles and have one set of year round tires.

Here is some information from the MB 2013 E350 Coupe Owners manual regarding recommended winter wheel and tire setups.

N.sobevski

Mr. Toad

I loved my 3-Series coupe, but this was the primary reason why I switched to the E400 coupe: I simply couldn't put up with the noise and harshness of the run-flats on my BMW. I looked at a 2018 MB coupe, but when I opened the trunk I discovered that they had also made the switch to run-flats for the new model year, so I bought a 2016 CPO.

Purple TW

Firstly, I am in the UK, and not all of the models are available over here, especially with regards to 4WD. I finally settled on a used 2009 E350 CGI (C207 Coupe) with low miles, rear wheel drive, with the last of the naturally aspirated engines (no turbos).

Despite the power (290bhp), it’s hard to spin out the rear wheels in (comfort mode), as the car will take off in second gear only. In sport mode from standstill, it gets a bit more “frisky”, as you get the full range starting from a standstill in first. For this reason, given your weather circumstances, the last thing you’ll need is a bigger engine and turbo charging. The E350 V6 CGI is capable of more speed than you’ll ever use in real road conditions. The only downside to this choice is finding a good low mile on the market, as this version of the naturally aspirated car is discontinued now.

These days it’s all turbo and smaller engines, two things you don’t want in the snow – or the dry for that matter. Whenever the dealer drops off a replacement car while mine is being serviced, it’s invariably a diesel turbo recent model (probably one of their demonstrators), and the turbo lag is absolutely dreadful. You tell it to move, the car consults its systems, and two seconds later it makes a decision. Try that in the snow. With the car I’ve got, you depress the throttle, and the car says “what took you so long”.

Stick with the 18 inch tires, which should give you more pothole protection than the rubber bands that come with the alternative. You are unlikely to notice any difference in the way it handles unless you are really pushing the car to its limits. I’ve had this car for two years now, and yes, they can cost a fair bit to get them “fully sorted out” if you’re buying second hand, though most of the expenditure would still be there even if you bought it from new. At the 30k/10 year mark, expect the compressor bearing to start getting noisy, which if left to its own devices can “grenade” taking out everything near it. Then there’s the oil in the diff, which will also need changing at 30k, and watch out for the sun blind making a “graunching” sound, which can cost up to 800 bucks to replace (they have to remove the rear seats, and the headlining, and then the parts needed include an entire rail system, not just the cloth you can see). Having “invested” in everything my car needed, I can now look forward to the next 50k of trouble free motoring “it sez ‘ere”. The next significant anticipated cost will be the cam chain at 80k, which is perfectly acceptable.

Other than the servicing, which works out at about a grand over two years (US). Personal recommendation is to get rid of the “low rolling resistance” stock tires, and replace them with something all season, like Michelin Cross Climate. Perfectly good in light snow, rain, sunshine etc, and will only increase your petrol consumption by 5%. The stock tires are pretty much useless.

These are complicated “luxury” cars, and has been said above, will take a chunk out of your wallet, but in return, put a smile on your face, and provide pretty much bullet proof performance over its lifetime. Driving a Mercedes can a rewarding experience, but only if you look after it. I have driven this thing in the heat, in the snow, through floods, where pretty much any other car would have simply given up. The car will take you through anything, as long as you take good care of it – to fail the car, is to fail yourself.

Check your wallet – and go shopping ……

Harold1898