ElDiabloJoe

So I'm cruising down the 405 through Long Cheech at 1500 hours today (5/25/05)..that's 3 pm for all you cake-eaters, anyhow... I go driving right up to this guy in a black car. I don't really notice at first, then I realize it's got the front and rear ends taped up. I'm like, cooool, test car. Then I realize it's an E-Class! And it has Distributor plates. Since MB tends to update a classes style every 3 or 4 years, and change the body type entirely every 7 or so, I realized the "New" E (of which I'm in a first year-2003 model) is due for it's style tweaks.

Personally, it seems part of the style update might be new S-class or CLS style headlights instead of the classic 4 round ones.

And THIS is why I keep a camera in my car at all times

Without further adieu, I submit these pix for you'all's opinions, thoughts, comments, and insight...

BTW--It is S H E E R coincidence that MB of Long Beach is visible in the background of one of these pix. The guy followed me at a great distance (especially after he saw me snapping pix at 80 MPH in the rear view mirror) all the way down past the Orange Curtain area, FWIW.

EDJ

etenn

I am not sure that I like it. How did it look in person, Joe?
It doesn't look like a MB.

How do you take pictures behind you while driving?

BoBcanada

thats the new S class... DUh

johna1

It almost looks more like the new S to me?

ElDiabloJoe

Yikes! Cut a guy some slack, I was going 80 mph at the time to try and get these pix for YOU guys,

EDJ

CALBenzo

Great Pics! Looks like it might be an S-class to me as well. The timing would certainly fit. Anyway, I thought such styling designs were performed in Germany?

Nevada Jack

Great spy shots! I don't think this is the S Class. The spy shots in Germany show a pronounced flare around the wheel wells on the new S, on this car they are like the current E. The tail lights are gray taped but sure look like the current E. The grill also and fog lights.

I had also heard that the 4 eyes were going to be changed in the E...they have had that looks since '98.

Were you able to get a sense of the lenght of the car as compared to the E?

My feeling is it is the facelifted E class.

ElDiabloJoe

Ya know Jack, I was mostly in front of or behind it, but the times we were side by side, I felt it was about the size of my car (a W211). I wasn't really able to spend much time observing, traffic and speed et al ya know:p

EDJ

Double Eagle

Great Pics and I think it is the new E class. I saw a similar new MB C class coming down the I-15 through Cajon Pass about two years ago. He was going about 80 also and similar tape front and rear. However, I didn't get any photos and amazed you were able to do so while driving solo in your car.

I like our current E better than the new CLS but the rear deck treatment seems OK. I couldn't make out enough detail on the front photo to give an opinion.

We also live overlooking the ocean and I like your sunset photo. Here is one of mine from San Clemente overlooking the Dana Point Harbor

HELL ONA HARLEY

Looks like the S to me too Joe... If it is an E, I'm glad I got mine before the face lift.

Nevada Jack

You know H on H, if we are having such a tough time telling whether it is a E or and S, it must be the E. No way is MB going to produce a new S Class that is confused with an E Class. This is the flagship car and if it looks like anything it will look like a Maybach.

I still think it's an E...:-)

vraa

I think it's an S. Too early to be testing the new E.

Nevada Jack

With E sales very slow, I think the facelift will arrive in the Fall or right after the first of the year. The lack of sales is hurting them and they need to give a lift to this model quickly.

This is not the "new" E but a facelift.

HELL ONA HARLEY

Yea, I may be wrong but I barely see a resemblence to the E... I mean a face lift usually pertains to some slight tweeking that most people that don't drive these cars will even notice.... This thing looks like a comple design change.

john doe iii

I like the last picture with the Mercedes dealership in the background......anyhow, I hate to admit but it does look like the new E....not only does it look like an E, but the lights look like those of that magazine going around showing the new E on the front (even though we all say it was photo shopped).... I guess we will find out.

alewifebp

This would be a pretty dramatic change for a mid cycle freshening. It is consistent with the styling of the new S. However, I also may say that this is the new C. The front seems very small to me. Although that could be the angle of the photos, and the fact that it was taken on a highway.

Dvinn

Good spy shots, weather it's a S or E class. One thing I notice right away is the tape over where the impact stripes would be, I hope the new model will retain the stripes. This is what gives the E and S class that muscluar look.

NATS64

The rear deck treatment looks like something from BMW. I will keep my W211.

Spartan

First thing....it's not the CLS. The cut line is BELOW the door handles.

Second.....this looks like a very complete and integrated design so this is NOT some cobbled mule. Since the introduction of the S-class is a few months away then it MUST be the new S-class.

You know what they say, if it has four legs and smells like a donkey, looks like a donkey and kicks like a donkey....it must be a mule.

ElDiabloJoe

The more I study the pix, the more I'm certain my first impression was correct, I think it is the facelifted E. The headlights now appear to cut into the fenders the way the S or CLS do now, so say goodbye to the classic 4-light front end. Also, the driving lights appear round rather than rectangular as they are on the current E. Not sure why the seam on the back deck is taped, not the third-brake-light, as they appear to be the same as the current E. Sure wish that front grille wasn't taped up though

PS--I'm positive it is not the new C, it was far too large. I was in a W211 when I took these (that's why they suck so bad), and my impression was that the test car was the same size as mine. And the doors/hood/sides are all identical to my E. That deck lid is more sloping and not the sharp angle that I have now from deck top to deck vertical rear panel (where the MB Tristar goes).

BTW Etenn, I take pictures behind me while driving by taking the pix in my rear view mirror...hence why the guy looks like he's driving English-style.

Double Eagle, your photo attached sig looks like an abstract art piece, I can't make out the harbor. And you're right, the photo in my sig is of Dana Strands beach from the blufftop adjacent to (south of) the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, which is actually in Dana Point. More specifically it's in Monarch Beach, but that's a long story. The long and short of it is that Monarch Beach is an enclave of the incorporated city of Dana Point, and that much of that area was unincorporated Laguna Niguel before Dana Point Incorporated back in 1989, hence why it is Ritz Carlton Laguna Niguel since it was there before Dana Point incorporated and absorbed that area (rumor has it that a LN councilperson had previously pissed off a Mission Viejo councilperson who later became a County Stupid-visor so when Dana Point incorporated the Supervisor/MV councilperson got payback by cutting the City of Laguna Niguel completely from the coast--they have NO ocean border and in fact are over a mile inland at their nearest point to the ocean. But its all conjecture and rumor and hearsay and probably boring the hell out of everyone but me and Double Eagle

Too bad

EDJ

vraa

Would Mercedes eliminate the classic four headlamp design for the E? I don't think so, at least, not in a facelift!

HELL ONA HARLEY

Yup.... Totally agree....

Brav

You're the man Joe - keep it up.

Hopefully our ugly duckling will blossom into a swan.

Spartan

I didn't want to tell you guys before but now that there is all this excitement, I might as well reveal the new E-body



Please don't be alarmed. The car actually looks better in real life it's just the odd two tone paint that throws you off.

Brav

looks like bangle had a hand