Stuttgart-UT

K-A

That's a '10 model. Ugh, looks like they just turned all the flowing curves of this body into sharp edged lines and voila. Designs like that become dated fast IMO. We'll see how it looks upon further inspection though.

BoBcanada

enr1co

appears 08' Accord-ish from the front but Im sure the looks will grow on me...

enr1co

[QUOTE=BoBcanada;2999466]


....now it looks to have taken on some of the 2006 Accord lines...

MercFiveHundred

Interior looks terrible. Like a BMW + C-Class mix. Very boxy and not as smooth as before. The exterior looks good (except that the tail lights look like a Hyundai), but i agree with K-A, wont last.

enr1co

I thought it might just be the contrasting colors/wood but even if the tone was uniform the interior lines are too boxy for my liking.

gres817

[QUOTE=enr1co;2999609]And back looks hyundaish:

usc96

The back looks fine. The front looks horrible, and reminds me of a cadillac.

notjustshrawan

Check this review out- They got everything covered-
http://indianautosblog.com/2008/08/r...-benz-e-class/

Barry45RPM

Interior (especially the placement of the wood & padded dash arch over the cluster) is a huge step backward... to the W210 look. Yech!

baxterdown

FAKE!!!!

Look at this image



The W212's shifter is on the column (ala ML), not on the floor like in those butt ugly photos. Autobild, once again... sad, sad, sad.

j.

K-A

Honestly *if* that is it, it's hideous. The interior looks like an old school Benz, and M-B has always had a knack for making beautifully flowing lines, this thing goes against all of their strong points. Looks like they're trying so hard to follow trends you can barely tell it apart. The thing looks like a Korean/Japanese hybrid with some German and even sharp-boxy themed American cars. The rear is the worst, it does nothing to say M-B like the 211 does, I mean definitely Hyundai to the nth degree.

I personally don't believe in the term "growing on me", I think that's just a way of accepting what's in front of you because....well you have to sometimes, when you meet a girl/guy, you don't say "not for me but hey, I'll stick around and she/he'll probably grown on me"....At least I hope not, hehe IMO if it isn't stunning at first sight, in reality, aside from the politics of having to let it grow on you, it isn't genuinely beautiful to you....

Also, as much as I do like the new S-Class and would love to have one, they could have done more to make it look LESS like a Toyota Camry....I mean I used to hate the Camry so much, and now being used to seeing the new S so much, it has me really liking the new Camry

//Rant off\\

dieseldoc

I will have to see it in the flesh to pass judgement.

Dema

Since the car doesn't have manual anymore, moving shifter to column gives lot of real estate which can be used as extra storage space and cup holders. This solution even better than Jaguar uses in FX.

usc96

That one appears to have paddle shifters.

LaicepsYdobon

OK these pictures are not of the real car. These are renderings of what the Autobid guys thought the car will look like based on the current trend MB is following with the styling.

K-A

Ahh, that adds some hope. That front end picture so looks like a Gotham city mobile, haha....Maybe the only aspect of those pictures I personally like.

pmb600

Another real shot of the interior. The autobild one is very fake looking.

Scraz51

The E class is such a nice car, and I personally think they could have done much better than this, especially on how well they upgraded the 203-204 and 220-221. I mean seriously, it looks like the only geometric instrument they had was a ****ing ruler.

Dema

Fake interior looks like 5 series.

Trango

Well said - couldn't agree more, and not willing to accept this design. We need to send a clear signal though. This is not luxury, this is not beautiful. This is Asian "I don't know what to design so I'll throw in some weird curves and lines".

Untertürkheim

Are we sure that the W212 will not have manual? Almost every 4cyl is bought with stick, especially since the 7g is only offered on 6 and 8 cyl models. The E220 CDI and E200 K are the two most popular models, I doubt they will only come in 5AT.

Diesel Benz

The US market may not have any manual gearbox option but the Euro sales would go down a lot if there wasn't one (although the smaller engine options too are becoming more and more popular with auto-box).

The Comand controller doesn't take the space it does on the W221, I'm guessing they have a different arrangement for the centre console to make room for the manual gear stick.

Many don't like the W221 like gear selector design but I consider it a lot better than the traditional one. Not that it would be better for gears, it is hardly needed for that when there are button on the steering wheel. But the other stuff are a lot easier to handle when the gear stick is not in the way.

But who knows, perhaps the manual tranny will be replaced with an electronically controlled manual tranny, other makes already have those dual clutch types and similar that appear like an auto box but are more like manual boxes without the hydraulic torque converter.

LaicepsYdobon

I'm with you on this one. Out of all the renderings that the magazine published I only like the front of the car...and that's not saying much