Callaway

After recently posting a topic relating to interior colors and the choices available to me,I started to think back to when I ordered my first Benz back in 1986.

A W124 230E (which I still own today in showroom condition), I seemed to remember that there were more color decisions I had to make back then.

So yesterday I pulled out one of my hundreds of MB brouchures and checked the color chart of the W124 range (official English language brochure,printed 1990) available at the time.

To my amazement I discovered that there were 8 different leather colors and a staggering 23 standard external colors, including both metalic and solid.

Compare this to the W211 where there are 4 different leather colors and 15 standard external colors,both metalic and solid (official English language brochure,printed 2002).

Wow,what a difference!!

I know that Designo exists,where almost any color is possible,and you will pay handsomely for the privilege, but the W124 colors were all standard order.

Obviously,cost cutting is a major factor but I wish we could have a few more color choices,especially for the interior, to add more variety and give owners a larger palette from which to choose both there internal and external colors.

Maybe then we would see a lot fewer Brilliant Silver Benz's on our roads.

Your thoughts.

MBZman

I totally agree, especially with the interior color choices. I don't know what happened but it seems that quality leather as well as color choices have become a rarity. When I purchased my car I had a choice of charcoal or Ash interior, that was it!

Mellow

I absolutley agree the new colors are soooo limited , its not bad enough that so many of them are ill defined or lack character, i guess this is in order to keep with the trends and offer something new, in the process many of the older solid colors are gone, and we get like four or so shades of black!.........we had such a hard time deciding what color to choose on our new E, , we setteled for plat blue coz light blue or anything in that color range wasnt available, then after seeing it in the road found that depending on the time of day it was a mix of blue and grey (mind u i am aware that to some this is a good thing), so we went back to the dealership today and were lucky enough to be able to change it, while brilliant silver is the natural color that comes to mind as stated earlier there are just too many of those on the road everywhere, so we eventually chose pewter/cubanite silver which we considered a compromise, before i get a barrage of angry posts i would like to say that we liked the color (hence why we chose it) but it still wasnt a case of walking in looking at the color palate and saying 'thats the one' it was a sort of 'im cornered so ill have to take this color, i guess its alright' situation, then came the interior......ditto the exterior situation, family came out of the dealership straight up dissapointed , i guess pewter will grow on us eventually...shame on you MB

dtm

I agree color choices are abysmal...three shades of gray, three shades of black....hard to differentiate your car these days, maybe that's why there is so much talk on this forum of customization and debadging!

jhb

Is the "special order" for color of interior and exterior a means of selecting any color, whether on their chart or not, or just a means of selecting a color combination from among their chart that is not otherwise offered without an additional charge? If the former, that $1150 is not bad to get whatever colors you want.

I assume that the limitations of colors is a cost containment matter and the colors to be retained a "marketing department" decision. Many, if not most, other manufacturers are doing the exact same thing.

Having said that, I am very pleased, as I think you will be, with the Pewter, one of the new colors this year.

Jeff

androza

How about just giving us that rich, golden brown color of a Java interior, definitely one of the most plush looking interiors on the old E's.

Callaway

I'm glad that I am not the only one to feel this way!!

Mellow, I had a similiar experience to you choosing my color.

I didn't look at the chart and say that's the color for me,but rather with such a limited choice had to work backwards and dismiss the colors I hated or could not live with everyday to make my decision.

Same problem with the interior.
To match the Pewter I would have loved a darker brown tone like on the W124 color chart which gave me a choice of both Light Brown and Cream Beige but had to settle for Stone as it was the ONLY brown/beige color available.

I just wonder whether for the update MB realise there mistake and increase their color range after I have already taken possession of my new car.

Now that would sting!!

Callaway

Just to add.

Yes Androza, I agree they should never have taken away Java,it was a very neutral color that matched a lot of exterior shades.

MB in their "wisdom" deleted both the brown/beige colors of Java and Quartz available in the W210 and replaced them both with just the one for the W211,Stone.

Again,another example of reducing your color choices.

Mustard

The color choice is so limited, and its frustrating. Heard today that MB is even stoping choices of color on some cars - eg sand/stone is not only not recommended with Jasper - it is not even available!

In deciding for the SL I'm buying there's probably 6 shades of silver or grey, two blacks, one blue (the most popular color for new European cars according to a new survey) and excluding Tanzanite which is really a purple, then a strange green or two. Its truly limited.

I would like to see cream leather back - it goes well with blue, red, black, green or any darker colour. The leather (which apparently is now cheaper than cloth to buy and use!) can be far more coordinated with exterior colors than it is at present..

I'd like to see a dark blue, and a couple of in-between blues, especiially like the Porsche and BMW blues. Then a few more earth colors, and a greater range, without paying for designo.

The trend seems to be having all MB drivers in silver cars....

androza

2008 Mercedes Benz press statement:

"Customers can get their new E class in any color, as long as its silver"

Ed Etkin

We too had trouble deciding on a color, until we visited our dealer who basically said -- brillinant silver or black was all he had at the lot.

We finally managed to get alabaster white, which is a surprisingly good-looking color, especially with the black glass panoramic roof.

However the interior is ash and to be quite honest with you -- light grey interior for a white car just does not do it for me. Beige or cream would be far more luxurious (although I dont know how the black birds-eye maple would look with those colors).

I agree that the older MB interior colors were very appealing (and the wood seemed thicker and more "real").

dtm

Worse yet, when my 04 E500 4Matic order was entered into the MB ordering system, I was told that color choices for 4Matic would be limited to Black, Black Opal, Silver, Pewter, and White. Hmmm, black, gray/silver or white.....I may lose sleep over thse distinctive choices....

Mustard

Yeah, so true, black, white and every shade between.

Maybe thats Germany these days...

AMGLAB

The classic colors for a Mercedes have always been silver/black or black/tan(Java) . Stone is not close to Java in appearance. The lack of a Java interior in the E class this year was one one the many reasons I canceled my order.

Callaway

What did you do/get instead?

AMGLAB

A 2003 S 430 with the Sport option.

Callaway

Nice!!!!!!

And the color combination you went for??