Benz-O-Rama, that was a great you tube! My E350 cant do that.

 

No I have not driven the V8. I will have to try a V8 when I turn this one in. Have you tried the newer V6? It really is quick for a V6 and it actually sounds good at full throttle.

 

K-A, I agree with you. C350 seemed like lower quality. Not saying it was bad but reminded me of a nice Honda Accord

 

Yep .. like I said earlier I drove the C350 and thought it was a great car but the E-series still has a much smoother ride .. hence the $20K price difference!!!!

Nickelmania-Dal,

I have driven the newer E350 with 268HP and it is a great car .. good pickup .. smooth .. but the E500 still 'feels' more powerful ...

 

Thanks. Not a whole lot of 500's that can do that either.

 

Agreed.

And agreed. I had the V8 in my S, and it's power delivery is remarkable, a perfect engine for a Luxury car, doesn't ever get too loud and screamy, enough torque delivery to never feel like your lagging or to force it to get too loud. Linear and smooth, I wonder if the E550's motor is as smooth as it's a 4V and more performance driven. The 3.5 V6 is remarkable indeed, sounds great at WOT (and I always hated the V6 sound), whilst still being quiet and delivering its torque early enough to not wind-up excessively to get moving.

 

The 550 engine (from my experience with it when it was released in the S550 in mid 2006) was that it is much like the V8 from the W210 E55. It had plenty of power and really moved the car good.

 

i see guys...so most of you would say that C350 is good, but its not as smooth as an E...if only i had money id get my dad an E and get myself a C...stupid economy

 

The C350 is a nice car IMO. A bit small, but a good solid daily driver. The MM package and P2 package is a must.

I just wish they offered Keyless-Go in the US - they do not, but the do in Canada. Strange.

Keyless-Go is one of those options that is hard to do without once you have had it. I guess I carry too much junk in my pockets and digging out the keys is a pain.

 

As far as the engine goes, I would say the C350 is as "smooth" as the E350. Its the C350 interior that feels and looks a bit cheap for a Mercedes that I dont like.

 

Yes - but that appears to be the direction MB is going. I like some features of the W212, but I am not crazy about the steering wheel being the same as the W204 (in the pics I have seen). I also don't care for all of the chrome switches in the W221. I think the W124 and W210 has some of the most attractive interior of recent Mercedes-Benz vehicles. Well, really many of the cars from that era were nice. I really like the W203 interior (2005+) and thought it looked much better than the W204, but the W204 has the better technology to go with it which makes it a little more attractive now. I have always thought of the W203 (no offense intended to anyone) as more of a female's car. The W204 could go either way.

I do really like the 164 interior too - I think MB did an excellent job on that.

Nothing really stands out in the W212 yet - I don't care for the rear-end. The front end is OK, but I really will miss the oval headlamps. I don't care for the rear doors (looks too Japanese). But - it is an MB so I feel sure it will drive excellent and perhaps I will like it more when I see it in person. I don't expect to own one anytime soon with the state of the economy.

 

Good thought about MB direction. Here is a question....Would Mercedes be more prestigious if it only had 3 models like the old days?? How would Mercedes be looked upon if they only had the SL, E and S to choose from?

 

Yes and if the E was more expensive (relative to other cars) I am sure it would. If it were the early/mid 1980's, many people that own these cars now (me included) could not afford them if the price increased like others vehicles, but relative to other cars, MB has been pretty flat or actually decreased. My 1983 300D was $34,000 new. That was very expensive for the time.

With that said, MB is a corporation like any other and is in this business to make a profit. I am not so sure they care about being "prestigious" as much as they do making a profit. I am sure they had rather flood the market with more models and drop down a little in price and become more affordable to sell more units.

For example, year over year for at least the about the past 15 years (last year being an exception) the sales have increased for MBUSA.. And one would argue they have produced some of the poorest quality cars in this time frame.

They are really riding on the image they created in the 1970s and 1980s for sales which carried them through the slump - I think they are probably coming out of that now and producing higher quality cars. But as long as they are selling more units - I think that is what matters most to them.

One indication of this (which I guess is a pet peeve of mine) is the use of "blanks" in the interior. In the past - with the W210, W140, W220 and before, there were no "blanks" anywhere to be found in the passenger cars in the US. Starting with the W211, if you didn't have a rear sunshade, heated seats, ventilated seats, etc., there were several blanks staring you in the face below the radio.

On the W210, if the car did not have an option, it had a different wood panel. While much more expensive to manufacture and keep parts on hand, I expect this kind of quality and attention to detail in a car like MB.

The W212 will be worse. I know one of those buttons below the radio is for the auxiliary heater. If the past repeats itself, that option will NOT be available in the US. So that means that all W212s will have a blank on the right side of the set of buttons below the radio. Same for the current W209 (CLK) and W203.

All MBs always had their "swiches" surrounded by wood trim in their mid to highline cars. It appears this has gone away in the W212 - all plastic.

 

Yes, I agree, less models would be better. All they would need is the E, E-coupe, S, S-coupe, and SL. Well they are already getting ride of the CLK for the E-coupe and the CL is being changed into the S-coupe.

Another thing that pissed me off during Christmas time was that they had sooooo many MB ads on the radio and tv. I thought, WTF, I didn't know I bought a Honda or Toyota or Kia. I was ready to call MBUSA and be like WTF is this??? There was no way near just as many BMW or Audi commercials.

 

what is SBC?
and what does it do?

 

"The 07+ 350's have leather as an option, another hard feature to come by, but no biggie"

What do u mean with leather? what else would it be?

 

i think there was an issue with SBC brakes but there is a free fix at any dealer. when i got my e500 i took it to the dealer and they did a bunch of free recall stuff.

 

Three months later, did the guy even buy a car?

 

mb tex (leatherette/vinyl)

 

-- Almost everything stated above is backwards. And I also recently considered upgrading to the newer '07 E350 or E550. But the only one of this series of cars truly worth upgrading to is the E55 AMG. Now, it is true that the newer E350 is more technologically advanced and definitely enjoys better fuel economy due to it's smaller engine size but the reality is that the E350 resale value in the future will be no better (and in fact, probably worse) than an earlier E500. The simple fact is this: That aluminum Mercedes-Benz 5.0L V-8 engine is a rock solid, time tested 4 cam/32 valve design with a long, rich history of incredible longevity, durability, reliability and high-performance under the hood of everything from the E-class to the S- and SL classes. I've personally seen examples with nearly 300,000 miles on them that still run & handle like a nearly brand-new car with a tenth of the mileage. And the all-wheel-drive (4Matic) versions are even more desirable, are showing higher resale values, and handle better than any 5-Series (528i/535i/550i) I have ever owned or driven. After four BMWs and nine Mercedes-Benz vehicles since 1994, I simply refuse to drive anything other than a Mercedes-Benz or Lexus LS or GS at this point.

If you're going to do anything otherwise, upgrade even further! Go up to the newest body style E350/550 with it's stunningly gorgeous front facia, featuring those tilt-mounted triangular headlamps and that beautiful new front grille.

My daily driver is an '05 M-B E500 4Matic and my wife drives our 2006 Lexus LS430. Aside from my other Mercedes (a 1985 300 CD turbo diesel) my current vehicles are the best two cars I've ever owned.