whytry

I am in the market for a E350 probably leaning towards the 07 E350 with Sport package and I am noticing they have Xenon headlights, not HID's and heated seats (which my wife loves) and I will probably never use. What I would use is the ventilated seat option, do they offer it on the E350 or only the E500 and E 550? I've seen it on the E500 on one I looked at but all of the E350's I have driven or looked at in person do not have it, is there a way to find out if one I see online for example has this option? Is there an extra button on the dash next to the heated seats button??

THX for the help in learning about if I am wasting my time looking for this or not.....

amdeutsch

You do realize that HIDs are Xenon

stickygreen

Ventilated seats were only available on the '04-'05 (and maybe into early '06) 6-cylinder w211 models. We were lucky enough to get them on our '05 cdi and really wish they were available on our '09 gl bluetec

stickygreen

cooled-seat button is directly below heated-seat buttons

Vik888

I don't know about the rest of you, but I have ventilated seats on my E550 and unless I'm really hot and sweaty and am wearing something not so thick, its barely noticeable. Its poorly implemented IMO. It would have been a lot better if MB had routed AC air to the vent seats.

gaazmon

06+ E350s in US do not come with AC seats (03 - 05 E320s did, mine has it). However, the 06 E350 comes with dynamic seats and heated seats vs the 06 E500 comes with ventilated seats and just manual lumbar (go figure how they figured that one out ).

Dtv211

drive with ur shirt off!!!! LOL

Dtv211

and ur wife too!!!

whytry

Wow, thanks for the info guys!! So the ventilated seats in the older ones doesn't even work that well.... That sucks, I know the Lexus and BMW cars I have driven it works well, that's part of why I wanted it.... Since I am in suits all day I thought it would be a good thing to have.....

For the headlights, I could've sworn the guy at the dealership told me they were Xenons and when I looked at them they were projectors for sure but they were not HID, so are there some that are halogens then? And are those the ones that people are retrofitting the HID kits too?

Are the Xenon's part of a package? Luxury? Premium 1, etc?

gaazmon

03: Xenon's came in a seperate package
04-05: BiXenon's were part of the Appearance Package and came with cornering ability
06: Not sure how that worked since 06 was weird with packages
07-09: BiXenon's are part of the Premium II Package (which also comes with keylessgo and cornerning fog lights and head lights)

All E classes 03 and up have projector beam head lights.

It is very hard to find an 07+ E class with PII package (at least here in LA). From 03 - 05, it was automatically distinguishable that all cars with BiXenon had head light washers on the bumper. 06+, the head light washers come with the sport packages. On a car with this price point, the BiXenon's should come standard. Even the CLS doesn't come standard with BiXenon's.

Also, for 07+, leather is an option on the V6 models.

I love the ventilated seats and use them in the winter. If you want ventilated seats on a E class 07+, you have to buy the E550 (or E63). I think I covered everything

stickygreen

+1: ventilated seats are great...You can't really feel the air blowing, but it definitely helps keep your back from getting sweaty on a hot day. If there was any one option I could add to either my e320 or my mom's GL320, it would be ventilated seats.

As a matter of fact, I am seriously considering upgrading from my '08 Dodge Ram 1500 4.7 6spd to a 2010 Ram 2500 6spd SOLELY for the ventilated seats...but then again, I work on an orchard where it gets well above 100 degrees in the summer.

To add to the previous post, xenons were also available from '03-'05 (and early '06, I think) as part of the "lighting package", as that's how they came on our CDI.

The factory HID's are well worth it, if you dont mind waiting to find a better-equipped car. The HID's on our CDI are fantastic, but the adaptive bi-xenon HID's on our '09 GL are by far the best headlights I have ever experienced. Halogens look like two mag-lites strapped to the hood in comparison.

Scraz51

So what do ventilated seats actually do? Keep cool air between you and the seat so you don't have to pry your sweaty body off it?

gaazmon

It doesn't blow cold air exactly, just air via fans. Some cars blow cold air while others just blow air.

Vik888

For MB, at least the W211's the vent seats just blow AIR. I believe the intakes are on the seat backs so I guess you could turn the AC up and just seriously cool the cabin down to so its intaking cold air, but by then you'll be so cold, you won't want the vent seats on

Scraz51

Hmm that sounds comfortable, I want one lol

gaazmon

When I tested out an Infiniti M45, the thing had AC seats, as in blowing cold air. I think BMW is also AC seats.