Callaway

I love the Stone interior color,especially with the Burr Walnut and wood/leather wheel but I fear it is going to be hard to maintain.

I'm not complaining as I knew this when I bought it and would order it again tomorrow, but I would just like to know how you longer term owners are managing with it.

I got the dealer to throw in a set of black MB floor mats which I am using instead of the beige which seems to make a big difference to the floor.

Any tricks or products worth using to keep it looking nice and clean?

Thanks.

drb

A few tricks: Hire a French maid (you lose only one seat), she can live out of the spacious trunk. Cover all seats in plastic. Adopt a morning and evening religious cleaning ritual. Buy a tow truck, place car on the truck bed, drive the truck. Luxury does not come cheap

KShortill

One thing I have learned - regrettably the hard way - is that you must instruct the service technician to tape the fabric strip around the door (that separates the door from the interior), as the folks in the back who work on your car will inevitably drag their oily/greasy boots over the fabric. The only way to clean, really, is to dab at the fabric with goof-off or afta.

drb

I remember the days when the MB customer did not need to ask that their car be returned clean.

KShortill

Sadly, for those of us in Virginia, those days are gone.

drb

Recently, I have more often than not asked myself why I want to drive a Benz anymore. I live in a neighborhood of BMWs and Lexus, and since buying and showing off the 03 MB (without navigation) find the regular ribbing hits home....more money than brains, dupe, clueless, etc. The dealships' tendency to misplace parts of my car during servicing, rudeness, listening to customers complain...all of this is wearing me down. I just do not feel the pride of ownership anymore.

KShortill

I, too, have been having second thoughts, although my thoughts have me thinking I'd rather "go backwards" and buy a late 90's MB, as some of my friends have, and take it to a private garage so I can avoid the dealership altogether. Also, although I love my new E320, I keep coming back to the thought that I liked my 99 SL500 better because it felt somehow heavier and more solid. And it certainly needed to be in the shop less often.

rayscar

Hi Callaway. I too have learned to tape off the door sills when the car is to be serviced. I love the stone with the burl wood too but it is going to be difficult to keep clean. I know others say it isn't too bad but I don't have much time to spend cleaning my car. At this point, I don't think I'd get stone if I had to do it over again especially since I tend to keep my cars for a long time. So far though I've managed to keep the interior fairly clean. Good luck!

bmms8

if you have time to clean your leather, www.leathique.com has great products, i have never tried it, but i will over the summer. and for the sills, carpet, and everything else non-leather, try meguires carpet cleaner, it workes really well with its own foam

KShortill

2,358 posts? How did you manage that?

nyca

carpeted mats are actually easy to keep clean. ScotchGuard for carpets (blue can) when new. Any deep stains, put them in the washing machine (gentle cycle), they emerge brand new. also spray the carpeting in the footwells.

but I would also be interested in hearing from people with the stone leather interior, since leather can be hard to keep clean, especially a color like that that shows dye transfers from darker colors. can't wear a belt with that color interior. also need to be careful sitting with wet, dark colored clothes.

drb, those BMW owners in your area won't likely be repeat buyers of the 5 or 7 series. I also played with a real world mock up of the IDRIVE system in the Audi, no way I want to be joysticking my way down the road in any car.

drb

It looks like I'll have some ammo if any of them take the BMW bait. sweet :p

Callaway

They are two great pieces of advice to tape the sills and to use Meguires carpet care.

I also keep my cars for over ten years so we will see how the interior stands the test of time.

nyca

well, after seeing how the 7 series IDRIVE was panned, I was interested to see how the "better" (according to auto magazines) Audi system worked. they had a full mockup at the auto show. while it felt like a high quality item, and seemed to be well engineered, the idea of using such a system to control major functions of the car is nuts. sure, in time, you won't have to look at the screen to make selections. well then, what is the screen for, if the idea is that once you "train" yourself, you don't use it? Nuts. If indeed there are two many functions to control with traditional buttons, there has to be a better way. Full voice control? I don't know what the answer is, but for me, buttons are still OK.

lig

My leather was starting to look a little dirty - especially on the side bolsters and seat bolsters. Tried Meguiars Foam Leather cleaner/protectant - worked beautifully.

I'll pick up some of the Carpet Cleaner and give it a try - thanks for the tip.




'03 Black/Stone

clembo

I have the Stone interior with the Desert Silver paint, I love the combination but it is hard to keep clean. The floor mats were awful all throughout the winter, I just cleaned them thoughouly last weekend and they look new again but it will always require extra care. The toughest part is getting black marks from shoes on the light stone carpet down by the door areas. I have found a spray carpet cleaner that gets these out but it isn't easy. I'm actually thinking of getting a new color combo if I replace my current E500 with a new car due to the NAV issue, I may get the black interior.

rayscar

I will be seriously thinking of doing the same thing clembo

clembo

Ray, how do you like the Pewter color? Before I ordered Desert Silver my dealer was telling that he thought the E500 would look good in Pewter. I haven't seen any on the road yet. Would you get it again? Would it look good with Black interior?

Callaway

Having the same colour as Ray I would recommend Pewter as it is between Brilliant Silver and Desert Silver as it has a grey/dark brown tone.

I would have got Desert until I saw Pewter,as I felt that Desert was a little too goldern and not modern enough looking for the new E Class shape.

Pewter and Black leather looks great,all colour match black as it is neautral and just highlights the outside colour.

If they offered me a new car I would take Stone again as it looks so good with the Walnut trim but it just means you have to be a little more careful with it.

milkpowder

Oh my goodness, this is an outrage. When and why in the world did MB decide to put fabric all around the edges of the doors! Everytime I give a lift to some friends, I have to tell them to not step onto the edge of the door and keep their feet on the mats. How long can I keep this going for. Even the lower part of the doors have some sort of fabric on it! I agree, it does look good, but it isn't pratical! I will tape my door sills in the future...

Milkpowder

RJC

It would be too logical for the good folks at MBZ to have the lower portion of the door panels in a darker shade like the dash etc. I used to have an ash interior and it was a nightmare. My girl friends honda has a stone shade interior and her lower door panels are also the same light color as the seats but her panels are plastic and although easier to clean they still show the marks. I now have charcoal and enjoy it, I too like the stone but would not want to keep carpet shampoo and trim cleaner in the glove box Some cars do have the lower panels in the darker dash shade, I beleive Jaguar does and the mats are also a darker shade to help conceal the dirt.

LIONHEAD

With stone interior, I notice the carpet area near the door sills gets dirty quickly going in and out of the car. I bought Mr. Clean Magic Eraser and works well on scuff marks.

lig

Nice tip on the Mr. Clean stuff... I'll have to give it a try. I tried some aerosol carpet cleaner and it didn't work too well.

Strangely enough... a microfiber towel and plain water really worked pretty well for most of the dark marks on the lower sill/carpet area.

RJC

NOOO! Mr Clean is an abrasive (I found this out cleaning a scuff on a wall in my home, if you rub too long or too hard the paint is gonzo!) and will damage the fiber on the lower doors in time. Use rubbing alcohol on a towel and dab it over the shoe scuff area...works very well.

lig

whew!

Thanks for the heads-up.