All this controversy over what the heck the gauges are going to look like needs to be settled! White? Black? Who knows...

Let us know...

there goes your bubble. they will be black - 99.9% possitive. with aluminum background.

You're probably right, Brav. My dealer said "black", but don't forget about Oslo's post:

White gauges on '04 models

I think they'll look like the pic in the '03 MB brochure for the W211 above the "8:16". This must be a US thing... but MB should make this very apparent to their ordering customers!

I think the world would implode if everything were to go exactly the way we wanted it to Can't win it all. I also wanted the AMG package- which wont be available till March or so. But I cant wait any longer, and that could be added for the same cost as the dealer charges.

I'm sure some aftermarket choices will turn up one way or another. I'm just gonna be excited to actually be driving the damn thing. My first mbz. At least we will have 7G. And hopefully a "bugless" breed of E500's..

Well, if I'm reading Brav's post right, it doesn't sound that bad as originally though. It will seem to be that the gauges themselves will be black, but the surrounds and background will be silver. I still would have preferred all silver, but such is life.

I hope I heard correctly, for the sake of all of us. too bad they cant ship our E's on B52's and do a couple mid air refulings. 2 day delivery after build...

2 day delivery would be nice . Mine is showing built, and should ship out early next week.

I am trying to decide if the gauges mean that much to me... Does the new 7sp trannie and the cornering Xenons on the appearance packaged 500 make up for the loss of the white guages ? I wouls also be adding AV Seats and the Solar panel.

What do you folks think ?

alewifebp
Can you please tell me when you placed the order, and when you was informed about the delivery date?? I'm eagerly waiting for informations from my dealer, but nothing so far

marksatex,
You should take a look at the 2004 brochure before you decide. The black guages aren't that bad IMHO. Attached is a picture. And I think it will look particularly good with the Charcoal interior. Of course, I'm biased since that's what I've ordered, but I like the all-black look with the brushed chrome. In my opinion, the 7 speed tranny and the cornering lights outweigh the guages. Since you'll be adding the other options you mentioned, you'll have a sweet car.

Oslo, I placed my order back in May. MB has explicitly told dealers not too show customers the reports, but most will. In this case, it was built, they have a boat going out early next week, so I am hoping that I make it on that boat. From what I heard, it is 13 days on the water, then up to 10 days to clear customers, then probably a couple of days to make it to the dealer. Beast case scenario is about October 10 or so.

As far as the gauges go, looks pretty good. Probably was done for contrast issues with the totally silver gauges. At least the entire back panel is in silver. Still, it would have been nice for it to all be silver.

Personally, now that I've seen the brochure, I think I like the black guages more than the white. The contrast looks great. I am happy. Especially with 7G, navi, and active headlights.

White gauges on mine. Very glad about it.

traded my 2003 for a 2004 e500 and it came with the all white gauges and no sport badge on ft fender. transmission is much smoother than 2003 and I really like the big screen on the HK radio head unit. Really can't tell the cornering head lights

2003mb and modulated- What are your build dates ?

I visited half a dozen Mercedes dealers in Illinois and Colorado last week (last week of November) and all of the models with the appearance package were still coming delivered with the white gauges. As to the "sport" badge on the front sides though I only saw one 2004 with it and the more recent deliveries had the badge deleted.

One thing puzzling to me though was whether the blue tinted glass was really coming with the appearance package as advertised in the brochure. Nothing on the price sticker label said anything about tinted glass and in the lighting available to me it was hard to see a difference between the tinting of the glass on the appearance package equipped models and the non appearance package E Class cars parked next to them.

1. Tell me where to find my build date and I'll let you know.

2. The window stickers are very misinformative. Mine does not mention the blue-tinted glass, headlight washers, LED brake lights, or even the sport suspension! It mentions the premium leather but there's no indication that it's part of the app. package except that there's no price next to it.

If you build the car at mbusa.com, the appearance pkg. description does not mention the sport suspension either. There's a little footnote in the brochure, which I only saw after folks on this board told me how to get the sport suspension.

I almost overpaid for the new BMW 530 thinking I couldn't get the E320 with a sport suspension. MB should get it's act together on this. (And pleeease nobody say I could've asked a dealer for correct info. HA!)

what is this "sport suspension" you speak of? i thought the E's all had the same AirMatic ( opt. on 320 and stiffer on 55 )

Mine came with white gauges. Now that I look in the catalog ans see the black gauges, I don't know which one looks better.

No problems with my car yet. (knock on wood)

04 E500 with sport here.
August build date Delivery Oct 10.
Sport package has all '03 options (blue glass, led lights, white gauges, sport emblem...)
I also can't tell about the cornering lights, but I'm supposed to have em.

Also new Nav works well.
So far the only problem is occasional (3 times so far in 8 weeks) static on radio or phone (I have voice dialing V60) which requires me to turn off the radio and turn back on.

Otherwise all is ok.

Yes, I mean AirMatic, which to me is a brand name for what is commonly known as a sport suspension (i.e., a suspension which provides for more spirited driving by those who parrot F1 driver Juan Montoya's every move, including following (leading?) him from BMW to Mercedes).:p

i wouldnt call it a "sport suspension" per say. its more of a luxury feature. its simply an adaptive variable suspension that provides greater comfort and capability. many luxury cars these days have simialar adaptive air suspensions. Airmatic is standard on the E500, appearance pkg. or not. just like its standard on the S430 and S500. on the S you might think of ABC as the "sport suspension" where Airmatic is more for general comfort and its adaptive abilities and is therefore standard.

based on your first post i thought you meant a firmer tuned version of Airmatic, rather than Airmatic itself. something along the lines of the 55's tuning. sorry for the confusion.