Jlindsey86

Hi everyone. I have been a lurker here for several years. I have loved Mercedes cars for as long as I can remember and now I have found myself in a position to buy myself one. After alot of reading I wanted to bounce my findings off you guys and get some feed back.

I am specifically looking for an '09 W211. I think this is the prettiest sedan Mercedes has manufactured in the last 20 years. I want an '09 for the updated COMAND and the hope that the majority of any earlier issues were sorted out.

From what I have found both the E550 and E320 Bluetec can be had with very low mileage with the bluetecs usually coming in $1-2000 cheaper.

The E550
I LOVE:

• The POWER
• 18" AMG wheels and exhaust tips
• Real leather!
• The fact that more flashy interiors (two tone) can be found in the E550

I HATE:

• The gas mileage (I'm assuming its bad, feel free to tell me your real world experiences)
• Balance shaft engine problems. All three E550's I have looked at fall within the range of having this problem. I'm starting to wonder if there are any W211 E550 that don't suffer from this potential problem?
• Air suspension. It seems like people rave about this however I would have prefered the car without it. Seems like potential for a costly repair.

The E320 Bluetec
I LOVE

• Much cheaper tires (Granted I'm not crazy about the 16" wheels but I can live with them)
• The awesome fuel mileage and almost infinite range!
• Never owned a diesel and the thought of having one excites me!
• No air suspension problems to worry about
• No balance shaft problems to worry about!

At this point I was sold on the diesel until I did a bunch of reading last night. This is the main purpose of my thread. I am curious to hear about personal experiences of E320 Bluetec ownership and longterm reliability. Most specifically related to the 2009 model year.

What I HATE about the E320 blutec

• No leather! (WTF this is a Mercedes right?)
• Almost non-existant with P2 and Pano roof...
• No exhaust tips to gleam over...

Here is the big one: What I need to know is if this applies to the 2009 E320 Bluetec or later models. Apparantly the oil that Mercedes recommends for this engine has the potential to cause it to detonate.

I found write up posted by a Mercedes mechanic who has been working on strictly Mercedes for the past 50 years.
http://www.stephensservice.com/bluet...ssuesproblems/

Basically it is his opinion that in order to get any sort of life out of the bluetec one needs to:

1. Remove the undercarriage panels and keep them off to allow excess heat to escape
2. Replace air filters every 20,000 miles
3. Use a different weight oil than what is recommended by Mercedes. In my case it would be 10W60.
4. Change oil every 3-5000 miles depending on driving habits
5. Use DPF fuel cleaner for EVERY fill up!
6. Ensure ADblue is always full
7. Never use Bio Diesel
8. Ensure ECO is always up to date

He seems to have good reasoning behind his recommendations. However doing this would negate ALL benefits of money saved by being able to get 38mpg on the highway...

I understand that no car is perfect and they all cost money to maintain. But the bluetec seems extra fragile. What are you'r experiences with either the E550 or E320 Bluetec?

LemonSqueezy

The power is nice in the e550, mpg over 70k miles tracked i got about 16.2mpg for commuting. Once it was all city, I got about 12 average. Either way it wasn't wallet friendly when gas was over $4.00/gallon here at one point. Long highway travels i can get about 22-24mpg. Balance shaft problems should only be 06 and early 07 model years but definitely not in 09's.

Luckily no airmatic issues for the 6 years/75k miles i had it for. It rode extremely well even with 19 inch wheels I put on. I threw a c63 exhaust on the 550 and it sounded amazing. The real leather is definitely nice to have too.

cMazara

What about the 350? Excellent mpg, no air suspension, no diesel engine to worry, excellent interior.

I have owned multiple diesels cars and I do not like them unless they are brand new, engine vibrates more, more exhaust gas during time, and many other downs..

Jlindsey86

Excellent question cMazara. I have owned a V8 most of my life and I am addicted to low end torque. Plus I have always enjoyed owning something that you don't see on the road as often. Even if the general population wouldn't notice the difference lol.

John H

2007 E550 owner here.

I have a long long commute so I've been thinking about the bluetec option. I didn't know about the limited upgrades available with bluetec; very disappointed to hear that.

I regulary get over 30 mpg commuting my E550 with a city/highway average over 28 for the last 60k miles.

cetialpha5

I think you're looking at the wrong engine for the balance shaft problem. That was just early 2006-2007 M272 engines. The engine in the E550 is the M273 which is a different engine. It also had some early engine problems, but that was in early 2007 and it's a different engine range. The 2008 and 2009 engines should be fine, but it's a different engine number range. I passed on the E550 due to the airmatic concerns and the slightly worse gas mileage. I like speed too, but the traffic is really bad in this area and too many cops all over the place so you can't speed even if there's room so the V6 was fine. Took a lot longer to find a car with P2, parktronic, pano, folding rear seat, trunk closer and real leather in the E350, but they're out there.

Jlindsey86

Ya'll are right about the M273 engine. I checked the VIN on several 2009's last night and indeed they are clear of the balance shaft problem. This gives a serious nod to the E550.

kajtek1

I have 98 SL500 and 08 E320 Bluetec.
With normal driving both have the same throttle response.
The 320 HP in SL are killed by program on 5-sp, while massive low-end torque matted to 7sp make 210 HP in Btc a "kick-***" car.
SL shines when you red-line, but that is very little use in normal driving.
175k on Bluetec - plan to keep it for next 20 years and yes - mine has leather and even the car is in pristine condition- the driver seat shows some wear.
I wish I had leatherette - the one on my father's 29 yo W124 is still in good condition.

samaritrey

I love my E320 you can find ones with the P2 if you look around and sometimes even leather. That said I like the MBtex better as it never wears like the leather does. I just bought a w204 Coupe with 40,000 miles and the leather is already wearing while the MBtex on my w203 at 215k looked almost new as does my w211 at 135k.
As for engine issues I did have the oil cooler leak everyone has and my timing chain wore out at 100,000 miles which is very rare. I use 229.52 oil since it came out and 7-8k miles intervals and the engine is super clean inside when I looked with a scope. I suspect that most people with issues either used wrong oil, short trips or just didn't maintain the car right.

dave2001auto

As for sludge, I suspect improper oil. Use of gas oil instead of diesel oil
i am suspicious of DPF cleaners added to the tank
the DPF off car cleaning or replacement is an additional expense of $ and time.
dealer want $165 plus 30 to reset oci light plus 7% tax in NJ.
Also fuel filters at recommended 20000 miles but I think with good diesel can go 50000 miles. Filters $25 to $50 plus labor. Not hard to do