SAguirre

Just this last Tuesday (March 24th, 09), when I was leaving the state capital building I was following something that caught my eye. At first I thought it might be a Hyundai, I know you can rip on me for that mistake. When I got closer I realized that it was a W212. The gas cap lid cover that has the paint was broken off, but you could still see that the hinge mechanism was there. I realized that it was a Mercedes because the taillights were way too nice to be a Hyundai.

I followed it for several miles (Eastbound on Colfax). It was amazingly quiet. I thought that it was a diesel since I could hear a turbo spooling sound when I was accelerating next to it. I was in my Audi which also has a turbo, but I’m sure that the sound I was hearing was from a diesel (my RPMs were not high enough to start my turbo going).

The driver was a man in his late 50s to mid 60s. He had a earpiece on and was talking to a microphone as if he was taking down notes. He ignored all my attempts to get his attention. He tried to accelerate quickly once to get away from me, but my S6 had no problem keeping up. When we stopped at stoplights, he was stuck and I was able to take some photos with my I-phone. Sorry about the quality.

You can distinctly see the curved LED fog light of the W212. Also, when I was driving next to it at about 30 MPH, I noticed that there was very minor amounts of diesel smoke coming out of the bottom of the car, not the tailpipes. I wonder if they blew something while they have been testing the car here in the mountains.

I must say that the flair around the rear wheel well is unique to the W212 and this car obviously had it. I was not sure if I liked it from all the pictures I have seen, but it does look a lot better in person.

It has Michigan plates, btw. I followed it on Colfax until I got far enough East to realize that I am not in the best part of town anymore. I had a long day and I did not feel like going to Aurora.

Here are the pics.

Enjoy,

Steve

DerekACS

Good spotting !

From your observations, it appears that this W212 was most likely a E350 Bluetec being tested as part of the homologation process.
According to sources @ MB Canada, the E350 Bluetec will not arrive here for sale until March 2010.

Diesel Benz

What did you find from the pictures showing it would be an E350 Bluetec? The only thing I could think of is exhaust pipes but I cannot remember how those look like on the Bluetec (assuming the US Bluetec would have the same parts as the Euro one).

K-A

That first pic showing you coming up on the car (the same view that had you thinking it was a Hyundai) shows how hugely the rear end is the weakest and most generic point of the car.

DerekACS

The MB official photos of the E350 Bluetec show the same exhaust ports as the car in this set of photos. Furthermore, if this vehicle was in fact a diesel test car, as suggested by the poster, the only W212 diesel coming to North America in the near future is the E350 Bluetec. A four cylinder turbo diesel will be offered next year in the C Class and the GLK, but not in the E Class.

The homologation process for any new power train combination is a very time consuming and expensive process in the US, so it makes sense that MB is now currently testing the E350 Bluetec for market release next spring in Canada and the US.

Diesel Benz

I thought you were referring to the exhaust pipes. But EPC shows the same tailpipe for the E350 as the E350 Bluetec. Perhaps the US market will be different?

Patz

I saw this exact same car yesterday going north on Colorado Blvd. near Alameda. Unfortunately it was traveling the opposite way as me and I couldn't grab pictures. Either way, it was AWESOME! The new E has a great street presence, I'm really liking it.

Thanks for the pictures! I'm guessing they have this car for demos at Murray Motors on Colorado.

erifly

Moderators should pin these photos . These are the best "real-life" photos I have seen where it wasn't all dressed up. But its pretty much confirmed the back is disgusting. I love the front end but that rear end is just too sloppy and generic.

SAguirre

I doubt Murray Motors has anything to do with this car. It really seemed like a Michigan test car. Like the ones that go up Pikes Peak with a "Brake Test" sign on them.

The back of the car is a bit common, but the car did have nice street appeal. I was just quite surprised to see the car in Colorado; we usually have little or nothing to do with the auto industry.

Steve