SAguirre

Mercedes Benz of Westminster just had an Open House where they had at least three W212 sedans and one coupe. It was a very nice event. They also had previous E classes: W123, W124, W210, W211 and the all new W212. It was nice to have them all in one place and check things outs.

I posted pictures of a W212 sighting in downtown Denver a few months ago. I thought that the car looked odd, but it was the a test model with black wheels and it looked beat up. The W212s that were at the event yesterday were of different colors and with different options. I like that car a lot more in person!

I think that I would miss the “rest” feature, having cold air only out of the center two vents in the winter and lights under the side mirrors to name a few things. I do like the all LED taillights. The blinkers are now RED! This must be the first Mercedes to have red rear blinkers!!!!!! My Audi has red blinkers, I am not that great a fan of them since they are not as visible sometimes, but these are dedicated LEDs and they are bright! Also, on the light switch, there is something different now with the front fog lights. I could not turn the lights on, so I could not test it to figure it out.

I really liked the upgraded seats that had the cooling. The upholstery pattern was very retro and similar to the W124 and W123. I liked it. The rear headrests no longer flip back like they did in the past E-class cars. They now slide all the way down (when you press the button in the front). I guess this is safer for the passengers, but they still obstruct visibility compared to the old design when reclined. The interior looked better than I thought it would. The quality was equal or better than the W211. The W211 is more refined and feminine; the W212 is a bit more robust (but still fancy). I think that I will probably have no problem with it when I buy one (after at least two years of production).

There is no battery in the trunk anymore. There is a space where it could go, but I wonder if the Add Blue tank will go there on the Diesels. The side flairs on the rear wheels did not look bad at all. The car actually looks bigger from the inside and outside. The W211 is much sleeker. Almost like comparing the W211 and the CLS. The CLS is much sleeker, but the W211 is much sleeker than the W212. That is OK though.

The front is nice too, but I am not totally used to it. I like the W211’s front a lot, but I like the W212 much more than I ever liked the front of the W210. The only odd part is that if you look at the front of the car from a 90 degree angle, it looks as if the bumper was pushed in under the grill. There is no bumper lip under the grill, but there is a small lip under the headlights. I think that this is a pattern on the new Mercedes sedans, but this is a bit strange.

One stupid side note that is a pet peeve of mine!!! Every single W212 tht I have seen so far seems to have a blank where a button would go if an option were added. On one car, it would be for a rear window shade, but I could not figure out what the others would be for. There seems to be a blank under the ON button where the rear headrest, parktronic and rear sunshade buttons go. Also, there is also a blank under the C/S button in the center console by the COMAND knob. Well, this is not the end of the world but I wonder how much money I will end up spending on these options to avoid having these blanks I so much hate seeing! Stupid, right?

The coupe was nice, very nice, but I am not a coupe guy so I did not really spend much time looking at it. Anyone know if there will be a Diesel 4-Matic for the US market? I saw that they will offer one in Europe. I am leaving for Germany next week and I will be there for several weeks, so I plan to research this diesel 4-matic thing further.

I guess I like the car enough to buy one when I sell my Audi. I will still need to keep the W211 since it is a 4-Matic, and I would put up with a RWD Diesel, but I would still be giving up a Quattro for a RWD. Of all cars, the Diesel needs a 4-Matic to put down all that torque don to the pavement.

Steve

K-A

Good review. It didn't impress me as much in person, but I agree with you about completely on the interior. Not as feminine/refined, more of a masculine "solidity" theme, almost more slightly industrial in areas. I prefer the 211's approach more but like the 212's all in all, even though I've never been big on boxed interiors.

JonMBZ

Not all of them have the battery in the front I think the 550s have it in the rear still or cars with Airmatic for that matter. The looks of the car didn't impress me much, but all the new features did. The car has a mind of it's own it seems. It keeps track of your driving habits and picks up if it thinks you are falling asleep using 70 different sets of instructions eg time of day length of the trip the use of electronics weaving of the car etc and it chimes and warns/asks if you need a break lol. Also there are cameras in the car that watch the cars ahead of you and watch the lines in the road so that if your grabbing for your phone or texting the steering wheel vibrates and makes like you are running over the drunk bumps in the road and it will also chime and alert you. The radar for the parktronic also picks up vehicles in your blind spots and if you are turning it will show a hazard light in your mirror to not complete the turn. The second camera in the windows will also pick up if you have the bright lights on and when a driver is in your FOV it will lower the beam unit so that you do not blind the person in front of you. Also the car has distronic 2 and will also hit the brakes for you if you are headed too fast towards someone and the car detects a collision. It also has the parallel parking function as you pass by a spot going under 25 mph it will give you a thumbs up if you can fit. It will also give you a set of instructions on how to complete the park job by showing you how much to turn and how much to accelerate the vehicle. There were many other features as well I can't remember them all though.

MBNUT1

I think the cars are already too complicated. Just more stuff to go wrong which you can't fix yourself.

I really wish they would offer a stripped down version of the diesel.

arabela

wow i'm lovin it!
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JonMBZ

Just don't buy a p1/p2 package or the lighting package ;p most of these features will not be available then. You can also disable them in the cluster.

AMGTTV8

once the bugs are worked out it's going to be one hell of a machine...i miss my 211 and cant wait for 2 production years to be over with so i can get one when my lease is up

Kieffer

I went to Murray Motors' preview event across town (but get my serviced at Westminster - Tim Leuschner is the only service advisor I will use - he used to be with Murray). I fell in love with the white coupe they had on display. My lease is up late this year. Once I drive one in June (just to make sure I like how it feels), I'll likely order one.

I used to have a policy of never buying a first-year model, but my W204 was built in 10/07 and has been almost flawless. I've had the COMAND software upgraded each time a new version was released so I could get the new features.

And as a side note - in black, I thought the sedan looked very good. It definitely does not photograph well.

konigstiger

350 engine compartment, 550 trunk

silberrosa

and on the E63, the battery is under the hood.

Dema

Interior is my most concern, because I never see my car outside, so why care? From other side, there are a lot w211 around I can enjoy when drive my w212.