SJB E350C

Yes,,,,beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. NO ONE BUYS UGLY CARS. WE ALL BUY WHAT APPEALS TO US!!!!!I agree with the guys who designed the new E coupe. It is GORGEOUS to me and I love my E 350 Coupe. If I didn't, I would not have bought it. Glad you guys like the E sedan. Go ahead and buy one if you like I
like it.

chilledbenz

It was called an E coupe before it was a CLK, so its just returning to its heritage..if you can call 1984 heritage lol. If Benz gets their way they will really anger customers when they call the CL the S coupe.

gaazmon

As a CL500 owner, I'm very pissed if this happens.

The CL was not the same car as the S (at least with the W215). CL500 came with ABC standard and bunch of other stuff (with prefacelift versions, 00 - 02, CL came with BiXenon projector beams, new style windshield wipers, and bunch of other stuff).

gaazmon

I love the new C lights. The new headlight design philosophy is A+ in my book: S, CL, SL, C, etc. DAMN IT MB, why did you stick with quad headlights for the E

K-A

Thing is back then the E-Coupe was actually based off the "E", and was genuine, if I'm not mistaken.

The new one is a C-Class all the way, with some E tech, gimmicks and such, M-B is calling it an "E" to fool people into making a lot more $$$$ on the car.

dmikim

that's because both cars were made by one new MB designer. its like two songs of one composer, they are alike, but completely different.

K-A

About the headlights, the 212's do look a lot like the 204's, just with a slice down the middle. A lot of times, at a quick glance when seeing a 212's front, I still gotta figure out if it's a 204 or 212.

I love the 4-eyed look but kind of think the front would look cleaner if M-B did away with it this time, but I'm not one for supremely angle cut/cubic lights, i.e looking like they were designed with a ruler. Sharp is okay, but I think the 212's are so cubic they just have no flow, I can't stand that odd shape of the inner lights especially.

I agree though that the lights work a lot better with the Sedan's grille. They look awful on the Coupe to me.

If I may put on my "Attorneys hat" . This shows how goofy the Coupe's lights look to me:


This shows how downright awful the lights in a certain angle on the Sedan's can look:


This shows how unsmooth the Sedan's lines are (again, this is a prefferance thing, some like that), along with how off the headlights are with each other mind you this is a E63's pic I'm using:


And this shows how much of a Classic masterpiece the 211's front is to me




All seriousness, thanks to O/P for starting this Thread. Might be annoying to some of you guys, but I love studying and comparing car designs.

gaazmon

someone made a bunch of holes in your front bumper when putting the front plate on huh? Damn dealership idiots. I have 4 holes in my front bumper instead of just 2. What did u use to cover the holes?

E63 front bumper is nasty. Is it me or do the new AMG body kits just come off cheap whether it be on C, E, S, or CL??? Idk. But man, those quad fog lights are starting to grow on me. It's like you get a Brabus front bumper stock.

K-A

Yeah, the idiots drilled 6 holes into mine, if I'm not mistaken. I just had them put screws in them, and paint the screws Pewter with touch up pain. I dunno, I've just learned to live with it.

Yeah, I agree about the AMG kits kinda, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that M-B puts AMG kits on all their new cars, so the cool factor is diminishing. I remember before I ever bought my W211, whenever I'd see one pass by with an AMG bumper, be it an E55 or regular with AMG Package, I'd turn my head and think that it made such a difference.

Yeah, still not feeling the quad fogs, but I know what you mean. They are pretty trick, and stock at that. I just think once we see them everywhere, poor Brabus won't have much of an "exclusivity" factor with those quad fogs they made famous, lol.

SJB E350C

The new E coupe is NOT really an E? Oh my gosh!!!! Someone better contact MB and let them know that they made a mistake!!!!!!!

I like my E coupe and hope all MB owner's like the model that they bought no matter what the name on it says. Guess that is the reason every car company has produced a range of cars for a century. Incredible how possessive people become that their model is the BEST and others are somehow poorly designed, underpowered etc etc etc. No oneis forced to buy a particular model and I do not think MB is trying to "hide" things. The E coupe is built on a C frame. Big deal! Obama's Cadillace is built on a truck frame and yet it seems to be doing the job it was intended to do. My E coupe does the job that it is intended to do and I somehow suspect that the sedan is also doing its job to the satisfaction of MB customers. SIMPLE.

ipp

That's just in the states, in Europe you have to pay around $9.000 to get the Avantgarde + AMG-Package. I also think it was a bad decision of MBUSA to do like that. Suddenly there is a inflation in AMG-styling. And it sucks to see MB giving away these things we are paying a lot for. But still I'm glad we have the opportunity to stick out from the masses.

K-A

Absolutely agreed. Out there you can still have a prideful "unique" version of a mass car, with a premium cost in the AMG Package. Out here, the AMG Package means garbage now really, and once the 212's start flooding, it really will be a meaningless thing, i.e simply "stock" and normal. I admittedly wouldn't be too happy owning a 211 without the AMG Package, it's the only thing that makes my car stand out from the 10,000 other ones driving next to me.

K-A

What you say makes perfect sense and I agree.

Technically though the E-Coupe is really a W204 through and through. What the point I'm trying to make is, the car is really deserving of a C-Class price tag, with an obvious mark-up for the extra gizmos and interior aspects, etc. However, M-B giving it an E-Class name and tag is purely something done to fool the masses, and justify a higher price, i.e higher profit. They did it with the CLK too, so nothing new really.

ipp

Maybe having a _fully_ loaded P2 standard version is the way to stick out in the US?

Rowrbazzle

What are the differences in the 211 with and without the AMG kit? How does the AMG kit-equipped 211 differ from an actual AMG 211 (engine excluded, obviously)? The AMG kit was a few thousand dollars on a 211, right?

K-A

Aesthetically it's still the same looking car, really the LED fogs are the only way I think to differentiate the 212, rims I'd say are a give or take, as there are optional ones, but they aren't necessarily "upgrades", and they're not actual AMG rims, although they do look better IMO.

It's basically the same thing as the difference between the Lux and Sport 212. Different body kit, wheels, dual exhaust w/ AMG tips, lowered Sport Suspension, etc.

Yeah, on my car it was almost $5K on the Options sheet. Before '09, it's hard to find an AMG Packaged 211. I don't mind driving a popular/high selling car, but I just need it to look a bit different than the rest, OEM wise, just makes the car enthusiast part of me feel special I love the older era's of M-B when whoring out the popular aspects for mass-Sales weren't the highest on the agenda list, for example, with the original 211's, you could buy an "Elegance" model, an "appearance" model, then the "AMG Package" model, and of course the true AMG. Just made things a bit more interesting, and each package had pluses and minuses over each other at the same time.

I wish M-B let the AMG Packaged 212's remain exclusive, and since there is such a difference between how the Lux and Sports look, if you had an AMG kitted 212 during especially its first couple of years, you'd have a hellava unique and stand-out E-Class amongst the rest of the normies. In fact, and I'm being totally honest here, let's say one day I did come around to liking the 212 and wanting one, the fact that they all have the AMG Package would be a deal breaker. Same as the F10 5-Series, I love it, want one now, but will wait for the M-Sport Package.

What really sucks is the actual AMG buyers are getting cars that are virtually indistinguishable from a regular, "base" E350. Enthusiasts will be able to tell of course, but even then, the differences are relatively subtle.

gaazmon

damn dealership idiots. they'll never learn

ya, i remember the AMG package for the E (before facelift) was very rare. If you saw one it was like damn, how'd he find that, since the appearance (sport) package was the more common sport package. It was only common on the S, CL, and SL (since it was either stock body kit or AMG). Also the CLK500 came with it stock. Actually, the prefacelift E's with AMG body kit came with the same front bumper as the E55 vs the 07+ and W212 E's with AMG body kit have a different front bumper than the E63 body kit (different fog lights and side slits for air). For 06 MY there were actually 3 different sport packages: appearance package (what I have), sport package (which is the same body kit as mine except with the 10 spoke rims and exhaust tip), and then there was the AMG sport package (which is what K-A has). 06 was actually a weird year with the packages being discontinued half-way through the MY.

K-A

Yup, exactly. You're an old school Benz lover like me. We appreciate those things, just made the brand seem so much more "prideful" to me. When I see a well equipped, AMG Package W210 for example, I just see it as a classic, when I see a normal one, not as much, makes that much a difference to me.

I love how '06 was, when I was looking for my car ('06 specifically), it made it a lot of fun actually trying to figure out which one I wanted. Then I saw an AMG Package and was in love, rarely saw one on the road, and it looked nearly identical to the E55, from the factory, so I wasn't worried about "posing", hehe. Took a long time to find one though, but it made the outcome more worth it.

Rowrbazzle

So a 211 with an AMG kit looks pretty much identical to an actual AMG 211?

ESIX3POWER

"don't mind driving a popular/high selling car, but I just need it to look a bit different than the rest, OEM wise, just makes the car enthusiast part of me feel special "

Dude what are you talking about ? Feel a bit different ? lolol Your car is literally a dime a dozen on the streets, there are more W211 E350 with the AMG package on the road than any other car these days. Every where you turn your head you see that 350 with the AMG package. Check out the auction prices for your car, you will be amazed how cheap it can be had for.

Also, as we have all previously discussed, looks are subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Its hard to argue looks, we all spent the $$$ on these cars because we obviously appreciate and admire the looks.Throw looks out the window,The bottom line is that the W212 is a Better car than the W211, period. You cant argue that because you will only look like a fool. The car is much improved over the previous model.
The car handles better with out any doubt,Its smoother, 30% more rigid,Quieter, The d/c is better, The new W212 is the most aerodymanic mercedes sedan ever. Most owners will tell you,it rides like an S class.

K-A

[QUOTE=ESIX3POWER;3837583]"don't mind driving a popular/high selling car, but I just%

gaazmon

A prefacelifted E class (03 - 06) is very hard to find with AMG sport package. Even the 07s, since only the Saks editions came with it. However, you are correct about the 08 - 09 350's, there are tons of them. Especially 09, since it became a no cost option for the last MY. So with the 09s, pretty much every one of them has the AMG sport package.

wildcard011

Here is my C and E, Had a lot of fun C, before I moved on to the E. These are awesome cars, had a BMW 3 before the C, that was also very nice. Really like the new look of the F10.

K-A

^^ Nice, congrats on the nice cars! You're E looks nice, and agreed about the F10

Dunno what happened to my Reply up there, but my point is your 212 is gonna look identical to all the others on the streets, which is my gripe. Sure, the 211 is a good enough and timeless enough looking car that it sold well enough in its 7th year to have the AMG Standard ('09) models out everywhere (in a bad Economy at that). However, before '09, the AMG Package is very rare on a 212. I can probably drive by 50-100+ 211's before seeing an AMG Pack, and you can't drive by any 212's without seeing one, because it's standard and "normal" on them.

Not concerned with Auction prices, we're driving M-B's, none of us should be bragging about re-Sale value. If you want to talk money shenanigans, then my specific E350 probably cost as much as your E550 when it was new, thanks to M-B's major $$ reduction for the 212, and the fact that my cars AMG Package cost about $5K, again, before they starting whoring it out.

Anyway, I agree with you on that last part, I was one of the firsts here to drive a 212 and "Review" it, before they even hit the lots. I was in love with how it drove, just like my car, just did everything a bit better, tighter, and more confidently, good by me. Aside from my opinion of the design, and the quality and refinement of the interior and its materials, no doubt the facts show which car is engineered better, as it should be, newer HAS to mean better engineering and improvements to the driving aspects, never hasn't been the case.

ESIX3POWER

Yeah i was wondering what happened to your reply there, lol.. My 212 will look identical but my 550 badge will be a lot rarer than the 350.. Im also looking into adding some nice wheels soon and smoking out the tail lights.

Actually I read your original review ,solid write up. Too bad you dont feel the same way about the exterior as im sure you would prb have been very interested in getting into the new E class if you liked the styling.