aeggroup

I'm very confused....and never noticed any difference between Mobil and others...., but..anyway...yesterday, first time since I got this car - I put it in Sport mode ( it's 950 miles on the dash...so it's time ).....Maaaan...what a difference it makes.... My previous car was RWD and it's always faster than AWD, but not with this car.... very fast and sporty...

DieselNY

Yes this new E has way more pep than the previous. Also is it me or do you get better gas mileage in S mode?

aeggroup

I can't tell you yet. I've tried S mode for 3 min and switched it to C, because my wife drives the car during a day and she doesn't care ..the only thing she cares is MB sign on a hood ))
In general - gas mileage sucks compared to my RWD model...but I understand why....
BTW....I like your wheels better than mine..even my package cost money ))

DieselNY

So far I am getting around 18.3mpg and I do not do any highway driving. The W211 was getting around 19.1-19.2 and I did a little more highway driving there but hardly any. I will give it another month or so and see what happens but with the winter months I always get bad MPG so maybe come spring time I will see if it goes up at all.

aeggroup

How do you calculate it ?

DieselNY

On the trip section of the screen on the dash, I think it is under "from start". I can't recall which one is from the start of the day or from when they car was 1st purchased. There is "from start" and "from reset" which BTW is the opposite of how it was on the W211. Look at the one that shows your 900+ miles on it under the start or reset and that averages your MPG since you got the car and the other avgs your MPG for that day of driving.

aeggroup

Yea..I know that, but I reseted it couple times already.....and...honestly...it does not come even close to the numbers you saying....I think it says something close to 15mpg....but I'm doing mostly Manhattan/Brooklyn driving....I'd say 70%city..30% highway..
Hmmm.....My old car was a bit better, but not much )

DieselNY

Oh ok I never reset it, the W211 had 25,000 miles when I turned it into MB and never reset it and I think it was at 19.1 when I got rid of it. I find no need to reset because the daily MPG is there for me if I just want to know how I did for the day but for the life of the car I want to make sure I know how many MPG's I get but I can tell for sure its worse than the W211. Sport mode for the daily MPG seems to be getting 1-2 more mpg and has been getting the MPG under the reset to creep up a hair for the overall MPG but lets see if it holds true over the next month. I just can't see why the sport mode would give better MPG.

My driving is different than yours but probably avgs the same, I do not do highway but my "city" driving can be 5 minutes or more without a stop as opposed to your stopping all the time which is bad for MPG but then you through in some highway to avg it up a bid but damn 15 is low.

CE750

Guys, good discussion and informative all... thanks..

Two points.. on the stereo.. I know the W211 came with a decent set of Japanese made HK speakers, what brand (country of origin) are the W212 speakers from?

Also, it's not so much the technological advancements that I'm worried about as I'm sure the W212 is hands down superior... but I can get tech in a Lexus or even Toyota well loaded.. I'm looking for that fit and finish, materials and luxurious interior appointments that make a MB special.. Anyway.. thanks. I'm going to give it a few months to decide one way or the other even though money is good now, but who knows if it will be the same in a year!

220S

Sorry, but you guys are a little clueless. The ECU will adjust the timing for changes in octane. It either retards or advances. Try 100 octane race gas. You will not notice the difference unless you have an ECU flash that's specific to 100 octane (or a 93, 96 octane, etc..) Sorry, but you will not be going "faster" if you use Mobil, Chevron, Sunoco, BP, etc.. Nor will your MB motor ping using any of those fuels. That's why the ECU adjusts timing.

Ask any CA resident. We get only 93 (or race gas at some vendors) and the ECU does it's job. ET and trap times on whatever model MB are the same in CA, NY, or FL, or wherever. Stock or modified. Pump gas or race gas.

Also your S mode will not make you go faster. It simply allows the tranny to shift at higher rpm points. That's the difference. The tranny is adaptive and you can train it to shift at higher points. That's the whole point. You can make it "feel" like it's faster. Only because you are taking advantage of the torque band on a n/a motor at higher rpms.

The 7-G tronic and the V6 is the same drivetrain you guys used to have.

Sorry to burst your bubble. But hey, thinking what you might think is real is okay. That's what makes life nice

aeggroup

Very knowledgeable explanation....I have a feeling that you actually, literally stay inside transmission and engine to watch how it's working......very real feeling ))
But...I have to agree with the point that gasoline does not make any difference. Mobil, Shell, Amoco..all the same....I go wherever is cheaper...especially when my car is leased....

Green E-300 DT

You do indeed know of what you speak!

If you go back to when there was only OBD I, those cars will ping like a SOB when not using premium.
I tried a tank of Costco regular 87 octane in the kids '97 E-420, and it really
sounded off when anything other than light throttle was applied.

Today, cars with the now reguired OBD II systems will not ping no matter how low the
octane is because the knock sensors will 'hear it' long before we are able to and the
computer instantly retards the timing until it will not and cannot ping, period.

DieselNY

I would still like to know why only Mobil 93 would prevent my high school beater from pinging.

K-A

I thought and noticed the same thing too, but this definitely doesn't translate to real world performance. Identical motors, more weight, I wouldn't be surprised if a 211 E350 trapped higher in the 1/4 than a 212 E350.

M-B did something to make the car *feel* more peppy, I'd assume it has to do with the gearing (higher first/second gears?), throttle, and more nimble and solid nature of the chassis.

This goes for handling too, the 212 feels like it handles better than the 211, but Tests have shown this isn't the case, they have *identical* slalom/skidpad/lateral g's. Braking is also the same.

DieselNY

Well what I notice is the steering wheel response is outstanding. I drove again today in s-mode and I am still getting 1-2MPG better and I can't figure out why. In c-mode I hover around 18.5-19mpg and in s-mode after a little bit on the road I am doing 20/21. Odd.

More peppy yes, is it faster? like you said probably not but "feels" better to me.

Drive is smoother than the W211 which I thought was an amazing ride. Maybe it is because I had the AMG rims last time, maybe the tires on the W212 give a softer ride (they look like crap) compared to the Michelins I used to have on the W211.

At the end of the day I am happy with the car, I try not to think about the W211 any more because if I do then I start getting annoyed with a few of the changes. If someone just said hey check on this Mercedes with not knowing what its predecessor looked like I would like it and my satisfaction level would be an 8.5 out of 10 but I still can't get over the missing center console shifter ;(. Right now knowing what the W211 had and looked like I would say I am at a 7.5 satisfaction level. Give me the shifter, more aggressive rear and 300HP then I would be at 9.5-10. The front end of the car is a 12+ for me and makes the W211 imho look pretty dated. I back my car into the garage so when my friends and in laws come in they always make a comment, because the front is an attention grabber.

Looking forward to seeing what MB does next with the E but I think I am done with E's and going with the S next time, just need that little extra room and sophistication a little more than I thought I would. I finally saw one I really liked last week, black, amg rims,light tint, rear spoiler...change those damn tail lights (over powers the rear of the car) and I am a happy camper.

K-A

Thanks for that little Review. Interesting and objective. That's another issue I have about the 212, the front and rear seriously look like they belong to different cars, I would always want my car photo'd from the front, and parked butt-in, lol. I actually like the front of the 211 more, as I find it cleaner and more cohesive, but the 212's is far more a statement and more aggressive, IMO personally, I like my luxury cars to look clean and understated/classic, I don't need my 268 HP M-B Sedan to look like it wants to kick your a$$, lol, but that's just me though, I do love that look on Muscle/Sports cars.

I agree with you about the S, I think with M-B, my only future with it will be either an S, SL, CL, or something like that. The E is an amazing car that really kind of wraps every little aspect of the brand around it, but it doesn't have that allure, prestige, class, etc. as the S. Maybe I'm just too young for the E and I'm not realizing it.

BTW, you're right about the feeling. Also the handling is a lot more crisp, I wonder if I'd like the lighter touch at high speeds though, as I usually like a heavier feel. Also, the car is a bit smoother than the 211, maybe the tires might change things a bit, but it definitely should ride like a 211, just even extra on the smoothness.

aeggroup

I wanted to buy S, but too greedy to pay full price for new car. To buy used - I calculated lease for loaded E and compared it how much used S will depreciate and it's almost the same amount, but I didn't calculate repair that will occur during this period. And repair bill can be lots of money....so ..I decided to lease loaded E and have headache free time... Remember the other thing - to drive this big S ) in NYC ..it's not always fun...sometimes it's not fun at all......

K-A

True. The E is a far more logical choice, more Warranty, more headache free, etc. Buying a New S is just a horrible financial move, of course New S buyers aren't as concerned with that. You can grab an '07 CPO S550 with decent mileage for under $50K right now, that's like half its value in 2-3 years, for a Certified Car at that.

My biggest issue with the S is also it's "big"ness, don't know if I need that room, although it does make for cool imagery. In NYC I would actually definitely stay away from that huge of a car.

aeggroup

For under $50k you can buy simpliest CPO model....no keyless go or another fancy options. There is no sense to buy a car like this without those options...it will not hold the value well, not to mention that I don't wanna have S without keyless go at all, which is P2 package option.

ESIX3POWER

lol Dude the new E does handle better than the old,get over it already or seek some mental evaluation, Something obviously bothers you about this car enough that you have to comment negatively on it every single day. Just about every different car magazine who has tested the new E has noted the better handling and steering response. Car n Driver even noted how it is much closer to BMW like handling compared to the dead handling of the previous E. Im not talking looks or styling with you anymore, The bottom line is that the better over all car is the W212,hands down. Live with it and move on already.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...t_drive_review

"Driving the latest E-class reveals a familiar character, but it doesn’t take long to realize that something is different. Steering accuracy is better and more BMW-like. Some of the sluggishness of the previous E-class’s helm has been ousted and replaced with more responsive tuning"

Read more: http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/...#ixzz0ZKpvA6Vx

The E posts impressive economy and performance numbers thanks to careful weight reduction, low aero drag, and powertrain improvements. It inherits a panoply of fancy driver-assist systems from the S-Class.
And the aero performance is superb, with a Cd of just 0.28 which is best in its class.

Green E-300 DT

Perhaps your winter 'beater' had something really wrong with it?

Being as that was some time back, that car did not have the modern computer as we have in
all cars today. You don't say what car it was, but the timing had to be too far advanced,
or it was full of carbon deposits, or it had the incorrect spark plugs, or who knows what.

I'd guess that the Mobil fuel must have had much higher octane than everything else you tried?

K-A

When did I say it doesn't handle better? I said they post identical numbers, don't make me dig out the Articles 'cause I'm too lazy, but it's true. I'll be the first to say the steering is better, and it feels like it handles better, my only point is that from what I've seen, it seems to post identical performance and handling stats. Nothing to get all uppity about. Steering and handling *feel* are different than lateral G's, Skidpad, Braking distance, Acceleration & 1/4 times, etc.

I don't deny any of its plus points, just like I will objectively point out what I see as its minuses (like the interior quality argument), and of course my subjective opinions.

220S

I think K-A is correct on this.

Here are the figures I have from the MBCA (MB Club of America):

60-0:
W212 137
W211 122
80-0:
W212 252
W211 221
skidpad:
W212 0.84
W211 0.83
slalom:
W212 63.2
W211 64.0

Acceleration, 1/4 mile is the same. (After all it is the identical drivetrain)

Braking on the older car is actually better.

Anyway, again it's all really about perception. If the figures are very much the same as the last version of the W211, but the car feels better, then that's a good thing. It means MB made the car feel more like a driver's car even if the actual figures haven't changed very much. And that's what counts, imho, despite the reality.

So the W211 may perform the same, but the W212 feels like it performs better. And I think MB should be praised for doing that. If you can do a slalom with the same figures, but feel more precise doing it, then it's more fun and gives you a better overall feeling about the car. That's a good thing. And that will sell cars.

Aside from body style, the 2010 is still pretty similar (in specs) to the outgoing 2009. But in a couple of years I think we'll see real changes that will make the E something entirely new (MCT standard instead of the 7G-Tronic and a new FI motor with more torque and hp, a whole new revamped COMAND, etc., etc..)

If I don't get a F10 M5, I'll get a W212 E63. Although I'm going to wait a few years and let the cars settle in, see how they fare in the real world, and let the bugs get ironed out.

The F10 and the W212 will be the benchmarks, imho. Competition is alive and well.

CE750

good info 220S.... It would be interesting to see what of any changes come along in 2011, 2012..

Any numbers on the CDI vs. the BlueTec?

K-A

I wonder how long it'll take M-B to swap out the now really underpowered 3.5 V6. I'd guess before the Face-List probably. Even the new V6 Mustang in 2011 is coming with 306 HP! Actually that's gonna be a cool little car, saw one at the L.A Auto Show, cheap, over 30 MPG, 306 HP, etc.