Originally Posted by K-A

Yeah, fit/finish and ergonomics are much better, more thoughtful, and more comforting in the new E's. Also, the new ones are SO quiet, as was the W211, but fortunately, that is an area where they took what worked, and just improved on.

Originally Posted by LaicepsYdobon

First off a very eloquent and thoughtful post by you K-A as usual

I love the exterior of the W212. Personally I like it better than anything in this segment (BMW, Audi, Jag, etc...). Been seeing a ton of them around town and New York City. Still not loving the wheel choice for the luxury models (I find them a little too busy for my taste) but a notch above the rest regarding the exterior.

Regarding the interior it's a whole different story for me. When sitting in or driving a W212 the interior is superb. The tactile points are all really nice material and a lot of through was put into them. No squeaks, no rattles and it has a certain bank vault like feel to the car, just like the old Benzes. However when I look at the interior I'm left a bit disappointed. My biggest gripes are:

1) The metallic bezel around the air vents. In my eyes it disrupts the flow of the dashboard. And it reminds me of the Optimus Prime logo from my childhood because of the shape. Weird I know but its my b***h list

2) The COMMAND ***. BMW's iDrive *** is very stylish and sturdy. Ditto for Audi's MMI ***. Why did MB put this cheap looking thing into the car ?

3) What is up with the gauges in the dash ? Seriously, they could not come up with a better design ? There are too many tick/hash marks on the bloody things and they just look cheap. They look like they've been lifted from a current generation Volvo (here's a Volvo pic). And why does my wife's C-Class have the same dashboard gauges and layout as the E-Class ? Why couldn't the E-Class get a nice dash similar to the S-Class with the video screen. The F10 5 Series has a very nice Black LED screen that it shares with the 7 series.

4) And since I'm on the dash; how high were the engineers when they decided that both the C-Class and the E-Class line up need that ugly silver monstrosity around the dash to create that tunnel effect for the gauges. That cheap plastic single handedly destroys the dash and cheapens the car for me. What is the purpose of that thing ? To reduce glaring from the sun ? I've never had that problem with any of my Benzs before. The luxury model doesn't have it but it just makes the dash look even more awkward.

5) The top of the dashboard needs to be made out of better material. Someone commented that the car looks and feels like a basketball and I had to agree with them. Cover it up with MB Tex as standard and give an option to be able to get it with real leather that is hand stitched. That hard plastic makes it look like a top of the line domestic rental not the bread and butter vehicle of MB.

Despite my complaining above I really do like the W212. Like I said the exterior is awesome and when driving it the inside is very nice. However when someone looks through your driver side window the inside doesn't look as nice as a W211 or any of the older generation cars. The person who was in the charge of styling at MB has retired (regrettably I don't remember the gentlemen's name) and the new design head is taking the company in a different direction. My family has had Benzs since I was born (I'm 36 now) and I've had Benzes too all my life. I've been raised "old school" when it comes to styling. This new change of design is not really sitting well with me and according to the posts on this board many other people as well. I just wish the interior of the new E-Class would be more like the new 5 Series. That being said I'm going to keep on the tradition and stay faithful to MB because they do make fantastic cars. They just need to bring some styling back to their interiors.

Thanks for reading and sorry about the length of the rant; I was on a roll