Grau E350

thought i'd give it another try.

This one has P2, wheel package, rear spoiler, sport pkg, palladium silver, black MB tex, burl.

my 10 had parktronic, but found it pretty much useless. it should be delivered in the next 3-4 days hopefully.

pics to come.

listerone

Did you order from the factory or buy off the lot? Did you get Distronic? For me,that was a "must have".I didn't order so the dealer (in Massachusetts) had to trade with a dealer in Maryland to get one that had it.

RJC

Congrats, many miles of smiles

wmoor004

You will love it...

Grau E350

Thanks!

This is my second W212. I had a 2010 and it was plagued with rattles that the dealer couldn't fix. I traded it on a BMW. I decided to the E another try--I picked up a new ML a couple months ago.

The dealer's pulling it from another dealer. I didn't want distronic. This will be a second car, so the most important stuff I want is out of P2 package--xenons.

I know they were fantastic in my 2010, and are great on my ML. I'm hoping for wednesday or thursday delivery. The car is only 200 miles away and the dealer's sending a flatbed to pick it up. I should have confirmation tomorrow--my sales guy was off today and I know the owner was securing the swap.

K-A

Congrats! I'm also one who is on my second W212. If you loved the Xenons on the 2010, you'll LOVE them on the 2011. M-B went from having Xenons on the lower end of the spectrum, to maybe the brightest and best available on the market.

Grau E350

KA, saw you on the F10 board on bimmerfest a while back. The runflat issue really pressed hard on me as why not to get another BMW.

However with the deal I'm working, I'm finding that a short term lease on a pretty much loaded 550xdrive sport package is only about 30-40 bucks away from my E.

The HP is tempting, but the RFT problem, I don't think, is going away anytime soon.

Does the sport package on the 11 350 any smoother than the 10 350? I remember some harshness from it. May have been the Pirellis. I know the car I'm getting should have Contis.

How's the wheel package? I know I dinged my one of my 10 E350 AMG wheels and whewww it was expensive to keep up. I'm hoping the tire has a bit of lip on it to protect just in case.

K-A

Damn, that's a good deal on that Bimmer. I agree about the RFT's. I like the W212 more than the F10, but if they offered me an 550i (with M-Pack, as I wouldn't own the car without it.... To bland and lacking inspiring exterior qualities, albeit still very smooth and elegant and well designed, maybe too much so, hence the need for the more hard looking M-Pack), for just $30-$40 more than an E350, I'd almost definitely suck up my partialness to the W212's style, build quality, and exterior design look/qualities, and take the "more car for a better deal" approach.

But BMW has it's quality issues, and even from my experiences in Bimmerfest, reading about nuances that BMW has that M-B doesn't, etc. and some quality issues, I'm just a lot more comfortable going M-B over BMW, even taking styling and performance out of the equation.

Yeah, the W212 Sports biggest flaw is the harshness. It's really upsetting for an otherwise brilliant Luxury Car. I do find that my 2011 with Conti's and a fixed roof handles and absorbs rough patches noticeably better than my 2010 with Pirelli's and Pano did.

ngerstman

Why would you attribute the hardness of your last e350 compared to the new one to the pano? Just curious how you've come to that conclusion. Thanks. Ned.

K-A

I'm not actually, I'm just describing both cars' most major differences, but I do feel that Pano might sacrifice structural rigidity and composure a little bit.

Grau E350

Sorry, no pics yet.

Just picked it up this afternoon. The 11 E350 4m (sport package) seems to be a bit more anchored over the bumps than my 10 (sport package). Very, smooth and quiet ride.

The rear sun shade seems to roll up much smoother than my previous car--dunno, maybe it's just been a while and my memory has faded.

Palladium looks awesome with the AMG wheel package. The contis are smoother and quieter than the Pirellis that came with the other car.

Only complaint so far is a slight smell from the HVAC--if anything it smells like light cigarette smoke--but there is absolutely no evidence that someone smoked in it. First thing I did with the interior was wipe everything down with Einszett Cockpit Cleaner.

I'll crank up the heater to full and let it cook for 15 minutes. That usually fixes it. If not, I'll shoot some Einszett Clima-Clean into the system.

So far, so good. That whole 3 miles I put on the car was a big test, LOL. Tuesday, I have a 200 mile round trip that I'll take it on.

sacguy

I just bought a new 2011 E350, steel grey, with sport pkg, AMG wheels, P1, parktronic, ash color seats w/ two tone trim, black carpet & headliner and ash black wood trim. I am absolutely loving this car. It is a dream combo of sportiness, elegance, great handling, quiet and vault like build and a firm yet comfortable ride that is all Benz and feels very serene, safe and secure. Even the HK sound system is MUCH better than on my 06 E350. (sfbayfan on German Car Forum)

dbtk

Not to mention weight and a higher center of gravity.

ngerstman

The sound system on the 06 must have REALLY sucked!! Regards. Ned.

K-A

The sound system in my W212(s) were instantly noticeably better than the HK in my '06 W211 as well. Just gave off a more dynamic/surround/"classy" sound.

sacguy

Yep, it was not very good, especailly the front center speaker, which I replaced 2 times.

mac jones

I just bought one of these. I have a strange faint whining noise that starts at 60 mph. It seems to go away in colder weather. My guess it an air leak; They can make strange sounds, but it really sounds like something else; perhaps a fan or electrical. Midly annoying. Does anyone know what this likely is? (unlikely LOL).

Anyway, the HK is rather nice. Try some recent movie scores. The surround can sound pretty "surroundish"