BenzE350

Does anyone else find the huge hood seam gap on the E350 ugly?

I spent 4 hours driving back from Vermont yesterday and noticed this on every MB that I passed. I cringed every time.

ImInPA

I do not find anything about the E ugly. I personally think the E (W212) is one of the most distinctive looking vehicles on the road today. I cannot imagine anything about the E that would make anyone cringe with the one exception being the window sticker.

telemakhos

I wouldn't go as far as calling it ugly but I agree that it looks quite wide. I'm surprised that the panels gaps are as large as they are. I would think that the hood gap along above the fenders could easily be made tighter.

BenzE350

How about unattractive? Weird, out of place, cheap looking?

Seriously - nobody else?

reckrab

Nope, not me.

golfster

The hood seem was the very design element that drew me to the car.

K-A

It was first "introduced" on the C, and it's actually a functional aspect, that M-B obviously tried to design "into" the car, and it does fit pretty well with the angular and sharp creased E.

I read about this, and am reciting if from the best of my memory, but M-B decided NOT to make an ugly, blunt, generic "bumper then cutline then nose" EU Pedestrian Impact Regulation look, like the new BMW's, new CLS, and every new car practically, and gave the E a full hood-into-grill classic, and appropriate look. This required extensive R&D, in terms of making the car pass pedestrian impact ratings, and M-B said they will ONLY invest such R&D in the E and S-Classes going forward (or at least, now). In order to do that, and give our E what I feel is the best looking direct-front view on the market today, they had to create a "clamshell" hood, one that can pop up toward the back, to provide a "ramp" of sorts, in case a human gets hit. Somewhere tied to that, must be a reason that they had to keep some sort of gap there.

If you look at the other panels, they're the tightest I've ever seen on an M-B.

It has bugged me a bit in the past, but like I said, I feel that it works with the Design, and all in all, I don't think there's a more attractive Sedan than the W212 on the road.

hyperion667

wth?
we all bought this car BECAUSE we like the look, haha.....
so when will you be trading your car in man?

K-A

On the flip side, I can't find anything good to say about those wheels, yeesh.

CEB

Correct. Here you go

YYZ-E55

1) NA cars do not have the active bonnet because it is not required for pedestrian safety here
2) You are mixing two safety technologies - "softnose" vs "active bonnet". The CLS, SLK, 5er, etc have softnose, which is the newer safety requirement.
3) The clamshell design is not what dictates the use of active bonnet - rather, it is the space between the hood and the top of the engine. As the E is tightly packaged, the active bonnet was required to mitigate pedestrian injury, allowing the hood to absorb more energy before bottoming out on the engine block.
4) Your statement about Daimler only investing in E and S is not factual. The 212 and 221 were released prior to the newest regulations requiring softnose. The 222 and the 212FL will both have softnose front ends to meet pedestrian safety requirements.

K-A

The W212 FL will? I highly doubt they'll do such an extensive redesign for that.

About them only investing R&D in the future E and S's, to not have to sacrifice their fronts with softnose (I'm assuming softnose means that the hood doesn't connect to the grille, instead connecting to the bumper) I read somewhere that going forward they were going to also keep it this way, but maybe they changed it, or mayb the source was BS'ing.

CEB

However - the economical implementation of active bonnet requires a design like the clamshell. MB is not going to change the design of a component in those regions that may not require a specific feature for aestetics - ergo - the E series will look the same in markets with active bonnet as in those without active bonnet.

A different question is why they resorted to this over engineered design in the first place as a simple engine cover and a redesign of the crush zones on the hood could have met and exceeded the requirements.

CEB

How pedestrian safety is implemented is up to each manufacturer. The goal is to keep a pedestrian from getting speared by the hood, going through the windshield or by being struck by very hard pointy bits under the hood.

The problem with pedestrian safety requirements is that they often in direct opposition to US bumper impact requirements so manufacturers need to walk a fine line and figure out a way to keep their cars looking the same while meeting the myriad of conflicting requirements. No manufacturer wants a rerun of the "tacked on black rubber bumpers" of the 70's and 80's.

BenzE350

Yeah - overall I would agree it is a nice looking sedan. However, that doesn't mean that some folks don't like certain aspects of the design. IMO the hood seam is butt ugly and cheap looking.

I will be returning my E350 as soon as the lease is over (378 days and counting).

BenzE350

Maybe I am so irked by the hood seam because I fell so quickly out of love with the car. Like a good looking girl with a slight gap in her front teeth that you may find unique and charming because you love everything about her. Later when you fall out of love you find the same gap an ugly reminder of everything you hate about her.

YYZ-E55

It's not an "extensive redesign" for facelift; rather it is a new front bumper with a softnose snout akin to the CLS.

K-A

So will it still retain the chrome grill, which is separated by a shutline to the hood?

If I'm not mistaken, it was you on the F10 Boards who posted a Thread stating that you had your heart on the F10, and from my take, were almost the antithesis to a "Benz guy", and then ended up saying that you caved into buying an E, because you couldn't pass up the deal.... Clearly against your hearts will. You've obviously had it in for your car since the day you got it. Why don't you try and shop it to BMW and see if they'll give you a nice spin-off deal? Life isn't worth penny pinching so much, as to go with a car you don't like over a car that you do, to save a few bucks, IMO.

BenzE350

I'm gonna "tough it out" with the E350 until my lease is up in 12 months.

K-A

You'd be surprised, as right now with the Used Car Market being so high, Dealers have a lot of reason to give people enough for their Leases to not put them upside down, simply rolling you into a new Lease, scott free. Sometimes you may have even more equity in the car than you think.

RNBRAD

I guess I'm totally lost here. What seam you talking about? The one along the side?

Yosheego

well...hmm...the color of it is nice and also the shine on it. haha

K-A

Lol.

One good thing about the "clamshell shutline" (I don't know if "seam" is the best way to describe it), is that it allows the full frontal view to be unobstructed by any of said shutlines, at the compromise of the fender angle.

Like I said, I remembered stumbling upon "BenzE350" lamenting the E on the BMW Forums even before he got the car, clearly a BMW fan, clearly longing for an F10, and admitting to taking a car he didn't see eye to eye with, due to some $$. Now, it's obvious why his posts are usually resenting toward the W212 (taking it out on the car constantly).

Now, that to put things into perspective, I will give it to him that the side shutline could have been implemented better, yet at the same time, I don't know how, therefore me stating earlier that it actually kind of fits the straight-angular, solid design. What the shutline is is blunt, what it isn't is elegant, although it does give off some nice shadow play, showing that they did design some form into the function.

BenzE350

Agreement

RNBRAD

Hood seams generally follow or flow with the cars lines. The visible seams from the side is apparent that MB did exactly that. Placing the seam on top of the hood wouldn't of worked with the current hood design as the hood crease flows from the grill to the point where the seam would have been creating a choppy look.