YYZ-E55

213 chassis in calendar year 2017 as a model year 2018 in all likelihood.

brauhaus313

Man all three iterations of the new front end are really unfortunate. The whole car looks like what happens to a car when a chinese company makes a knockoff of it.

The number of Mercedes models I would actually buy keeps dwindling. I've been eyeing something smaller with more power. Hopefully they don't muck up the C63 next time around.

SnakeDoctor

I don't know. I'm not a fan of the new look myself.

golfster

It looks like the front bumber design teams for the new 4 series coupe and the new E shared a few thoughts.

paupauchu88

What about this one with classic grill and full LED lights? is it AV or Elegance version?

YYZ-E55

Its the Elegance with full LEDs. You can get either partial or full LEDs in conjunction with any of the various trim levels.

paupauchu88

Is the price list available? I guess full LED will be more expensive, right? and is the engine spec available?

petee1997

Full LED on my CLS 550 was a $1200.00 option in Canada. I like them better than the zenon lights.

Capn

Wow the LED headlamps is trippy looking to me. Overall I think the shape is headed in the right direction.

220S

The LED headlights look anthropomorphic. Like a cartoon human eye with an eyelid and eyelashes. Maybe the designers wanted to be comical.

It's kind of like what Bangle did with the 5-Series, and what ended up being called the 'Dame Edna' look by the automotive press. I wonder what kind of comments the automotive press will make with these new E Class eyes.

BenzE350

Looks like you may lose your bet. I spotted KA on the bimmerfest forum posting about how he now wants to buy a 535.

KA is singing the gospel of BMW like he once reserved for Mercedes.

Dema

I test drove 328i recently and was really impressed with improved ride quality and electronics. So if 535 got similar boost, I can understand K-A. His cncern is to get a quality car, not just MB.

np888

The new BMW's are BOSS. The 3,5,and 6 especially. Their tech demolishes MB's. The command system in my car is one of the ugliest, and most outdated nav systems I've ever seen. Even Hyundai have a better system.

Wig

Please don't tell me he's criticising the W212 while waxing lyrical about the 5 Series. That would be too much of another astonishing flip flop from when he first hated the W212, then decided it was the best car in the world.

steelgrey

I wouldn't place any bets on that one. He has also sung the praises of the Panamera, the new 911, and the BMW 6 Series Coupe. I'm betting on seeing him in a 2014 E350 sedan. White with a black vinyl roof.

K-A

LOL.

No, I'm not bashing the W212 at all. I stated specifically that the front end of the W212 is something I'll miss heavily if I got/get an F10.

And I've already been "accused" here for over a year for secretly wanting an F10.... I think it was pretty obvious that whilst I waxed poetic and genuinely love the W212, the F10 has had my interest for a while. I've acknowledged it, and tried my best to deny it, but "it is what it is".

1-M-B's designs had started annoying me heavily since the discordance I feel exists in the CLS. The "magic" I've always felt from M-B just diminishes with every new release or spy pic (new upcoming CLA, kind of weak SL, etc.)

2-My biggest W212 complaint of all which is "whoring out the AMG Package" finally caught up and became a reality.... almost 4 years in and having every W212 look exactly the same on the roads has started to take its toll and hamper my "honeymoon period".

3-And the big one: M-B's facelift just really hit the enthusiast side of me toward the W212. Being someone who hated the design then felt I uncoded the greatness behind it, it diminishes heavily when the M-B designers who I've been criticizing so much lately, pretty much abolish all the things that gave the first one its identity, and do a facelift so heavy it looks like they themselves feel it was a weak design (they do this a lot these day, like how they gave a crappy W204 interior then had to do a complete about-face for the facelift and do something uncharacteristically extensive, thereby screwing those who entrusted them initially and bought the first version of the W204).

Other than that, I have no love lost for the W212. I still love looking at my car and think the person taking it over from me is getting an insanely nice car at an insanely good price. I'm just ready for something different and will see how long it keeps my attention peaked.

Nuru

Hmmm, I was originally a bimmer fan, then switched to MB. MB's 2014 front end does not look like an improvement to me, however I do remember the days of all those repairs with my bimmers (Germany's Chevy ), and my buddies who have the newer bimmers, still complain about the break downs they have to contend with, so for me MB is still a better deal. But I would have to be given one of those 2014 front-ends, i really do not like the look at this point in time. But you never know until you really get to see what the car looks like in person.

ImInPA

My biggest beef with BMW is that all of their sedans look the same to me. I have difficulty telling the difference between a 7 and 5 and more recently even the 3 and 5. The engineers have hit a standstill, they make the same car in Small, Medium, and Large. Not sure how that kind of engineering appeals to any real enthusiast. In all fairness, the only negative comments I have read or heard about the new W212 facelift all originate in forums. I think anyone who thinks the new facelift will be anything less than stunning in person is fooling themselves.

El Cid

It's a matter of personal taste, but I much prefer the four separate headlights to the new two headlights. IMO, this was what made the "E" class distinctive from other MB's.
Also, prefer the traditional grille and hood ornament for sedans. Makes it an MB sedan.
Not sure, but 98% of people in America probably cannot tell the difference between MB cars. "C", "E" and "S" exteriors all look the same. They do to me unless I see them side by side or see the model on the trunk. Now it will be even harder to differentiate.
Actually, considering aerodynamic, safety, assembly, functionality and other requirements, not a lot different you can do with cars within each type.
BMW and Audi just updated their cars, so no reason to change anytime soon. Ex. the "new" Audi's bigger, blacker grilles. Wonder how long before Lexus modifies the "spindle" grilles? Acura finally changed theirs for the better.

220S

fwiw, BMW has simply returned to its old formula of “same styled sausage, different lengths.” It's not a new thing but a return to a much earlier philosophy of design language that had been deliberately changed when Chris Bangle was initially hired. Now that he's gone, they've gone back to tradition which has always been part of the appeal to most die-hard BMW fans (and partly why Bangle was so derided by those fans.)

"When Bangle was hired at BMW, the company was embarking on a mission to shake up its design footprint. “We were making sausages at different lengths, and management at that time, especially chairman Eberhard von Kuenheim and technical director Wolfgang Reitzle, felt we needed to break away and chart a new course for the company and the brand…we were going to be introducing SUVs and new sports cars and we needed a design language in which to do it,” Bangle said in an interview with me for a book I wrote in 2004, “Driven: Inside BMW, The Most Admired Car Company in the World.”

BenzE350

Well, it's a successful strategy and has worked great for BMW. Current BMW's are elegant timeless designs versus the unfocused mess that MB currently has.

davidbijan

+1

K-A

What's interesting to me is how Bangle gets derided for making all those awkward designs that for better or worse (worse, IMO) revolutionized the automotive industry, however he in fact was in charge of the current "back to elegant timeless/beautiful" focused look they have now. The F01, F10, perhaps even new 6 Series were all designed and initiated under his helm.

IMO Bangle is one of the more misunderstood designers. As much as I think he saw over some of the most hideous designs, one can't deny every designer in the world right now tries their mightiest to be like him (M-B's guys especially it seems, as some of their newest releases are looking overly desperate to do so, IMO), and I think the F01/F10 generation showed that he's not a one trick pony, and can oversee a back-to-basics, purely timeless and "it just effortlessly works" type of design strategy to its fullest potential as well. I kind of wish he stayed with BMW because I'd love to see where he was going with the new era that was a total reversal from the old era. It's as if he wanted to shake things up with designs that shocked yet aged terribly, to get BMW's more noticed more than ever, then pull back and go back to making cars a'la E38/E39/E46 gens.

I dunno, that's my take anyway.

As for me. I guess I can say I'm officially the owner of a loaded 535i M Sport. And I still have the W212.... for now.

BenzV12

Good , F10 is the best looking bimmer 5 imo and better designed than 7 Series. I am happy because you keep your W212 and twice happy because such a dear friend and W212 Owner seems to be happy with his next purchase

golfster

Congrats, K-A! Enjoy the ride and drive safe.