michael61

Just got back from a 6000 mile road trip to the west coast in the new E 250 (have already logged 1000 miles in Germany and Austria as well as a trip from Ohio to Florida and back - yes, we are already due for our 10,000 service)

We were very lucky taking a road trip in January from Ohio to Oregon and California, to encounter virtually no bad weather. A bit of blowing snow crossing Wyoming west of Laramie on I-80 that was "fun", but that was it. None of the mountain passes had any snow.

Most of our driving will be me and my wife, but this trip also included my son (on college winter break). He and I are both 6' 6" and did fine, though I never attempted to sit behind my son or vice versa, it just wouldn't have worked.

The trunk was just big enough for us. It's not a big trunk really. It'll be fine for two traveling but we jammed it full for three people traveling for two weeks.

The nice seats and all the assist technology really cut down on the fatigue factor. We all loved Distronic+ on the long interstate stretches. It's just simply "how cruise control should work."

Best stretch of highway was CA-1 from Monterey through Big Sur. It was a sunny day and was a glorious drive!

Nav worked well for us. Entering destinations via voice worked great for me, but less so for my wife. She would get impatient with the errors, which made it even worse. POI items proved somewhat useful, but I don't understand why car washes aren't in there - they are necessary when the salt builds up! I LOVED the upcoming exit display which showed if the exit had gas/fuel/lodging/etc. Made it easy to see if this was a good place to get off for a break. Also loved that it showed us the upcoming rest stop. We even liked that apparently Starbucks had paid to be listed there, so we could easily tell if the next exit had one.

Minor complaint on lights. We have the full LED package. And while I really like the automatic high beams, I find the low beams don't shine out far enough. The situation was a semi-lonely highway - not empty enough for high beams) with lots of terrain. It was hard to see the twists and turns coming up at times. Maybe the euro-version of automatic high-beams deals with this, if so, too bad we can't have them.

Cabin comfort was excellent. No surprise there.

The valet at the hotel in Monterey commented that it was the first E 250 he'd across. Another comment we've had on the car was from the ferry operator when we crossed Lake Constance in Germany "is that the new diesel E Class?" he said...

It was handy to have the 110V outlet, my son had his MacBook plugged in most of the time when he was in the backseat.

Had one weird experience where we parked the car, I DID NOT access the trunk and went into a store. When we came out the trunk was sitting wide open! Maybe the electronic trunk opener picked up on me as I walked by and opened the trunk and somehow I didn't notice it. Still, I'm paranoid enough now that I keep glancing at the trunk as I walk away each time.

One last nit: the run flat tires are usually fine, but on certain pavement we encountered they are VERY NOISY! Couldn't hear myself think. Not what I expect from a Mercedes. I may have to look into alternatives.

Range was excellent. Simply fill up in the morning before heading out on the highway and not worry about filling up again all day.

One complaint about diesel - it's too easy to get the smelly stuff on your hand or shoes when pumping it. The solution is to go to nicer stations I guess, but I'm sometimes a cheapskate and end up at sketchy stations where the pumps are just dirty.

Trip mileage was 6066 miles, 98 hours of driving, average mpg 38.6, average speed 62 mpg (first photo).

On one stretch across I-40 in New Mexico my son drove 64 miles at 80 mph and got 48 mpg (second photo).

Mileage was worse when we initially crossed the plains and the temperature was in the 20's. I don't know if the diesel engine is less efficient in the cold or if the tires deflate in the cold and provide more resistance.

Summary: I bought the E 250 for road trips. So far, it's working out great!

GregTR

Great report! The highway between Monterey and Big Sur is beautiful for sure, if you have clear skies the views are stunning!



I agree with the Distronic+ being awesome as well, this is no doubt the best feature on the car. I'm not sure I could go back to a 4-banger especially in a diesel after having 6-cylinder gasoline engine in my last 3 cars but the mileage is impressive!

DerekACS

Thank you for sharing your detailed report on your recent road trip. It sure sounds like a very impressive car !

A couple of suggestions for you :

1. Tires: MB supplies either ContiProContact or Michelin Primacy MXM4 tires for the 17" alloys fitted on E250BT for the Canadian market. The Michelins are the better tires, according to reviews on Tirerack.com. Neither of these tires are RunFlat, so MB supplies a TireFit kit (compressor + sealant) with each E250BT. If you look @ the specs for these tires @ tire rack.com, you will see that there are designated choices with "MO" marked on the tires, which means they are "Mercedes Original" or approved tires for the car.

I have no doubt that your car would ride better and quieter without RFTs. No doubt these are the reasons why MB Canada rejected RFTs for the E250BT Canadian version. The Bridgestone Turanza 400 RFTs supplied on many US version E250BT are very poorly rated tires.

2. Diesel smell on your hands: in my previous diesel, I always carried a small bottle of Purell (hand disinfectant and deodorant). This product virtually eliminates the diesel smell after applying to your hands.

Finally, as a general comment, both gas and diesel cars are less efficient as temperatures drop.

mleskovar

Sounds like you've been having some fun road trips. Any noticeable motor noise, vibration, or power deficiencies? I like the E250 and it sure makes sense and a good balance between luxury and economy. Thanks for sharing.

BenzV12

Great to hear you are happy with your W212
May be you could wear gloves to avert smell dirt on pumping diesel . I hope you never have any AdBlue problem at all .
This car right fits to you considering you seem to travel a lot and this is why you need a diesel

mikemargolis

Awesome report.

I am looking closely at the new E-250, my 2011 E-350 diesel has almost 60K miles on it and I am at the point of keep/trade before I get ridiculous miles on the car.

One quick question:

The mileages you mentioned, are they calculated from miles driven and gallons pumped, or a readout from the display?

E Classy

OP - great write-up. i share the same sentiment, this is one hell of a daily driver / road trip vehicle.



hey man, the computer is accurate. it really is. i don't know why you refuse to believe this. maybe in the past, they weren't a good measure of fuel economy, but today's versions are spot on. there are countless threads across all car forums that concur with this. they go the same way: someone claims FE numbers by the computer, someone else says the computers are optimistic, and then more people reinforce the fact that today's trip computers are in fact accurate.

here is my last data, by mileage / gallons used: 659 miles / 17.3 gallons = 38.09 mpg

my computer reads 37.9 mpg total since i left the dealer.

believe it, or leave it. but please stop claiming the computer isn't accurate.

instantfob

If you switch over to regular tires then keep these two in the trunk.
It will keep you going unless someone slash your sidewalls.

Tire Inflation Kit.

Plug Kit for the big nails.

GregTR

Uhm, no it isn't.

Measured vs. Actual
21.0 vs 20.2 over 372 miles
22.0 vs 21.3 over 396 miles
21.0 vs 20.3 over 375 miles
21.6 vs 21.2 over 398 miles
21.0 vs 20.3 over 361 miles
21.8 vs 20.9 over 374 miles
22.4 vs 21.7 over 404 miles

There was not one time that the dash was reading remotely close to the actual mileage over my 3,000 miles traveled so far. My signature has all the logs and the average reported by the car in the notes section.

E Classy

dude, you have a less than 1mpg discrepancy. really?! "not even remotely close" are you for real?

GregTR

Difference (weighed averaged over all sample points) = 0.697 mpg (3.2% error)
Standard Deviation of actual values = 0.545

"In science, researchers commonly report the standard deviation of experimental data, and only effects that fall much farther than one standard deviation away from what would have been expected are considered statistically significant"

I am for real. If you think a 3.2% error is acceptable then you might as well forget measuring or caring about your gas mileage and just go with "about 20 mpg" because that is also equally accurate of a measure.

DBV

Those numbers a close enough for me.

fintail

Greg is just channeling his inner enginerd

A ~3% error is a lot better than I've heard. I usually guesstimate my readout is 5-10% optimistic.

GregTR

On my BMW where I tracked 45k miles the standard deviation was 1.01, actual average mpg was 22.13 and the car estimate was 23.03 so it was within one standard deviation. The error was 3.8%. My worst mileage was 17.8 and my best was 24.6 mpg.

3.8% error in my eyes is significant and should be corrected for. On VWs and Audis you can apply a correction factor via the system computer to correct for it (has to be done at the dealer or using your own VAG-COM adapter)

E Classy

and on a car like the E250 a .697mpg delta is over 98% accurate.

i respect the buyer's perspective but it also gets old when the suspicion of +/- 3 to 5 mpg's deviation from the computer is just plain silly.

michael61

Huh, for some reason the photos I posted didn’t make it. I'll try again.

Thanks for the feedback on the tires. And I’ll try Purell on my hands when they get stinky from diesel.

> Any noticeable motor noise, vibration, or power deficiencies?

When the car is cruising (on decent pavement) the car is very quiet. The only time I notice the diesel clatter is when it’s idling. Not too bad with the windows up, fairly noisy outside. I *think* it’s gotten louder over time, so I’ll have the mechanics see if there are any adjustments they can do. It’s funny, my Dad who drives diesel trucks was impressed on how quiet it was ;-)

As to power deficiencies, keep in mine this is my first MB and I’m used to a V6 SUV, not some AMG kick in the pants. The E250 has much more power than the V6 SUV I had previously. I appreciate it when I’m on a 2 lane highway behind someone and can pass them effortlessly. Another example I appreciated was driving in the mountains - up hill or down hill, it was hard to tell the difference. And on the autobahn the car was great. I wasn’t racing any Porsches, but I could pop over in the fast lane and do 100 mph or so with little effort. So for me the E 250 twin turbo has plenty of power.

> The mileages you mentioned, are they calculated from miles driven and gallons pumped, or a readout from the display?

I intended to post the photos of the trip computer (should be there now). Anyway, yes, this is from the trip computer. I compared it with my records in GasCubby and the trip total is within a few percent. The stretch on I-40 where my son got 48 mpg was just the computer - heck, he reset it while driving and didn’t stop once so it’s a best case scenario, but fun to see regardless. Good enough for me.

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...1&d=1389816514

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...1&d=1389816514

And here we are on CA-1, just for fun...

https://mbworld.org/forums/attachmen...1&d=1389816514

E Classy

i think the trunk is really big, man. i have folding seats and there's a lot of room in there!

definitely, i put a GoPro on my windshield a few years ago and got the whole twisty cliff drive in HD!

i have to comment that you have the sport suspension in addition to the MOE tires (MB would never call them RFT's!) lol - the w212 chassis does not insulate well from bumps in the road. this is well documented. the cabin noise, rattles and thuds are my one and only complaint so far. the ride comfort and road manners are superb but the cabin noise is tough. i do not have any issue with my tires.

i HATE the dirty diesel pumps but there's little i can do outside of taking a paper towel out of the dispenser next to the pump. but i don't do that because i'd feel like a fairy. i just wash up after.

GregTR

I just got used to subtracting 1mpg from the computer estimate plus it's really not about the absolute value but more about the relative measure so as long as I'm aware of the discrepancy it's easy to mentally correct for it whether for average or instantaneous measure. And I agree that there is no current car that will be off by more than 5%.

And here is a great little article about why MPG is BS: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...o-really-it-is

fintail

I have yet to drive an E250, but I heard one at idle, and it didn't seem much louder than my E350 at cold/fast idle. A co-worker of mine remarked that my car is amazingly quiet for a diesel, I am sure the layman will think similar for the 250. I drove a W212 E220 diesel in Germany, it wasn't really loud either, but it was noticeably slower than my E350.

I wonder what kind of parasitic losses one could expect from AWD, and if this engine will be the same in the upcoming C Bluetec.

[QUOTE=michael61;5908532]Huh, for some reason the photos I posted didn’t make it. I'll try again.

DerekACS

There is very little difference in acceleration between RWD and 4Matic, according to both MB and various reviews. However, EPA Highway mileage rating is reduced by 3 mpg for the 4Matic version, from 45 to 42 mpg (US gals.) - still, impressive mileage for AWD !

Yes, the C250BT will have the same OM651/ 2.14L engine as the E250BT and GLK250BT. This diesel engine has been in production since late 2008. There are 20 different versions offered for different market requirements around the world and for both transverse and longitudinal applications.

Khan28

Nice. Longest road trip I've ever been on was from here in Toronto to Winnipeg, Manitoba and back whiles driving though 5 states. I hope the diesel models are available on the new W205 C Classes and I plan on getting one in a few years. My C280 has rather poor fuel economy for the power it puts out. I just love how the diesel motor is revving at only 2K RPM at 90MPH whiles mine revs at 3k at 75 to 80MPH.

My only hope is that MB doesn't follow BMW with the RFTs. Newer generation RFTs are supposedly much better than the ones from 6 or 7 years ago but for me the cons outweigh the pros when it comes to those tires. A good set of non RFTs are quieter, smoother, cheaper and will result in less wear and tear on the suspension parts.

michael61

Any suggestions on alternative tires? Just the standard tires from the E350 or something better? Better for me means tires that are quiet, smooth, last long enough (I know it's a trade off here with traction and noise).

DerekACS

Assuming you have the 17" alloys, I would suggest Michelin Primacy MXM4 245/45 x 17" (MO). According to tire rack.com these tires are not only approved by MB for the E Class, but they are also highly rated.

These tires are one of two factory approved choices (the other being ContiProContact) that are supplied on E250BT for the Canadian market. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my car will have the Michelins installed @ the factory. Both of these tires are classed as 'Grand Touring All Seasons' - they are NOT run flats !! If you dump your RFTs and install Michelins, I have no doubt that your car's ride would be smoother and quieter.

DerekACS

MB Canada has listened to folks like you. They do not equip the 2014 E250BT with run flats for the Canadian market, nor any other E Class

Munich77

I second Michelins - I have had Michelin tires on two different cars and they always improved the ride.