Wow, cheapest lack of feature...
 

I can't believe that MB does not give you auto dimming mirror on the passenger side. It is the weirdest and cheapest thing. It trumps the lack of folding mirrors in my book by a long shot.

At first I thought my auto dimming was broken but after reading the manual it clearly states that auto dimming is only on the driver side and the inside mirror. Wow....just wow...

Why is this so big deal for you?

I had an Audi Q7 and it also had the auto dimming mirror only on the driver side.

Reason for not having it on the passenger side is that the mirror is a convex, which reflects far less light to the driver's eyes than the flat glass driver side mirror. The passenger side mirror in dark has never bothered me with the lights of the car behind me. Your eyes might be more sensitive though...

Yes, same situation for Canadian E Class. :nix:

But at least we get the power folding and heated side mirrors (with puddle lights) as standard equipment !! I do not understand why the US market is denied this feature - it makes no sense to me.

Actually your argument makes sense on some level but the actual reason is simply financial. My wife's Audi A4 Avant has dimming mirrors on both sides and so did my BMW 328xi. Obviously the reason I brought it up is because I noticed the lack of dimming on the mirror. It's not as much as glaring it's just simply annoying that the two side mirrors show a vastly different brightness.

But after having looked at the parts catalog I can understand why the reason.

Regular mirror - 69 Euro
Mirror with Auto dimming - 256 Euro

If MBUSA can shave off $200 per unit for omitting something so miniscule they will definitely do it. I'm quite honestly shocked at how much the auto dimming actually costs, I did not expect the difference to be this high.

in 30 years of driving I can honestly say i've never been bothered by the passenger mirror at night.

two reasons, 1) as pointed out above, it's convex, so it disperses light as a side benefit. and 2) it's wayyy the, um, heck, over there, where the light source is far away from me.

dim the rear view, check. that was obvious.
dim the driver side, check. that was less obvious to some people, but obvious to me. but dim the side view? why? ok... I can see doing it in an S class. Luxury is after all about the small things ;-) But really it's an elegant touch more than any need. at least to me.

can the auto dim be retrofitted into the other side ?

I am amazed by the cheapness too - my wife's 2008 E350 also does not have a passenger side auto-dimming mirror.

this does not bother me at all

Even my VW Passat with auto dimming mirrors was dimming both sides. The only car that I have owned and did not dim the passenger side is the E-class. The MB engineers are either way smarter than the BMW and VAG engineers and decided that it's unnecessary for the passenger mirror to be dimmed or the bean counters were smarter than the rest of the world and said "Heck, nobody will notice!". I vote the former.

FWIW I just checked and it's not only the NA market that does not get the dimming mirror on the passenger side, nobody does.

Only if you buy the UK driver side mirror, the door control unit should run it fine as the wiring diagram calls for it.

Except that you would lose the convex...

Indeed. It's only in NA that you get the convex passenger mirror thanks to a DOT requirement. While you'd lose the convex you'd get a nice split view wide angle instead...

I think the cheapest cost reduction is the plastic door pins. This has been talked about a lot pre-facelift, and I was so disappointed to find the plastic was carried over in the facelift. They made wonderful changes to make the dash look more elegant but kept the plastic door pins. :nix:

Regards,
Don

Greg can you try this mod? if successful I might do it!

At $350 I'm going to pass...

+1

+1 on the cheap plastic door pins ... any knowledge on if it is a wierd tradition or design like the ponton fenders were pre-FL?

I just replaced the front ones with inexpensive knockoffs (* CF Door pins - https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...-doorpins.html) and left the rear pins along ... too hard to swap and I NEVER ride in the back anyway.

Yeah, you are right because like in Europe BOTH outside mirrors are convex.

cheapest lack of feature was not checking build quality for rattles and chassis thuds. the best or nissan/renault, depending on which joe blow installed your dash that day down at the plant.

Aren't you confusing retail price with manufacturer's cost?

For me, it's the lack of backup sensors, which you don't get unless you purchase the $1300 Parktronic option.

Really?

It bothers me with bright lights at night... Looks like I'll have to get tint

Never noticed. I have 20% tint all around and like many said it probably pointed away...Still semi cheap if true.

Anyways ultimate black out - roll up back window shade, pana roof shade= extreme darkness.