E-Class (W212) 2010 - 2016: E 350, E 550

Distronic is great!

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Old 04-18-2014, 06:06 PM
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Smile Distronic is great!

I just took my first long drive and got to use the Distronic for 700 miles out of a 800 mile trip. It did a great job going up and down in speed. I don't think I will ever have another car without it!
Old 04-18-2014, 06:33 PM
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Yeah, that is typically the consensus amongst Distronic+ owners . I enjoy mine immensly and I'm so glad I waited for a custom order with Distronic+, best feature on the car, hands down.
Old 04-18-2014, 06:35 PM
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so jealous. one of the features I wished I could have found amongst the used ones I was looking at.
Old 04-18-2014, 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by thefisch
so jealous. one of the features I wished I could have found amongst the used ones I was looking at.
D+ was the second big reason why I changed from E350 to E550. The engine on E550 is just something else but as it was impossible to find a car with D+ other than E550 it made the decision very easy to go with the bigger engine too.
Old 04-18-2014, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by SLpat
I just took my first long drive and got to use the Distronic for 700 miles out of a 800 mile trip. It did a great job going up and down in speed. I don't think I will ever have another car without it!
Why did you not use it for the other 100 miles? It works wonders in city traffic too and is especially nice in a crawling traffic jam.
Old 04-18-2014, 07:37 PM
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I have the 2011 one without stereoscopic steering and that is awesome itself. It was a must have for me too when searching for my 2010 then 2011.
Old 04-18-2014, 07:42 PM
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I didn't use it for the other 100 miles because getting out of Houston and into Atlanta was stop and go. I did use it in pretty heavy traffic and my it worked well.

My wife did not share my enthusiasm at the beginning and thought I was going to kill us all. After the trip she is a believer!
Old 04-18-2014, 08:34 PM
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+1
Old 04-18-2014, 08:57 PM
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I often daydream about having it in my new car: I test drove one with it and it was pretty cool, just didn't want the other things in the package it came with...
drive on! and enjoy
Old 04-18-2014, 09:09 PM
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D+ is amazingly awesome.
Old 04-18-2014, 09:18 PM
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Originally Posted by Arrie
D+ was the second big reason why I changed from E350 to E550. The engine on E550 is just something else but as it was impossible to find a car with D+ other than E550 it made the decision very easy to go with the bigger engine too.
Looking in FL, it seemed that E350s outnumbered E550s about 15 to 1. In addition to the power, I wanted leather, vented seats, etc. which could only be found on E550s. There were only 7-8 2010/2011 E550s within 400 miles of me and only a few had P2. No pano roof or D+. I found some ones with D+ in Texas or Arizona online, but I wanted to buy locally and price wasn't great either.
Old 04-18-2014, 09:35 PM
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+1 to Distronic, as long as the road is clear and clean, it works fine. Otherwise, I see it sliding towards the right side of the road towards the line if not on it.
Old 04-18-2014, 10:43 PM
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Originally Posted by qtip
Otherwise, I see it sliding towards the right side of the road towards the line if not on it.
HUH!?
Old 04-19-2014, 09:31 AM
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2011 E350 Sport, P2, Driver Assist Package,
I recently purchased a CPO 2011 E350 that luck would have it had Distronic plus as an option. When searching for a car my only must have options were 4Matic and P2, my salesman found only 3 with P2. One was the wrong color, one had only 11K miles and the third had 19K miles but also had Distronic. I was not familiar with Distronic and frankly decided on the 19K car principally for the blind spot assist feature included in the Driver Assist package. However, after buying the car and using it, I would never buy another car without Distronic. It is fantastic in my eyes and after using it am surprised that there are so few E class cars with it. Seems the dealers have dropped the ball in not pushing it more in the E cars. I would probably give up P2 for Driver Assist if forced to make a choice, but luckily didn't have to.
Old 04-19-2014, 10:56 AM
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Originally Posted by qtip
+1 to Distronic, as long as the road is clear and clean, it works fine. Otherwise, I see it sliding towards the right side of the road towards the line if not on it.
You are talking about the active lane keep feature. Distronic controls the speed and distance to the car in front of you using the radar in the nose of the car. Lane keep is via the camera mounted next to the rain sensor in the middle of the top wind shield.

I don't have the active lane keep, I just have the warning shake if drift over the lane markers. Active lane keep is just a further refinement of the "shake" but it still uses the camera for monitoring the car position on in the lane.
Old 04-19-2014, 02:09 PM
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Originally Posted by Arrie
You are talking about the active lane keep feature. Distronic controls the speed and distance to the car in front of you using the radar in the nose of the car. Lane keep is via the camera mounted next to the rain sensor in the middle of the top wind shield.

I don't have the active lane keep, I just have the warning shake if drift over the lane markers. Active lane keep is just a further refinement of the "shake" but it still uses the camera for monitoring the car position on in the lane.


Ah, my mistake. I thought they were both a merged system. Thanks for the info! If you're talking about that then heck yes it's awesome. Used at all times city and highway!
Old 04-19-2014, 04:13 PM
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Originally Posted by qtip
Ah, my mistake. I thought they were both a merged system. Thanks for the info! If you're talking about that then heck yes it's awesome. Used at all times city and highway!
In my car I can disable the lane keep shaker warning in the cluster menu. This does not disable the D+ functionality. I don't know but I would think that you could also disable the active lane keep without disabling the D+.
Old 04-19-2014, 07:31 PM
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> Seems the dealers have dropped the ball in not pushing it more in the E cars.

One of the reasons I ordered by E250. It has exactly the features I want. OK, it basically has all the features and I really enjoy them all ;-)
Old 04-19-2014, 08:11 PM
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While I have not spent much time shopping new with MB, I would expect their dealerships act like most other brands and push certain combinations of packages that they believe will sell the best in their area. Most people wouldn't want to wait the time to special order, and the general assumption is the discounts are better on what is on the lot rather than a special order so that inherently increases the cost of a special order.

While I was conducting my search for an 2010/2011 E550, I would always check out the E350's on the lots to get a sense of the different color combinations available. One E350 has the leather upgrade with the vented front seats and the driver dynamic seat. The salesperson commented on how rare that was for an E350 in this area.

Speaking of rare features, I never found a 2010/2011 E sedan for sale with the night vision camera on a lot or online.
Old 04-19-2014, 08:36 PM
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I had a 2010 with night vision and have a 2011 with night vision both bought used. It's rare. But your not missing anything. It's a useless option. Vented seats and multicontour is much more useful.
Old 04-22-2014, 01:52 PM
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A Distronic malfunction was at least partially,if not completely,to blame for me having totaled my Bluetec.That's all I'm gonna say just in case I decide to take legal action.

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