sharx8

After five plus years of faithful ownership,our beloved 07 E350 wagon has been deemed too expensive to fix after a head on encounter with a distracted young driver not paying attention at a stop sign.

My wife was driving with my two kids in the back and, long story short, was hit turning left after waiting for another car to clear the 4 way stop. A young teen lady, following that other car, ran into my wife as she made the left turn with such force that her license plate was imbedded deeply into our the passenger side of the bumper. She ran out apologizing to my wife for not paying attention and were the kids ok... Later her mother showed up and coached her on how to play the story without accepting any blame and suddenly the car in front of her never existed and now the blame is up in the air... No witnesses. Nice parenting. End result... Our family car will not be gracing our driveway again and I will be buying one of those dash cams for future protection.

On the plus side the car proved itself to be incredibly solid in the face of this accident. My young kids walked away a bit scared, but they walked away completely unscathed. The young lady's license plate was imbedded into the passenger side of our bumper so deep the cop couldn't believe it and took a while to wrench it out.

Our insurance agent said that they get far fewer serious injuries from Mercedes and particularly E class vehicles and this experience proved their safety benefits to me first-hand. The agent said the pictures made it clear in her mind that we were fortunate my family were in our car versus others based on how it absorbed the impact. I believe her given how many of these gruesome pictures she must look at every day...

At any rate I am now in the market for a 2011 E wagon and would appreciate any advice on what to look out for if anything. Any specific issues, items that might wear early, recalls that should be performed. I have owned an E class wagon for 8 years and I plan to continue the tradition.

Cheers all, we are all fortunate to be driving these exceptionally safe cars!

alanme123

I am so sorry to hear that... I really hope your family is okay. I am glad that the E class really stepped up when it needed to.

I am not sure if this will help, but I know of a friend that told the insurance agent that the other person actually admitted it was their fault on the scene and they believed my friend and blamed the other person. However this might've included other factors.

I just hope that there was no serious whiplash or anything to any of your family! Drive safe and I'm sure you will be able to find a new suitable E wagon.

marketns

sorry to hear that, at least everyone is safe

BenzV12

I am sorry to hear that .It's nice to hear everyone was OK and left the car unscathed after that nasty incident . It could have been a different story in an asian car maker
Anyway, may you have trouble free and a pleasure of driving with your next car

fxrs1955

The main thing is that everyone is ok, cars can be replaced, people can't. I do have to agree with you about the young ladies mother, nice example to set for her child.

hyperion667

damn this pisses me off......I hope you sue the living daylights out of that girls folks

Firestopper0383

Sorry to read about your misfortune. Glad the family is all ok. Unfortunately, the attitude of the young lady is normal, a society refusing to accept blame or responsibility for ones own actions.
As far as another "E". You can't go wrong with that selection. Anything from 2010 on is a great car.
Good luck with your shopping.

thenew3

Sorry to hear that. Glad your family was safe and the E did its job protecting them.

You may want to look at a 2012 or newer. It has the newer M276 engine which is quite a bit more fuel efficient compared to the 2011 M272 engine. Not to mention more powerful too.

I've seen and been in my fair share of accidents over the last 23 years and 1.5 million miles. I have to say no matter what crash test results say, those in german vehicles tend to have a better chance escaping un-injured compared to those in domestic or Japanese vehicles.

sharx8

Thanks for the supporting comments all. The dispute is still raging between insurance companies. Our agent says the pictures prove the young lady was going way too fast at a 4 way stop to have actually stopped. I will let them duke it out.


In the meantime I have found our replacement wagon. I actually have to fly to Montreal from Toronto tonight to go sign the papers. The dealer is paying for the flight. The prices in Montreal for CPO Benz wagons is roughly $6000-8000 less than in Toronto for the same car. It's worth a short trip to save that kind of scratch.


I agree with the other poster about the 2012 being a better option due to improved engine. Unfortunately I could not find one in the entire country that wasn't way out of my budget.


Looking forward to my 3rd E Class wagon. The W210 was great, if a little odd looking, the W211 looked better but this W212 really stands out to my eyes.


Happy Motoring fellow Benzers!

PeterUbers

A distracted teen crashed into my 2014 e550 while she was on the phone ... I feel your pain, glad everyone is safe

These things are just metal and rubber but we trust them with our lives

hyperion667

fawking cell phones

CEB

Hey Hyper - didn't you used to have to have penguins in your sig line? I don't see them anymore...

DerekACS

Sorry to read about the demise of your E320 wagon, but it obviously did the job of protecting your family !

Congrats on finding a CPO 2011 E350 wagon in Montreal @ such an attractive price compared to Toronto !!!

I think you will notice a substantial difference in the solidity of the body structure between the W211 wagon and the W212 wagon. I owned a W211 wagon briefly. Although it proved to be a fine car to drive (apart from the poor fuel efficiency), it was plagued with rattles and squeaks. The newer W212 seems to have a much more solid chassis structure.