Same here. And I think the current front will look exceptionally dated prematurely. Way too fussy and awkwardly mated to age well. The original front, while very bluntly angular, just works with the car, and is well balanced to the rest of it, so will age with more class I think. It also looks way more aggressive in the way an M-B Sedan should (stronger presence). The new front is too soft "smiley" and generic within the lineup, imo. And the huge "holes" and goofy fake air vents that are completely non-functional (actually closed up matte plastic) are as non form-follows-function as it gets, i.e very un-Germanic, i.e very un-Mercedes. Something you'd expect from a car in Fast & Furious. Very unfitting to an E Class. Out of everything M-B could have messed with on the W212, the front was always considered its strongest point, so don't know why they did their most uncharacteristically extensive facelift to that portion.

 

instantfob, thanks for the tip to PM GregTR, I'll try to get his input.
Beemie, I didn't realize the Luxury edition had the black dash. Its nice of you to take the time and photo the two. I'm now very sure the MB E class wagon is for us. We looked at a X-5 really to tall and somewhat bigger than we need and the wife dislikes the ride. I guess the truck under pinning and such makes it ride different than sedan/wagon combo like the MB is. Now I have to get the color picked ( she likes Lunar blue ) and then figure out if the brown leather or the Designo Brown is the choice for us. We live in upstate ny with very distant MB dealers so road trip is in the future...
Then do we plan Euro Delivery? thanks

 

About the Front end on the sport edition, I really like the look. I understand that some of you guys dislike the more aggressive appearance on such a mellow E class wagon ( which I like ). I did find that at the MB dealer last month, I would guess 75% were the sport style but they did have some Luxury editions, however they had only 1 wagon. The extra fake vents are alittle odd and I wonder the reason but expect that next year some LED lights or something will pop into the lineup or the after market guys will come out with some plug for these holes.
I also see some F-1 wing in both editions more so in the sport maybe I'm all wet as they say. I'm sure its more affective in the AMG version but I can't afford that. Just my .02 cents.

 

Very exciting!

Minor disclaimer: the photos of the instrument clusters were taken from listings of 2015 E350s on Autotrader.

Re brown interior, if you are considering chestnut brown I do recommend making sure you see it in person and in different lights. I was debating between an in stock car with almost all of my preferred options and chestnut brown interior, versus ordering a car to spec with the designo light brown interior. I drove an hour and a half to check out the chestnut interior in person, and glad I did because the color fell flat for me, and I found it clashed with the wood trim I was considering. So now I'm awaiting my designo light brown interior (estimated build date 1/29/2015, which is pretty much the full 8 week delay they warn you about with designo).

 

Oh you don't like the front? Would have never guessed it

 

I recently purchased a 2015 Wagon. Check out my other 2 threads. The MB just had more room and it drives really great, probably a bit sister than the BMW though. MB looks better too.

Attachment 445603

 

I don't like the new front either. Everyone like what they do. In my opinion the new front is good only for the AMG where the looks match what is under the hood.

 

Oregonmon, LOVE YOUR WAGON and read your post. The wagon I drove was black and just to die for......thanks for the pics. bob

 

Hi Arrie, I'm well aware he does not like the front, just having fun with him. Took me a while to warm to it, but I've decided I like it...

 

There really is something about the wagon, it really works . The AMG version is such a sleeper, I would debadge it and fly under the radar. Yours looks good in white and right at home in that driveway. Happy Motoring!

 

The AMG is so damn cool
I sat in one at the dealership, SO special but another +$30 grand. D:

I was actually at a friends vineyard picking up a barrel. Who needs SUV?
Attachment 445601

 

^^ Love that pic.

 

Some good Oregon Pinot Noir in there?

 

The new front is too futuristic or too sporty look for the E-class sedan. It suits better the wagon and definitely the AMG models.


But, it is what it is...

 

Genuine bierwagen

 

Holy Moly that barrel was/is heavy way to to push the cargo envelope .

 

Assuming it is empty, I don't think it could be more than e.g. two adults sitting in the back seat.

 

I seriously think this photo (or something very similar) needs to be in the next E Wagon brochure! I'd imagine it'd appeal to the target audience quite nicely.

 

Barrels do not have legs someone had to lift that barrel in there without dinging the paint. It was a darn close fit size wise. Is that considered a open container.:-)

 

Absolutely. I would change the towels for two nice wheel chocks, maybe with MB logo

 

I would not imagine you could carry a full size barrel / cask in a W212 Wagon That's a massive load indeed and I agree it would draw attention for target population or buyers

 

Not everybody likes brown interiors and dealers are afraid to order them. They are more content to order run of the mill stuff. When asked why they do that they say well thats what people buy..

As far as I am concerned, Brown interiors look much richer and most importantly pleasing to the eye. Earthy colors have that effect on me. But color on pillars and headliner makes all the difference. For instance light gray headliner on non sports models doesnt go very well with it. Jag offers a fuzzy material in beige that looks ok but not great. Bmw unfortunately reserves black headliner only for some packages..MB fortunately offers on sport/avantegarde. No its not alcantara but looks good. Sport btw has one less horizontal bar on the grille.. Luxury/elegance model is easier to spot that way.. Grill will have one more bar in it and those dont come with dark headliner. Audi otoh does it well as well with their color schemes.. They have sharp looking dark charcoal/grey that matches up with nougat brown.

Coming to exterior paints, I remember MB used to offer a type of pastelle green that was just right and not too dark. I saw it on E430 (circa 2002 remember those?). It was nice..Then everybody stopped green exteriors though I swear I saw an ugly dark green on 740i later. Usually green with brown interiors were hard to come by. Bmw did it but not with saddle/cinnamon brown interior but more like some taupe dark beige variety.. Dealers mostly nowadays get cinnamon brown with alpine white. But then again germans dont get green as well as Brits do.. Jaguar pulls it off well and feels natural. Jag also does some piping/stitching contrasts nowadays on their leather. I like MBs classic ridged style.

Another exterior color that is not common is mocha/bronze metallic.. some manufacturers still offer those.

 

600 lbs full, assume it could handle it...

 

And the Airmatic springs in the rear axle keep the car level looking like no load at all.

 

MB drastically improved reliability recent years. I can say my W212 of 2010 looked less reliable and actually it was than current 2014 model. But since you want wagon, you can be at higher risk just because wagons less popular and not so well tested.