I totally agree - if I had the money and it would fit into my garage I would be in an S-classs. For my needs the E-class is perfect but the S-class is just awesome!

 

I have gone from multiple E classes to a S class not too long ago. The ride is much better in the S class and I have had no regrets. Just don't get the HUD, turn off the active lane assist, and everything else should be to your liking. The only con would be the size of the car. Everything else will be up to your taste. If you still have time, I would wait until the next gen E classes for a view on how they will be.

 

We have three ex W212 Owners on these forums as far as I know and they switched to W221 . They no regret getting the W221 at all

 

as owner of both I can say you'd be happier, and glad you choose the S class........

 

"Important are quiet, smooth, tech, and performance. Less so handling.

Features I require are:

AWD, Distronic Plus, Navigation, Heated/Cooled seats and heated steering wheel (I live in Maine), soft close doors and trunk, heated windshield/wipers."

You should at least test drive the Tesla model S. It has what you want minus the cooled seats (but you can pre cool the cabin from your phone) and no soft close doors.

I went from a E to a Model S85 w/ autopilot, the 30 min test drive may change how you look at all cars forever if your able to Spend that kind of money.

 

No doubt the tesla is a wonderful machine in any comparison.(that tesla is the most expensive one btw... more than a stock s550 new...but yes quite a contender. even benz is using theyre batteries now for all electrics)

However, to stick with the actual matter at hand...

S Class = 600 pounds heavier, air suspension (standard on S, only on SOME e models) and longer body. These will be the most noticeable changes alongside the extra 25000 spent msrp on it being better put to gether interior wise.

The S is the way to go for smoothe and quiet and tech. performance and handling do go down.

 

I have both cars(w212 and w221), not 4matic, but i would definitely say get the S. The E is a nice car, but hands down, the S just feels alot smoother and i love the space. After driving the S, the E feels more like a sport car because its much smaller and the handling is a bit tighter, but the S handles very well for its large size. Either car would be a good choice, but you will certainly not regret getting the S.

 

If they would give me an S for my E, I would relocate my water heater to make it fit in my garage. Fortunately for my water heater, they won't give me it for free.

 

are you doing material here? LOL

 

It is a personal preference issue and thus there is no right answer.
You have to drive both cars in your driving style and take it from there.
I have always driven E class except for one sojourn into a CLK and an ES 300 (which was a gross error on my part and corrected 10 mo. later) and never really cottoned on to the S.

 

Best quote of this thread .

 

All I can say is that IF I could afford an S that is what would sit in my car port. E is a joke compare to S almost as much as C is compared to E.


I have driven all of them and there is no comparison in MB family of cars to the S other than that Maybach, of course. Not sure they make those anymore.


Yes, the S is a bigger car but not really that much and it is surprisingly easy to maneuver.


Lots of the much bigger feel of the S comes from its height as it feels your head is a foot higher up from the road compared to the E when you sit in it.

 

There is rumour they are going to bring the Maybach back.
Right now their nomenclature is so screwed up from the past you could order an E300 and get Smart car.

 

They are. Its going to be a mercedes sub brand. Mercedes-AMG, Mercedes-Maybach, etc. Possibly an suv as well. There are a ton of news article out about this article.

As far as nomenclature, yeah... They have certainly got unique choices... My 'e350 bluetec' is actually 2987cc so e300 is what i put on my car. not 350. However, the E300 bluetec hybrid has a 2143 cc engine and says that... The 250s are 2.1s... Theyre spiritual numbers essentially. Oh yeah new 63s are 4.7l =DD

Its fine with me but youre right... Especially in the eastern kingdoms youll get a messed up purchase order with all their models.

 

The E400 is a 2996 Bi turbo, the E550 a 4.6L bi turbo etc., the CLA450 is actually a 1.96L four. Totally lost all meaning as they swing over to turbos on lower displacement engines with 9 speed boxes all presumably to chase fuel economy.
Most folks who own a Benz are not typically pre-occuppied with fuel mileage. We watch and appreciate cheap gas but it is not a first consideration for sure as I see it.

 

I saw an interview on youtube with an AMG high up and he said they are numbered like that for historical reasons and are also supposedly "operating at that level of power output." ( i guess in terms of performance ) he also said that they were making the cars cpu coding i guess and gear ratios to feel the same as that engine. reference being the c63 engine specifically... and he was answering that very question. "whats the numbers mean ??". Some foreign car show i think

 

Yeah, would be difficult to a sales guy sell an E with number 400 on the trunk lid and explain to the buyer "...but it has the same power as the original 550 with 5.5 L engine..." So they keep the number to keep things simple / easier.


But it is amazing MB does this as they are so scared about law suits. Someone buying an E550 believing it has a 5.5 L engine could get really mad when later finds out the engine is almost a full liter smaller. He could argue that in the very long history of MB built cars the number has always meant the engine size. He could continue arguing that he heard the engine is a Bi-Turbo engine and was thinking that 5.5 liters must be giving so much more power than the NA version. And then he finds out the engine is way smaller and power just about the same or just marginally more.

 

No possible way of a "successful" lawsuit there. MB never made any claims about the numbering being related to engine size. Anyway, then BMW and many other manufacturers would be in trouble too (but I seriously doubt anyone would have a good case).

 

Probably not a good case but I understand MB dropped the reverse camera guide lines after some dumb *** backed up her car to something trusting the lines. How successfull was that claim?


And I think it could be a valid case if the sales person does not reveal the true engine size. And the other car makers could be in trouble as well. The number at the back of some cars has become so well known for its meaning that using a "wrong" badge could very well be held against a car maker if someone took the case in a court room. Remember there was a case of coffee spilled on the driver by the driver in her own car and McDonalds paid for their mistake of making coffee hot like it is supposed to be made.
I actually dislike the fact that MB use a E550 badge on a car that should have a badge saying E460. My car has the true 5.5 L engine and so has the "right" to carry it. The new ones don't.


If MB is so worried about the performance why don't they post the HP number on the trunk. This way they could make new models look better and would not be misleading anybody.

 

What I find interesting in all of this as they mess around with nomenclature is the 2015 E300 has the 3496 cc engine size same as mine and many other W212s prior to 2015 but the E400 is a 2996 cc Bi Turbo.
The comment about outputs is interesting but it doesn't work.
The CLA450 is a 2L Turbo with 361 Hp and up to 450 Nm of torque so that works but other cars the conversions of torque from ft lb to Nm doesn't so it is a mish mash as far as I am concerned.
I doubt most buyers care all that much about size of engines. More would look at fuel economy but for sure MB does not advertise on the basis of engine sizes so I doubt a law suit would succeed.
As to the chick who sued over the back up camera, the 2014 E300 courtesy car I had Tuesdays had 137 km on the odometer and the reference lines were in the BUC. I would love to have them but then again since I can see 18" behind my rear bumper with the fish eye in my 2011 W212 I really don't have any excuse for hitting something do I.
She should have either. Sound to me she lost situational awareness. She better not buy a car with a HUD. She will blame somebody else for her stupidity.

 

Obviously the US has too many lawyers and too many elected judges. The US tort system is out of control. Insurance liability rates increase the price of all goods and that flows through to everyone.

 

The issue is we up north of the 49th are getting the same way.

 

On topic - I can afford an S. Frankly I'm just not old enough (I'm under 40). I'm sure the S is better built, smoother, and more luxurious. I'm also sure it's harder to park, and less fun to toss around compared to an E. A loaded E is in my future for at least a few more years.

On nomenclature I think MB should get back to some consistent system based on actual displacement now that nearly everything is forced induction (maybe add a 0.5L for turbos). Auto enthusiast still care about the power under the hood. Leave the MPG bragging/marketing to the blue-efficiency badges. I think the E63 et. al. should have returned to E55 when they went back to a 5.5L forced induction V8, but that ship sailed.

Arrie my M278 is 4.663L so lets say "E470" (460 makes me think of Lexus anyway) A 0.8L difference, care to race? JK. A dealer told me once that in Europe they never adopted the 550 designation when displacement increased to 5.5L and stuck with 500 so when it dropped to 4.7LTT it wasn't a big deal (could be salesman BS). I kind of like that.

It's interesting that people try to argue that folks care more about MPG the HP, yet Mercedes is going out of their way to make their cars' engines seem like they are bigger/more powerful rather than the smaller more fuel-efficient engines they have. If it's really what people want why the deception? Be proud of that efficient new C200.

Bottom line I'm sad there is no more E550 for the USA.

 

Actually, I did choose the 2015 E over the 2014 S. Price was NOT the #1 reason.

Why the E? Quite simply, I didn't want the attention an S gathers.

I grew up driving Mercedes (first car was a 1979 240D) and had quite a few of them. It didn't matter that the 240D wasn't in the best of shape or that you used a screwdriver to start it or that you'd have to open the hood and push the STOP lever to stall the engine, people saw the three-pointed star on the hood and immediately had a stereotype in mind. That car got me access to all sorts of events and locations I shouldn't have ever been in.

Then I bought a 1994 Infiniti Q45. It had a plush superior interior to the Mercedes (even a leather dash & leather headliner!), the V8 engine was much quieter and smoother. Handling was almost as good as a Benz. Best part: NO ONE knew what the hell it was. When anyone would ask, I'd just smile and say it's a Nissan. Fast forward ten years and I bought a 2004 Infiniti M45. Interior wasn't as nice as the Q, but the 350HP V8 engine made me overlook that. Feature-wise, the car still holds its own today. If anything, it's voice recognition is still the best I've ever used. People still had no idea what it was and I still smiled and would tell people it's a JDM Nissan Gloria that Nissan badged as an Infiniti.

The second factor for me was how I'm going to use the car. No matter what car I bought, it was going to be sentenced to a life of driving up & down the highway every week. ~20,000-30,000 miles/year. I wanted something which I knew could take the abuse. What better than a taxi? By 2015, the E platform is very mature and stable. Just look at the TSBs and they're almost nonexistent for the past year. It also seemed almost like a sin to do this to an S-Class. At 215k, the M45 certainly had plenty of battle scars from the highway.

Third was the lack of spare tires for the S. Run-flats only. I see that some have been able to get Merc to bend a bit on this, but you still don't get a spare tire, just a spray can of goop and an air compressor. My work takes me out in the boonies at times where satellite phones and ham radio are your only connections to the outside world. Getting caught without a spare tire in these parts means a very long, unpleasant walk.

Fourth was drivability. Yes, the S is faster and I do prefer the V8 engine's complete overload of power. BUT when it comes down to driving, the E is more nimble and steering feels more precise.

Fifth was interior room. Yes, the S has a bigger back seat, but trunk space is the same (or less in the S depending on which options you put on the S). Since I'm on the road, the trunk functions as my closet and mobile workshop. I pride myself on being able to do whatever job gets thrown at me, without having to order/wait for parts.

Sixth was fuel efficiency. Not a huge factor, but certainly part of TCO. I really wanted an E300 diesel hybrid (65-75 legitimate mpg), but for some reason Merc doesn't import them to the USA. I wish they would. I would have bought one sight unseen.

What ultimately convinced me to get the E over the S was wandering a dealership's lot at night after the salesholes had left. One of the SoCal dealerships I visited had an E350 Luxury parked next to an S550, same interior colors, same exterior colors. It's scary how similar the two looked, to the point that I initially didn't realise I was driving past two different cars. The exteriors really look that similar for the front & side. The rear of the cars look much different, but I like the blandness of the E -- it blends in better when parked in a parking lot. Less likely to attract attention and/or thieves.

If you look at the photos below, the 2014+ E Class interior is pretty much on par with the W221 S Class interiors. Yes, the 2014+ S550 interior is superior, full-stop. Is it THAT much better? In my book, no. I'm perfectly content with the E interior. I wish it had certain things (4-zone AC, REST function, etc.) that the S does or that Euro & Canadian E's can get, but I was still able to get many of the S features like the ambient lighting, laminated acoustical glass (special order, but worth the $300), Distronic+ w/Steering, Surround Cameras, Active Contour driver's seat, full LED active headlights w/eyebrow daytime running lights, light-pipe tail lights, etc. I was also looking for reliability, so things like the motorized trunk closer were deleted. One more thing to break and I didn't see anything wrong with the 100+ year old method of grabbing the lid and closing it by hand. If it had soft-close doors, I probably would have deleted that too for simplicity/reduced repairs.

Ultimately, the car I spec'd is kind of an S stuffed into an E-Class body. It has the visual aspects of the S I like (front/sides) without the parts I don't (rear). The light beige interior w/burl wood + the chrome & aluminum accents added in the 2014 facelift (plus that clock!) has enough of the Mercedes-feel to keep me happy. Best of all, unless someone's a Merc fan, they're not going to notice the options on the car. It's not quite stealthy, but at least it doesn't scream "I'm driving around in a $150K car!!!" For a lot of my work I can use this car and not get too much grief. At the same time, it's a unique car, so there will be times I'll have to borrow/rent a more nondescript car, but I had to do that with the M45 as well.

Photos are worth 1,000 words, so here are some. Sorry for all of these being phone cam images, as I've not had time to take car out with the DSLR and get proper photographs of it yet.


My E350 the day after taking delivery:




A 2015 S550 for comparison at the dealership; I wish I could park the two side-by-side. The similarities are striking:




My E350 just after it came off the truck:




A comparison of a W221 and my 2015 E350. Note how much darker/yellower the interior is on the W221. At the time that was as light as it got for that car. Fortunately the 2014+ S Class can be had with a proper light interior. Still, side-by-side, I prefer the look of the E.




2015 E350 clock. I'll be honest and say I really didn't care for the pre-facelift E interiors. The changes made were subtle, like the addition of the clock and the aluminum accents, but it made the difference for me.




My E350 interior. Rubber mats are a must! Even without a light interior.



2012 S550 interior:


2015 E350 interior:

 

Nice car... enjoy it.