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Coming from a W210 to a full option W212, shocked at the missing basic features
My previous car was a custom ordered 2001 E320 wagon with every option available for that model year (I searched 6 months for that car and bought it from 1800 miles away). I have owned the wagon for nearly a decade and put 300k miles on it. I kept it in perfect running order , but because it was worthless to sell I decide to give it to my dad and get myself something new. I settled on a 2011 E550 because that was the last year of the naturally aspirated v8 engine (I had 2 turbo cars with complete engine failures, 1.8t passat and wrx), no more turbo cars for me thanks. Last month I found a low milage E550 which (to my knowledge) has every option box ticked as well, even the bling-bling tv's in the headrests . See build sheet below and let me know if I'm missing something.
Driving the new car I started noticing several things from my old 2001 wagon were missing from the new E550. These were standard on all W210's, I'm not counting options.
I'm listing these in the order of importance (least to most):
6. Cooled center storage box - The center box had a full sized vent which you could rout A/C to and keep your drinks or chocolates cold.
5. Charcoal / Paper cabin filter selector - You could select whether you'd want the cabin air filtered through the paper filter or charcoal filter. The car had both filter at the same time.
4. Fuel capacity remaining indicator in the MFD - Where it would tell you exactly how many gallons were left in the tank, in 0.2 increments. Much more usefull than the "miles remaining" indicated we have.
3. Rest. button for A/C - After you shut off the car, you hit the rest button and the A/C would still blow cold air for 10 minutes. Perfect if you have dogs in the car and need to run into 7-11 on a hot day.
2. Mono-Wiper - It works, it works great and keeps the OCD at bay. It used to be one of the biggest perks for getting a Merc back in the day!
1. Vacuum actuated door locks - grrr, this bugs me so much. My $78k Mercedes now sounds like a Hyundai when the door lock actuate at 15mph. On my w210 they were completely silent, zero noise. Now every time I drive off I hear a big "CLUNK". Luckily I was able to turn the auto lock off in the service menu, otherwise it would have driven me mad.
I'm sure I'm missing something, but yeah, what happened? This new W212 is more like any ordinary car, no longer a real Merc. Anyone else feel this way?
I don't think the cooled storage is really typical of any car, maybe the new wagons still have it?
Some of the other options do seem useful but IMO, none of them are deal breakers. Although I can see where if you're use to those options having them taken away can take some getting use to.
I see where the OP is coming from but some of the complaints seem ridiculous.
What difference does it make between charcoal or paper filters? Why would you use one over the other? All I care about is clean air, I don't want to know how it is done.
How is remaining gallons more useful than remaining miles? You still have to do some mental arithmetic (based on an approximate fuel efficiency) to calculate how far you can go. The new car does it for you already. I understand it is not perfect, but better than the remaining fuel (which you can already see on the fuel gauge).
I can understand the frustration if some feature is taken away which you are so much used to, but as someone said earlier none of these appear to be deal breakers. Two wipers are better than one any day.
About the vacuum assisted door locks, I'd love to see how that works or sounds since I've never experienced it before. .
i used to have w211 now w212, what do I miss??? cant think of anything... oh i used to think the blue tinted glass was cool in the white mb's back in the days (but my car was black), i think new mb don't have that any more.
W212 is light years ahead of the older models(and I have owned several older MB's)
The glove box has your air cooler in it now(it still won't cool a candy bar). The rest feature never lasted 10 minutes on a hot day. I will take 1 good charcoal cabin filter over 3 in the past any day. It works all of the time , which is what it should be doing. The mono wiper operated like a broken ceiling fan. The safety features and driver assist controls are fantastic as well. I don't miss anything from the older models.
Coming from a '98 c230, the last thing I miss is the vacuum operated locks and other accessories. Wanna open the trunk? gotta wait for the pump to spin up to make enough vacuum to work the activator. Same with the doors. And don't get me started on the HVAC with all the leaky bellows. I'm not sure if the w212 uses bellows to operate the doors, but I sure hope not. Sometimes simpler is much better.
How is remaining gallons more useful than remaining miles?
It isn't. It's a lot easier to calculate how many miles till the next gas station than it is gallons. Besides, there's already a fuel level indicator that tells you approximately how much fuel is in the tank. Having the car calculate that instead of miles remaining would be redundant.
I had a 2001 C320 and noticed some of the same things.....
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
...6. Cooled center storage box - The center box had a full sized vent which you could rout A/C to and keep your drinks or chocolates cold.....
Yes, although I never used it to cool anything. Did you know now you have a small circular vent in the glove box for routing HVAC air into it if you want?
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
....5. Charcoal / Paper cabin filter selector - You could select whether you'd want the cabin air filtered through the paper filter or charcoal filter. The car had both filter at the same time.....
Yes, noticed this right away when noxious fumes entered the car and was very surprised they downgraded the cabin filter. I ended up making my own filter element to fix the problem.
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
....4. Fuel capacity remaining indicator in the MFD - Where it would tell you exactly how many gallons were left in the tank, in 0.2 increments. Much more usefull than the "miles remaining" indicated we have.....
Meh.
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
...3. Rest. button for A/C - After you shut off the car, you hit the rest button and the A/C would still blow cold air for 10 minutes. Perfect if you have dogs in the car and need to run into 7-11 on a hot day.....
Noticed this as well but never used the feature.
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
....2. Mono-Wiper - It works, it works great and keeps the OCD at bay. It used to be one of the biggest perks for getting a Merc back in the day!.....
My C had dual wipers that worked great. I've driven ones with the mono wiper and didn't particularly care for it. At higher speeds all that mass in motion could be felt in the cabin.
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
...1. Vacuum actuated door locks - grrr, this bugs me so much. My $78k Mercedes now sounds like a Hyundai when the door lock actuate at 15mph. On my w210 they were completely silent, zero noise. Now every time I drive off I hear a big "CLUNK". Luckily I was able to turn the auto lock off in the service menu, otherwise it would have driven me mad....
My C had electric door locks and I was glad it did after fighting vacuum leaks on other cars. Where I live the smog deteriorates the German rubber of the vacuum hoses and things (locks, HVAC flaps) stop working.
Originally Posted by Ungarisch
...I'm sure I'm missing something, but yeah, what happened? This new W212 is more like any ordinary car, no longer a real Merc. Anyone else feel this way?....
Body panels, hood, trunk lid, not as substantial or fastened as well. I write this off somewhat to weight saving which is a good thing. Welcome to a car company trying to stay competitive.
It isn't. It's a lot easier to calculate how many miles till the next gas station than it is gallons. Besides, there's already a fuel level indicator that tells you approximately how much fuel is in the tank. Having the car calculate that instead of miles remaining would be redundant.
That's exactly my point. Anyway the OP seems to have different ideas. We like to hear what was his line of reasoning.
I do agree that the W210 / 211s have a classy look though.
Welcome to a car company trying to stay competitive.
I think you nailed it.
Originally Posted by pamiboy
That's exactly my point. Anyway the OP seems to have different ideas. We like to hear what was his line of reasoning.
I do agree that the W210 / 211s have a classy look though.
My reasoning was that when I see 1.2 gallons on my dash I know that I don't have to stop at the last gas station off my freeway exit at 2am. I know that 1.2 gallons will always take me to from the freeway exit to my house and then back to the gas station. Whereas on the W212 its a constantly fluctuating number that tells me I have 45 miles when I get off the freeway, but halfway to my house that drops to 7 miles which makes me second guess if I have enough in the tank to make it back to the gas station in the morning. I like solid, non-guesstimated numbers, but thats just me...
Don't get me wrong, I love my w212. Distronic plus is amazing, it blows my mind that I can adjust ride-height with a computer. I just miss the solid sounding door closing that oozed quality.
Congrats on the new car and I am glad you had such good luck with the old one. Many times you get used to things and over time that is what you expect.
I also have a 2011 E550 and when I have gotten a loaner one of the new things I noticed is the eco system that stops the engine at stop lights. After a quick google I found out how to disable it and am glad my car doesn't have it.
Sometimes new is better and sometimes not, but everyone evaluates that on their own.
I loved our 210/211s also. We're now on our second 212 having gone from a 13 to a 16 model last week. Little things I miss but many things I love. None of my complaints are serious enough to warrant even considering NOT purchasing one. At the same time, I feel ungarisch's pain. Continuous improvement is not as simple as it seems...
We just got a CPO 2010 E350. It is a nice car. The previous car - a 2003 C320 went to my brother. The first thing we noticed was that upon stopping the car and turning off the ignition, the E350's driver seat did NOT move all the way back to facilitate entry and exit. On the 2003 C320, when we would turn off the ignition, the seat backed all the way so that getting in or out was very easy. Now with the 2010 E350, the only movement is a slight raising of the steering wheel. We really miss the seat movement feature.
^ you mean the "passenger leg crusher"? A very dumb concept. You can set one of the memory buttons to move the seat all of the way back. Just push it when you are exiting.
^ you mean the "passenger leg crusher"? A very dumb concept. You can set one of the memory buttons to move the seat all of the way back. Just push it when you are exiting.
No passengers in the rear seats to crush legs!
We did exactly what you mentioned with the 3 button, only my wife always forgets to use it!
Maybe we'll have to put her in the rear seat and push the 3 button as a reminder ???
had a 210, 211 now the 212. i also see where OP is coming. those negatives (for OP not for me) are overshadowed by the positives. i lost a few features from my 210 when i went for 211 and same when i went for the 212. but i wouldnt have upgraded if all those where gonna bug me.
navigation, more airbags, distronic, parktronic, lane keep assyst, driver assyst, blind spot assyst, tyre air presure monitor, linguatronic, phone integration, better fuel mileage and the list goes on. no offense, but none of the things you listed above can save your life in an event of an accident. all of the ones i mentioned could. maybe mercedes didnt see them as useful as they thought so didnt bother carrying it to the next gen.
....the one thing I WON'T miss about the W210 is the RUST. Sooo much rust. I came from a W124 with 300K on it and barely any rust. The W210 seems to have started rusting the day after we got it. I'm about to get a W212....sure hope the sight of all those rusty W210 and W203 on the side of the road embarrassed MB exec's enough that they went back to proper rust control......like they used in the 90's !
But I suspect they learned all about "pre-planned obsolescence" from Chrysler and never forgot.
Too bad!
08-06-2015, 11:28 PM
. See build sheet below and let me know if I'm missing something. 
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