My wife and I are visiting London for a few days and I've noticed a ton of Mercedes E and S-Class'. Is there any particular reason you see them every two seconds like you would a Honda in the states?

 

There's a heck of a lot of money in London. One of the best places in the world to see Benzes, Rolls, Ferraris etc.

 

Well I figured that much. Just still wierd to me that there are so many. I literally see one every two seconds.

 

That's where all the Arabs stay in the summer.

 

London is a money bag.

 

Agreed it is mostly money. But Mercedes also occupies a broader market segment in Europe than here in the U.S. The sell plainer, less expensive versions of cars. You can get an e-class with manual cloth seats, no sunroof, and a four cylinder petrol engine for example. And there are many more models on sale - A and B classes, V class vans, C class wagons, etc.

 

Shadow, thanks. I knew it was more than just money. I mean if it was simply money, there would be a lot more expensive cars than just Mercedes. Makes sense though considering I've seen a lot of smaller engine models.

 

Have you seen a bunch of 550's...S or E or are the just variations of all the others? Here it seems like E550 are a unicorn and S550 are less rare but not something I see everyday. I see hundreds of C300 and E350s it feels like

 

Ive seen a lot of S400's & E250's. Also a lot of the models are CDI.

 

cheaper. stripped down to bare models but still have the luxury and reliability compared to other jap cars. a lot are also used for chauffeuring hotel guests and VIPs not to mention cabs.

 

In general these cars are where the money is. Go to visit some big cities in China, like Shanghai or Guangzhou and be amazed about the cars on the roads...

 

Londoners must be the ones girdled up with the highest tastes

 

I work in central London and see about 50 E and S class cars drive past when I am on my luch break. 1 S class for every 4 E class cars.

These cars are private hire cars (taxis) and you can identify them by the green sticker (see image)in the upper left hand side of the front/rear windscreens. Look closely as most of the cars have tinted the screens so the ugly green stickers arent too obvious.


I have a W212 and outside of central London they are not so common. I hate when I drive through central London cos I look just like a taxi driver.

I remember once I went to pick up my folks who were staying at the Sheraton Park Tower on Knightsbridge. As I pulled up outside the hotel to wait for them, the door man walked up to my car and tried to open my rear passenger door as he beckoned on a guest who was waiting for a taxi.

Terribly embarrasing!

 

Hahaaaa funny story man. Thanks for the info. I thought that was the case, but wasn't sure.

 

Yup what Pappilo said, I'm 25 miles out of central London, all the standard plain E class are on 'Private hire' get into the suburbs and every thing is AMG body kitted. Barring E63's 99% of W212's are diesel, my dealer had never sold a facelift petrol W212 that wasn't an E63 till I bought mine!