jonUF02

I find that I rarely use the paddles. The shifting is pretty well controllable through pedal input on thees cars. Also, mentally keeping track of 7 gears without a physical gear shifter does not seem to work well for me. I really only use it to prematurely kick down when I want to pass around someone quickly on the highway. I've found that MB manual shifting is more like a "maximum gear" rather than putting you exactly in the gear you select anyway. It's the same on my CLK.

I could see it being beneficial in snow maybe.

LSkrabut

I have a '14 E250 with RWD. Search high and low for a new E250 RWD with the options I was looking for in May 2014, all I wanted.


Now with the Run Flat Bridgestone on it, I did not care for the snowy roads after one or 2 attempts.


Put on Bridgestone WS80's never looked back on snowy roads again. When I was forced to swap out Run Flat this Oct (hole in one tire), I put on Conti DWS 06's, nice quiet run, felt pretty good in light snowy roads and not bad in snow covered roads. Just last week, put the WS80's back on (7.5K mile on them from last winter), Hands down the WS80 out shine the DWS's by a long shot.

jahquan3

Good to know, I've heard that Conti's are the best overall but I've also heard that when compared to more affordable tires they aren't leaps and bounds better to offset their higher cost.

I've read some bad things about Run Flats although my neighbor swears by them. He works for BMW and almost fell over when I said I don't have run flats lol.

jahquan3

Another question I like to add for anyone who sees this. Do you all have the battery in the trunk in your model? I know the 4Matic crowd doesn't but I do in my E550 so I wonder if the other models do as well.

PaulE550

[QUOTE=jahquan3;6651942]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulE550

Hi Jahquan3,


I have a RWD E550 and it handles reasonably well in moderate snow with all season tires and driving in manual mode. I drive both my RWD cars in manual mode when it snows and the Mercedes handles better than the Lexus in snow.

Yes, I mean the paddle shifters. I just put the car in manual mode and use the paddles. I find it gives me better feedback of the road in the snow and allows me to defeat what the transmission would try to do if left in one of the automatic modes.

Firestopper0383

RWD 2010 E-350. No problems in snow or rain. Just make sure if you have staggered wheel setup on the Sport version that you keep your eyes on the rear tires. They will usually wear out almost twice as fast as the fronts due to the inability to rotate.

BeachBunny

RWD 2015 E350 here in Florida, no issues with traction/handling in the wet. Driven in some decent rainstorms this summer as well. It doesn't quite feel as sure-footed as an old 240D, but I'm sure it probably is better in reality.

jahquan3

Good to know we all seem to feel comfortable with driving in the rain.

jahquan3

Ah yes, that is for sure. I just got some tires about 2 months ago so hopefully I'll be upgrading to a newer MB well before that becomes an issue.

inverted3600

I can't figure out what all you guys are talking about the rear end getting squirrely. My front wheel drive E 350 does fine in rain/snow. Maybe ya'll just don't know how to drive.

El Cid

MB doesn't make a front wheel drive "E."

inverted3600

Oh, is that why I can't get the front tires to do a burn-out.

jahquan3

Seriously. ... Did you really think it was FWD?

inverted3600

I can't believe you guys would take that seriously

jahquan3

I didn't that's why I asked. The sarcasm wasn't all the way obvious.

inverted3600

OK, I'm sorry guys for my attempt at humor. I suffered thru a snow storm up in Kentucky last winter. And yes, I too had trouble with the handling of the factory tires. I hope ya'll have a safe winter as I'm in Louisiana now ---- it might snow (1/2 inch) every 10 years.

jahquan3

No worries and good luck out there. I could tell by your second post that you're just kidding the first one I wasn't sure as much.
Did your car come with summer tires? I got mines used and previous owner was in PA so it already had A S tires before I changed over to different AS tires.

inverted3600

true story about my tires. I asked my salesman about the tires at purchase and he said he didn't know if they were summer or AS. He said he DID know they were rated at 130mph. Yeah, sure. Well, driving home from the dealership I said "what the hell". I punched it and sure enough they are really able to go 130mph! I'm not sure they will go faster as I chickened out with more pedal still available. Anyone found out what the top speed is of the E-350?

jahquan3

I believe all E Classes are governed at 133 max in the states atleast. I'm guessing summer tires are more prevalent down there verses up north.

screw991le

Rain is fine, in the Snow with the right tires no problem. Even with the E63s power. Just know how to drive in the snow.

diesel_power

Yup, mine is RWD..

mnje350

Have had a 2010 E350 RWD since it was new. Great in the rain, as long as the tires are fresh. Came with Conti ProContact Sport I think in a stagger setup. It is the sport version. Don't get much snow where I am but when we did it sucked. I would not drive the car in snow.

I suppose with all season tires or snow tires I would have a different experience.

jahquan3

So your summer tires hold up pretty good in the rain? I've never had a set of summers but I always assumed they'd be horrible in rain even though it of course can rain in the summer time as well as others seasons.

E-Sport

I too drive a RWD E350. Even though it does not snow where I live (once, briefly about 1989 it did for half an hour) the dealers stock mostly 4Matic. Its a profit driven thing because there is no need here. The 4Matic is a waste of money in this climate. It doesn't even rain very much here but its rare to see non-4Matic.

El Cid

4WD is a real money maker for a lot of dealers. More profit on selling the car and more profit on maintenance down the line. This is for all manufacturers, not just MB. I see 4WD pick-ups all the time that have never been off the pavement and never will be. Nor will they ever see snow.