gac

hey guys i'm looking to buy a new (new to me) e350. any thoughts on what years to avoid and what i should know before buying i presently own an 02' S500 I am looking to purchase between a 2011-2013 the S classes are known for their airmatic failures do the e classes have any known issues? i spoke to my mercedes adviser and he assured me the only issues are tires. any thought would be a great help!
thanks

sghokie

I think E with the air suspension also fail. Mine has springs.

I would avoid the MBTex seats and get the leather seats.

MBSebas87

I don't think E350s come with airmatic.

El Cid

There are a multitude of issues on all MB cars, but fewer on E than others. This is same for many cars, especially European ones.
See stickys 2 and 3 on this thread. They are long, but contain a multitude of information. Actually, most of the posts on this thread usually involve an issue, but that's OK as that is how we keep each other informed. Classic case is fading burl walnut trim. If not for this site, many people would never have realized it was a problem and that MB had a TSB out on it.
Ironically, the 2010 W212's used to be lowest rated for reliability, but now they are more highly rated. Probably because all (or most) of the problems have now been fixed.
I counted up the other day. 13 "repairs" to my 2010 under warranty and 6 electronic gremlins that went away and never were identified.
Still like my car and plan to keep it until the first major ($1,000) repair. The early W212's are the best looking sport sedans out there.

cetialpha5

I would say 2012+. The 2010/2011 are on the list for the airbag recall and who knows when they'll have the parts for it. Also 2012 had direct injection so hp went from 268 to 302. See if you can find one with the P2 package, I think in 2014 they went to LED so 2013 would be the last year for bi-xenon.

Cao Black

I would try for a nicely eqipped 2014 sport version...the facelift car. Some nice improvements made plus it might (probably is) still be under warranty (with an additional year warranty if you buy CPO). Spend your money on the car rather than warranty coverage for older years because it likely will have a few things go wrong along the way.

blegthbloo

I just traded my 2011 E350 for a 2013 E550 yesterday. As of today, MB put out a STOP SALE on all 2010-2011 models, due to the airbag recall. That means demand for the 2012-13 will go up, and so will prices. Don't bother with the 10-11, since they can't sell it to you anyway, even at auction.

El Cid

What is your source for this information? Thanks.
The Best of Nothing

blegthbloo

The MB dealer I was at. Their finance guy came in to talk about that... apparently this came down from MB Corporate.

El Cid

This information is NOT correct. Checked with MBUSA website and then a rep. at CA. My 2010 E350 is not affected by any recalls, much less and stop selling instructions. Specifically it is not under a recall for Takarta air bags.

cetialpha5

The list is at:

http://www.ibtimes.com/takata-air-ba...makers-2302283

There was talk about this in this thread. It's probably too early for the dealer to have a list of the cars recalled, they're probably still trying to figure out which ones are affected and how long it's going to take to make replacement parts.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...ag-recall.html

El Cid

The above link shows 2010-2011 E Class on list, but MB says my particular VIN, 2010 E350, is not on the list. All very confusing.
I would imagine it will take years to sort this all out, but not as long as the VW/Audi diesel mess.
I still have not seen or heard anything re: a Stop Sales initiative by MB for all 2010-2011 models.

cetialpha5

It's still too early, they probably don't have any updates and they probably haven't even made the parts yet so even if it was in the system now, they wouldn't have any parts to fix the cars. Wait a few months and check again, I bet it'll be on then.

El Cid

This is MBUSA, not the dealer. If MBUSA computer does not have the list, who the heck does?
Remember, any publications or websites are getting their info from MBUSA (or DAG) in the first place.

blegthbloo

Well, to play Devil's Advocate to my own claim, keep in mind I was there to buy a car, and I was about to walk out on them. It's possible that they flat out lied to me just to make the sale. I'll talk with the dealer again this week to see if he's heard anything else about the stop sale. He was also caught off guard by the news when it was delivered, so it could very well be suspicious.

Anyways, not to threadjack from the OP, I still say avoid the 10-11s because this recall can be a real issue down the line (or not, such is life). And get the P2 package. Other than the recall, I never had any glaring issues with my 2011, so really it's down to the cars you look at and how well they were maintained. And your budget and what options you want.

cetialpha5

That list came from the NHTSA. I bet MBUSA just haven't gotten around to publishing a list yet. It's sorta pointless for them to do so at this time because all the owners will want it fixed and they probably don't have any parts yet to do any fixes. It will probably show up on their system once they have parts to fix it.

Cao Black

Here's the latest from NHTSA.

http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/index.html

While there you can check your VIN. My old 2010 (sold) is on the list. Good luck.

cetialpha5

Yeah, the relevant section is this:

Ford and BMW have made Vehicle Identification Numbers searchable through NHTSA’s VIN look-up tool, so owners can enter their VINs and see if their vehicles are under recall. Honda, Volkswagen, and Mercedes-Benz will make affected VINs searchable in the coming days, and NHTSA will update this site as those VINs become available.

El Cid

My car is not on the NHTSA's list under the entire MB list and the VIN check says No Recall.
You can enter your VIN and it will provide a result, so the information is in there for MB by VIN.
It appears that E350 Sedan, RWD, is not on the list at all.
As I said before, the VIN's and affected vehicles are provided to NHTSA by MBUSA, so MBUSA would have it first.

jahquan3

Mines is on the list from the site. I actually was told a week ago at dealer that my car was going to be recalled since I asked them to check before I left. My SA said it's pending until they get parts etc. in.

cetialpha5

In the section I quoted, it said MB hasn't provided all the VINs to NHTSA yet. Also on the list it says 2010-2011 E350's and 2010-2011 E350 4matics so even if your RWD isn't included, it's still on the list.

http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/takatalist.html

While your VIN isn't on the list now, there's no guarantee that it won't be added to the list later as things get updated. Who knows how long it will take to update everything. We are so used to having instant information, there are still some things out there that take time.

cetialpha5

Oh there's additional information in one of the links, doesn't sound like it's all the cars in those particular years but they don't list any VIN range:

Vehicle : 2010-2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E350
Vehicle Type : LIGHT VEHICLES
Body Style : 4-DOOR
Power Train : GAS
Descriptive Information : 212.056 HF5G 14657 vehicles
Production Dates : NOV 06, 2008 - SEP 15, 2011
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) Range
Begin : NR End : NR

Vehicle : 2010-2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class E350 4Matic
Vehicle Type : LIGHT VEHICLES
Body Style : 4-DOOR
Power Train : GAS
Descriptive Information : 212.087 HF8H 9113 vehicles
Production Dates : JUN 08, 2009 - SEP 06, 2011
VIN (Vehicle Identification Number) Range
Begin : NR End : NR

El Cid

If you really want to know about a specific vehicle, call MB Customer Assistance and have your VIN ready. They will check it out for you. Got another confirmation today even though I didn't actually requst it. NO Recall.
Try this link. You can do the VIN or fill in the blanks and it brings up a list of the precise models/dates of MB cars affected. The E350 Sedan, RWD is NOT listed.
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues
Site also says information is provided to them by MBUSA.

El Cid

Since they cannot sell your 2011 E350 per this post, what kind of deal did they give you? What were they going to do with your 2011 trade in?

blegthbloo

They were going to sit on it for however long it takes to receive the parts (estimated 3-6mo). They stood to lose more money by letting me walk than they would for doing nothing with a car they can't sell, so they gave me the higher end of trade-in value to sweeten the deal. It was the last day of the month on a leap year February, so they needed me to boost their February sale performance.