Zavato

I'm curious to hear what other cars folks who now drive a W212 considered before committing to the w212. I would imagine the main contender would be a 5 series and an A6.

I've had both a 5 series (2000) and an A6 (2006), and they were both great cars.

My recent purchase of my E350 was sort of spur of the moment. I always have at least half an eye open for what's available locally. A '96 R129 recently caught my eye too.

Last summer I started to look with both eyes, and found some very nice 5's. Let's face it, can't really go wrong with 5 or an A6, but I was recently divorced and in he process of moving so I didn't fo anything. And the summer before that I found an A6 that was nice.

Fast forward to this March and on a lark I looked at the web site for the local MB dealer. Saw a car that seemed nice and priced well. I decide to look at it, and 2 days later, in a WTF frame of mind, I signed on the dotted line. What a change- while I was still married, if I walked in with a bottle of Bourbon, the ex blew a fuse over me spending $. Ironically, she did not work (now she does- shocking), and I'm not eating cat food at a result of buying a Benz.

To answer my own question, I toyed with the idea of an SUV, but once I decided sedan, I considered the W212, 5, and A6. Of the 3 I knew the least about the Benz the day I walked into the dealer. People that know me and heard I bought a car, to the last one, asked if I bought a BMW or an Audi.

El Cid

This was in late 2009, but Lexus LS460, Audi A6, Infiniti M, Acura RL, Hyundai Genesis. Never considered a BMW.

Salacak

I went to BMW dealer mind set was 5 series (2013), drove two them and after i tried e350 (2010) felt much better in every way, i still like the 5 series look but like i said MB fit better. I enjoy the vehicle very much with no issues so far 70K miles on it.
Only problem i have drivers seat comfort, many others states here same problem. My daughter passat seat feels much better, i don't know what it is but i can never get that final adjustment that feels good.

CarolinaBluetec

I owned a 99 C280 (gave to daughter), an E320 Bluetec and still have my 2001 SLK 320. Only car I like as well is my Volvo V70 wagon.

PatrixUSA

Might get flamed but the Hyundai Genesis was considered. The price and warranty were hard to beat, and the build quality and amenities have come a long way on the Genesis, but in the end, the superior quality, reputation and style of the MB won out. No regrets so far.

400ixl

Not the W212, but the E Class A207 convertible.

Options considered were (all convertibles):
Another Saab 9-3
Audi A5 S-Line
Mercedes E Class

If I could have found one of the very last Saab 9-3's built then I would have had that. The A5 fell out when I drove one as you felt like you sat on it rather than in it.

E Class came a close second to the Saab and after a year of looking, decided to go that route. Not unhappy with the decision at all, it has some areas I prefer to the Saab and others I don't, so happy over all.

Zavato

"Only problem i have drivers seat comfort, many others states here same problem. My daughter passat seat feels much better, i don't know what it is but i can never get that final adjustment that feels good."

Aggressive bolsters

400ixl

Bolsters are fine for me, but I agree, I can't quite get the seat exactly as I would want it. One of the things the Saab does better for me.

VegasE

Wife has a bad back and sciatica, so seat comfort is #1. We looked at almost every full size car made - Ford, Chevy, VW, Toyota, Honda, Audi, etc. and the E350. My wife liked the MB and Audi A6 for ride and seat comfort but the decision came down to one button. Because of her bad back, she needs adjustable lumbar support on both the passenger and driver side. The A6 lost out because you have to get the much more expensive Prestige version of the A6 to get adjustable lumbar on the passenger side.

My daily driver is an Audi TT (which the wife obviously hates) and I've bought 3 since 2001 but the E350 was the better buy. The E350 exterior styling is far superior and the A6 costs more for similar CPOs.

sadpanda

Current W205 C300 owner, but just put down a deposit to move up to a W212.

Started out with a simple set of criteria for a car (the missus doesn't like SUVs, and I'm happy to oblige):
1. A car big enough for a family on extended drives.
2. AWD.
3. IIHS crash ratings of "Good" in all categories, incl. small overlap front test.
(Optional: 4. 6/6 on IIHS front crash prevention rating, incl. avoiding accident at 25 mph.)

Some unexpected findings:
1. BMWs like the 3-series GT and 5 series only get marginal ratings on the small overlap front test. Their crash prevention tech also sucks compared to Mercedes (except maybe on the new 7).
2. Apart from the XC90 (too big), Volvos are behind on tech like Autonomous Emergency Braking compared to the top manufacturers. They'll surely catch up with the new generation of cars like the S90, etc, but the age of their current lineup is very noticeable.

Surprisingly, this ended up being the top 3:
1. Hyundai Genesis
2. Subaru Outback
3. Mercedes E-Class

Mercedes, Subaru and Hyundai all seem ahead of the pack when it comes to crash prevention tech. I had poor experiences with my local Hyundai dealers, so the Genesis got crossed off. The Outback is an excellent appliance, but that's also an insult to toasters, because toasters are more exciting to use. I blame the CVT.

The E-Class is more than twice as expensive as the Outback. It has a lot less legroom and cargo space. It shouldn't be the sensible family car choice at all. But it ends up only around $1k/year more expensive to lease because of the great discounts (plus USAA), great residuals and MFs offered on the W212. It's a much better car in almost every respect. The Distronic plus actually stays in the middle lane, while Subaru and Hyundai tech has you bouncing from lane to lane. If it ever needs service or repair, I know that my dealer will pick it up and drop off a loaner - even if I'm at a clinical site 60 miles away - while dealing with Subaru or Hyundai service seems much less convenient.

Mercedes is, I think, the current hands-down German brand choice for crash prevention and survival. They even outperform Volvo on their home turf. Given the current financial incentives, an E-Class is also a far more sensible option than it has any right to be.

dbldpr

Went and looked at the Cadillac cts 6 cylinder. Then looked at E350. More room in the E350 more trunk space in the E350. The CTS was a harder ride. Both had a V6. The Cadillac was about $8,000 more than the E350. It was a no brainer I went with the E350

BlankProc

We didn't consider anything non-MB for last purchase, but we were intending to trade in a C250 for a GLC. Then when I saw that an E350 with an extra $20k on the sticker on top of the GLC was leasing at the same rate due to aggressive discounts, it was a pretty easy choice to get into an E350.

Now I have to figure out what SUV to get in January when her lease is up and I think the wife wants to go non-MB. Should be interesting and tons of choices. She says she wants a Jeep Wrangler for the fun factor - I don't think she's ready for the ride!!

pamiboy

That was funny as hell.
I'm sure she found out that now you are driving a Benz and she's probably stuck in a Hyundai. .

VegasE

My family tried Hyundai for about 5 years and never again. Look up Consumer Reports on owner satisfaction with the Genesis and it gets one of the lowest scores. The initial impression on Hyundai is good bang for the buck but the three cars my wife and son bought all began to need major non-warranty repairs after about 4 years or 65K. Their warranty is a joke. Stuff starts falling off the coverage list after the first year. Their 100K drivetrain warranty covers almost nothing. If you have an intake valve issue it is not covered because the "powertrain" starts at the pistons. Coverage for alternator, AC, intake manifolds etc is gone. Stay away.

lay3r3

Had no intention to buy an MB at all, but have been driving exclusively German automobiles since 1997, 3 BMWs and 1 Audi.

Bought MB last September. This car wasn't even on the radar. We had planned to order the new Q7 to replace my wife's 2008 X5 E70 4.8, then replace my A4 the following year. Was a lunch with a colleague who were shopping for cars for his wife. He mentioned local MB dealer having a fire sale on the MB hybrids since no one would buy them (you pay 10% more to get only 4 MPG better) so after lunch I drove there and drove home a new car 2 hours later. It was a brand new 2014 loaded hybrid model with P1, sports, lighting, lane departure, park assist, keyless go, power trunk. A little over $26% off the sticker after negotiation so I took it.

The new Q7 is coming in August.. crazy wait time. order the car in mid Feb, going into production on 6/6... I loaned Elon $1k on the Tesla 3, so we'll see how long I keep the MB - but so far no complaints! (except the non power-folding sideview mirrors and faux leather. otherwise, it's a beautiful car and I enjoy driving slow now :-)

jahquan3

I always was and will always probably be an American car guy at heart. So getting an MB was never really on my radar either. However, I always told my wife if I get a luxury car it'll be a MB. I guess it's the best or nothing right LOL.

Anyway I test drove a 2015 Charger R/T and a 2015 Taurus right before I decided to jump the American car ship. Luckily I never got around to test driving a new Impala since I love that car from afar. Long story short the Taurus is lackluster and the Charger seemed to have too small of a back seating area. Plus the price tag for the specific Charger I wanted was about 50k which I couldn't stomach at that time.

So I decided to look at a Jaguar XF. Again the backseating area and head space back there seemed cramp for my family of 5 including myself. So low and behold the dealer says I have something else that fits your needs space and power wise (Had to be well north of 300Hp) . He pulls out a E550..I literally never heard of it or paid it much attention before that day. After researching, test driving and mulling over it for a day or two I went with it and it's the perfect balance of everything I wanted. Now I'm willing to always give MB a look whenever I'm in the market for a vehicle.

Just to add, I also looked at the Subaru Legacy but it just didn't have the power I wanted.

kotton

I actually was dead set on picking up a CTS-V , but after being completely turned off by the local Caddy dealers I started shopping around for something else. I didnt like the look of the BMW's at the time, and the other brands were lacking a v8 in their lineup. It didnt hurt that I really liked the edgy style of the E to go along with the powertrain.

blegthbloo

I was in the market because I was getting too many tickets with my G37S (I do miss that car)... my roommate asked me to take his C350 to the shop while he was away on vacation, so that was my first taste of MB driving. It was so smooth and comfortable compared to the G, and I didn't get the sense of "I need to go fast" while driving it, which is what I needed to get away from in the first place. I didn't want a C-class though, because he had one. So I looked at the W212 E-class, a GS350, and LS460.

The GS350 felt like driving a Camry (go figure) and I truly hate the cream interior that Lexus makes. Wasn't sold on the options for the price they were asking.

The LS460 (and later a LS430 that I found) was the only car besides the MBs that gave me that feeling like "I don't need to be there right away" and it was a very comfortable ride. But the price wasn't right, and the options weren't right (except for the LS430, which was an Ultra Luxury model, but I already had the E class by then).

I had driven the M3 and 335i and didn't like them, so they weren't even an option for me. Too many buttons, in locations that don't make sense, and the colors of the buttons were annoying. And for being a "Driver's Car" I didn't feel very connected to the road despite still having that "I want to go fast" feeling. You could tell they were fast, but they didn't feel that way, in other words.

I think the W212 looks the best out of all of these, has a greatly executed interior as well, has all the features I need, keeps me from speeding all the time, and is comfortable enough (until I lowered it and put low profile tires on it). My friends made fun of me for getting an "old man car" while their BMWs and Lexus' were in the shop again for yet another thing... meanwhile the MB has been trouble-free. And then I upgraded to a newer 550 BiTurbo, which I hope to be relatively trouble-free as well (if I can keep my foot off the ground lol).

El Cid

The Hyundai Genesis Coupe gets a low satisfaction score, but it is very different from the Genesis sedan.
The Hyundai Genesis Sedan scores at highest satisfaction level in Consumer Reports. Higher than the MB E class.
The Genesis reliability is the same as MB E Class.
However, I don't put a lot of faith in CR or other services satisfaction ratings. Far too subjective and easily manipulated by fanatics. Case in point is Tesla. Extremely high satisfaction on a vehicle that is rated super low on reliability by the same people.
FYI: Hyundai is spinning Genesis and Equus off into a luxury car brand. Will add SUV's and other vehicles as well.

Johnny Rad

I held onto my GS430 for just shy of 10 years waiting for Lexus to bring out something truly sporting again. Why they continue to lean on their pedestrian 3.5L V6 from '07 boggles my mind, but I digress. Though I was (maybe still am) a dyed in the wool Lexus homer, I simply got tired of waiting.

I'm a sedan guy and like power plus wanted to try AWD. I never would've envisioned that I'd be driving anything but a Lexus today, but the W212's above-average reliability and M278 sealed the deal for me. Just wish'd it was a wagon, but beggars can't be choosers!

I really wanted a CTS-V, too! I'm an aspiring wagon nerd and the LSA V8 was amazing. Being RWD, I knew it was a pipe dream. I still think its MR suspension is the gold standard.

Drove a then-new '14 Audi S4. I've always liked the ext, but learned that its performance and int was equally outstanding. If it'd been available in a wagon, it might've had me. To be honest, the lack of ventilated seats was a giant turn-off. Little did I know that most (all?) ventilated seats are terrible.

Drove a then-new '14 Jeep SRT Grand Cherokee, but was disappointed with its lack of get up and go. It's ~470hp/tq just isn't enough to overcome its ~5,250lbs. Everything in the int from the knee down was poor quality plastics.

Drove a '13 Lexus GS350 AWD and wasn't wowed by its ancient, barely 300hp 3.5L V6. I like the brand and int. The ext is good enough.

Drove a '10 and '14 Lexus LS460 AWD and wasn't wowed by the ancient, sub-400hp 4.6L V8. In both cases, the int is absolutely rich. The ext is better in the newer version (spindle), but neither was anything close to fast. Both suffered from "grandpa-itis" in numerous regards, but this just shows how hard I tried to stick with Lexus.

After buying my E550, I half-heartedly drove a then-new '14 Cadillac CTS V-Sport and found it to be nothing special outside of its tech. It would've needed to be super special to overcome being RWD-only and it wasn't.

thenew3

We were looking for something that can haul some stuff as we have 2 kids. Was coming from a VW Passat 3.6 wagon.

We looked at ML, GL, GLK, X5, X3, Q5, Q7. Just didn't like the SUV's that much.
Then we looked at 5 series, A6, Allroad, E.

We really wanted the previous Audi allroad based on the A6 platform, but Audi stopped importing it and instead has the A4 based allroad (kept same name, just went to smaller platform). That car was just too small for us. We wanted the allroad due to the additional ground clearance, as our drive way is very steep and many vehicles (including SUV and trucks) bottom out and scrape or get stuck at the entry way of our driveway.

BMW also stopped importing the 5 series wagon, and so our only choice was an E wagon. My VW was totaled in an accident the week before and I needed a car fast, so couldn't order a vehicle with our exact specs (what we normally do), so had to find whatever was available.

Luckily the local MB dealer had a E350 wagon in stock with almost every option I wanted. (only thing missing was lighting package, and it had a few things I didn't want).
Saw it parked in the back of their lot when we went in to test drive the ML/GL/GLK.
The sales guy brought the wagon down (it was on 2nd floor) and we drove it and liked it. Had him search inventory of other dealers to see if there was one with the equipment we wanted, but unfortunately there wasn't one in the entire country that had what we wanted. Apparently wagons are very rare here in USA. So we made an offer on the one he had and signed the paperwork that day.

The wagon doesn't quite have enough ground clearance, so it will scrape unless I ask all passenger to get out, and I backup the driveway in a very specific way.

I definitely miss the lighting package.

Zavato

She is driving a ratty 10 year old POS and she's seen the Benz.

markgm

The serious contenders were the E550, Chevy Cruze (diesel), and Toyota Rav4. I contemplated the Audi A6 TDI. I was hopeful I'd fit in the Accord Hybrid or the VW Touareg, but no such luck. In the end I'm glad I went with the E550, it's a blast to drive, and more importantly, I fit in it!

pamiboy

I was actually looking for my first luxury car. So I was aiming for ES350 .. seriously. But after test driving it I was underwhelmed. I tried the RX 350 as well but the ride felt too stiff and unlike a luxury car I envisioned. I decided to look up and outside Lexus. Thereafter I test drove Audi A6 and BMW 5 series. Would have bought one of those if the dealers were willing to deal. Frustrated in the end I tried the E class (I hadn't thought about E class until then- didn't know about 14-facelift). I was super impressed with the bank vault like build and quiet but composed ride. They gave me the best deal I wanted. End of story.

PaulE550

I looked at Lexus, Audi, BMW and MB. Like Johnny Rad I got tired of waiting for Lexus to realize some of their customers actually liked V8's and a bit more performance. Unfortunately, Lexus decided to limit those few offerings to their over-priced "F" series. As one Lexus sales rep put it "Lexus is focused on luxury, not performance. Most of our current customers are more interested in a nice interior instead of what is under the hood."

The Audi S5 felt too cramped. The BMW 550 was very nice, had good power and handled well. However, BMW apparently doesn't think they have to budge on price. Most customers of BMW lease rather than buy, as the rep I was dealing with explained. So they don't feel the need to negotiate price.

I test drove both the E350 and E550. The E350 was nice enough, but it felt a bit under-powered for what I wanted. Kind of felt like the Lexus GS-350. The suspension on the E350 was a little too soft for the way I normally drive. A very good car for a DD, but just not what I was looking for. The E550 was a nice mix of practical DD and performance luxury. The suspension in sport mode was also firm, but not harsh. MB was also agreed to what I considered a good price.