zipsman03

Yeah not sure what the thought was behind not adding lighting if you're that deep in to it. Mine is missing distronic , but that leaves room for a lighted star.

KEY08

Congrats on your purchase. Yeah, you can chase the right car forever and never find it. I like Parktronic and have had two Parktronic cars. Also really enjoy the Pano roof as well. I am going to go look at the 550 I linked to tomorrow and if I like it I am buying it. I have this desire to get into the 500+HP club with an E class and don't want to pay the extra $35K at the moment for a 63 AMG S. I will put some downpipes and a tune on the 550. The TTV8 offers a lot of performance upgrade potential that the NA 550 just cannot. The last of the V8's in an E class unless you step up to the E63 AMG, so I hope it retains some value.

cetialpha5

Yeah, it's very hard to find a car with all the option boxes checked. Night vision is also pretty rare too. Either the dealer ordered it or whoever was buying had to stop at a certain price point. Took me 6 months to find one that was pretty loaded, but it was still missing a few options. One of the best parts about buying them loaded is that you don't really pay extra for it because book doesn't really value them, but they sell quick once listed. Both cars I bought within a week of their listing and I even negotiated a discount on the first one and got it under book although it was more loaded than average.

tresean1

Yeah, took me forever to find my car---but I guess I am more patient and focused than the average buyer. My last few cars have been fully loaded, and I do that for a reason...resale value and demand. I am willing to wait to find that rare loaded gem, then to just buy a run-of-the mill car...just for the sake of saying "I bought a xxx".

Yeah, for me, the Lighting Package was a must---I just don't understand why a luxury car doesn't come standard with them, because the regular lights just look so out of place (not so much on the facelift E because the standard low beams are LED; but on the W210 and W211 and pre-facelift W212, it is unacceptable to still have halogen headlights on a Mercedes when xenon came standard on Acuras/Lexus/Infiniti since the late 90's). The 360 surround camera is something I could have done without; I know everyone raves about it, but to me, the camera quality is horrible and the surround view image is confusing. Night Vision was another waste of money for me, as I never use it. And I really prefer the standard sunroof over a pano roof, but had no choice in the matter, because the car already came with it.

cetialpha5

The pano roof is pretty cool though, makes it stand out a little. They went a little overboard on the bi-xenons, I think they had to have headlamp washers due to European regulations, but they also auto level and they added active curve illumination so the whole thing is more complex. Plus at one point it was part of the P2 package with keyless go so that jacked up the price even more. They kinda charge top dollar so if they're equal, the price would be higher, but to compete, I guess they strip it down or rather the other manufacturers like Acura throw in more standard options at a lower price. I think the C class is even worse, at one point they didn't really have any options that made it stand out from a regular car, but were still charging top dollar for it. I think the CLA fills that niche now. At least it's easier to tell in the W212 that it has the Bixenons, just look for the headlamp washers. On the previous generation, even if it had headlamp washers, it might have still been halogen. Those were trickery, you had to look for the sticker warning of high voltage or the keyless go button.

tresean1

Yeah, I preferred the bi-xenon to be part of the P2 package in a way, kind of made your car more "exclusive" if you had it because most buyers didn't opt for P2 and most dealers didn't order cars with that level of equipment. A ploy to keep the prices down and not give people "sticker shock". Honestly I think a lot of buyers were ignorant in the fact that they weren't even getting a complete "luxury car" as most cars only had P1. The people were so excited that they finally bought a "Mercedes" that they were willing to forgo any real options as long as the price fit their budget. And Mercedes knows this, sadly! So, like you said, they jack the prices up---some Civics are more "luxurious" than CLAs, and Toyota Avalons/Acura TLs sometimes have more standard equip than an E. Like WHHHHHHYYYY is Keyless Go an option when Toyota Prius and Nissan Altima had it standard since 2007! And why are parking sensors still an option on W211 and newer????

Also, interestingly enough (and to confuse matters more), seeing headlight washers didn't always automatically = bi-xenon...as in the case with the early W211 and the W220. Some 2003-2006 had headlight washers as option and some 2007-2009 had headlight washers with the Sport Pkg, even though they had halogen lights. So, to be sure, I always look for the little black buttons on the door handle---as a way of telling if a car has the coveted P2 package. I always give owners the thumbs up whenever I see one, as they are so rare and that owner likely was meticulous about options like me.

cetialpha5

Yeah, too bad 2014 got rid of the headlamp washers. That was sorta the initial appeal to me. Most Japanese cars didn't have them, don't think they're required in Japan. Once you try looking for a P2 with pano and parktronic, the number of cars out there really dwindles. That just tells me it was sold more as a status symbol than a luxury car that has lots of options. The old W211 had a sport package which include the headlamp washers, but you still get stuck with halogens. At one point the sport package was a free option so lots of cars had the headlamp washers but no bi-xenons.

BetterTomorrow

Actually, no, that particular car seems to be missing some expensive and perhaps much desired options. 360 degree camera parking package. Airmatic. Lighting package (no offense but E class without lighting package would've been a deal breaker for me, it makes it look "less"). I think it is missing pano roof as well, not to mention rear side shade, illuminated door sill. If I had to do it all over again to get 550, I wouldn't pick this one but that's just my preference.

tresean1

Yeah, such a shame that dealerships order these cars & people buy these cars as "base models" just for the 3-poined star on the hood (or in grille).

I agree! Most of the "options" (with the exception of the pano roof and maybe Sport Package) offered on E-class should be standard, especially on this class of car. Hell, even an $18k Corolla offers laser cruise control (Distrionic) as standard.

KEY08

Yeah, I drove that car yesterday and it's a really nice car. I however bought a 2014 Diamond white 550 with 95% of the bells and whistles. Lighting, Pano, Dist, 360 view++. $80K MSRP, so that is a highly optioned car. CPO and warranty through 4/19. Gorgeous car. I'm happy.

tresean1

Awesome, congrats---I just bought the same car fully loaded, but mine is an E350 (you have probably seen the pic in other threads). What color is your interior?

How much was your vehicle, if you don't mind me asking?

WSC230

do you guys really use all those options often? i think a lot of those options gets barely used on a daily basic, it's just there to make the price higher. sure its nice to have a car with plenty of options but if you dont use it much, what's the point of paying more for it. for example, automatic trunk closer, i never use this, i rather just close the trunk manually so i can lock the door right after and be done with it, instead of having to wait for the trunk to slowly close if i use the automatic trunk closer. another thing, back up camera, i never use this either.

KEY08

Thanks. I have not seen your thread, but congrats as well.The interior is silk beige, so like my 2010 550 with a chestnut interior the Pano opens the interior up and it feels like a concert hall in there. You guys can argue options all day long but the best option is the TTV8. This car screams like no other 8 cylinder MB I have ever owned. This isn't the first MB I have bought from Motor Werks and they gave me a great deal, but I would like to keep it personal. The car is 3 years in service and I paid less than half of that MSRP. it has 40K miles and looks like they were all highway miles. It is really clean. When I get it I will post up some photos.

tresean1

I use pretty much all of my options, hence the reason for getting them.
I like using the power trunk closing option on all my cars; it's cool to watch it close on its own as I am walking away from the vehicle, not to mention I can press the lock button and close the trunk/lock the vehicle all in one motion. Keyless Go/Comfort Access is pretty much a necessity for me, as is Head-Up Display and Parking Sensors. The camera on my E-class is crap compared to the camera on my 5-series, so although I don't rely on camera's...I find myself looking at the BMW's camera more and the camera on the MB is actually distracting. Sport Package, a must. Massage Seats, I really don't use much unless I am on a long trip. Night Vision is a "cool" feature to wow friends and family, but I don't use it. Active ventilated and heated seats is a must, and I use them regularly. Distronic/Active Cruise Control, I use semi regularly especially when I am feeling lazy and want the car to "save my butt" from rear-ending someone. Power sunshades are awesome and used regularly; I also like my Power Soft Close Doors on the 5-series, wish the E-class had them.

Honestly, one of the factors the cause me to get a fully loaded car, is because I feel like I need to get the whole experience of what the car has to offer; I really hate seeing an empty "spot/button" on the dash or console where I know an option's control button should have been; therefor I like seeing every empty spot filled with a function. Even if I don't ever use them all, I don't want any regrets or "what if I had gotten xxx?"

Great.

cetialpha5

Mine have pretty much had most options. Never really seen a car with ALL the options so anyone who advertises a car as fully loaded is probably lying, at least for MB cars. The key point you're missing is that dealers tend to price a car by book. Those extra options don't really cost that much over a car that doesn't have them so if you're driving a luxury car, shouldn't you have the luxury options? As others said, keyless go I use all the time. The trunk closer has two buttons, one to close the trunk and one to close and lock all the doors so it's a one button push. Plus if you give a ride to someone and hit the button, you should see the look on their face. Someone else mentioned that they like to open and close the trunk when they're inside the car when they're stuck in traffic. Haven't done that yet. Parktronic and the back up camera is handy if you're in the city. Mine only has parking guidance so I haven't used that yet as I know how to parallel park pretty well. I can do it in one shot with wheels close to the curb. That's why I enabled the right mirror to tilt down when backing up so you can see the rear wheel and how close it is to the curb. Headlamp washers are hard to have kick in though, you have to be using the wipers with the headlights on and then after 10 squirts, the washers come on. Haven't actually seen it kick in yet, saw it on my W211 but that one kicks in after just 5 squirts. Active curve illumination is also pretty cool, you notice it on curves and in empty parking lots. Anyway, it's all fun, they're great to have when buying used, it's just that it's so expensive new, not too many people end up buying a car with a lot of options so they're hard to find. I got both of mine under book and finding one with bixenons/keylessgo, pano and parktronic is pretty hard to begin with, anything else is a bonus.

blegthbloo

For headlight washers on 2012+ I think they went back to 5 squirts, because that's when mine activate. The shop manager even said they changed from 10 back to 5 at some point.

tresean1

^^yeah I remember when the W211 had a dedicated button for the headlight washers, then in 2008 they changed it to integrate with windshield wiper, now for 2014+ headlight washers are gone altogether :-(

cetialpha5

It makes it hard to decide which is the best, 2013, last year of the bixenons, 2014 with all the new tech stuff like collision prevention and active parking or 2016 which was the last year for the V6 before they went to a 4 cylinder turbo.

blegthbloo

I'm partial to the pre-FL, so it was 2012-2013 or bust for me... although one feature on the FL I like is that you can somewhat change the color of the accent lighting inside... rather have the white, but it's not really that big of a deal I guess.

thefisch

Pics or it didn't happen!

Seriously congrats and start a new thread so I can focus my jealousy in one place. Will be interesting to hear how it was moving from the 2010 e550 to the 2014. I hope that move is in my future...

cetialpha5

I thought you were thinking of switching car brands at one point?

thefisch

I'm not loyal to MB so switching is always an option. My W212 is my first MB after coming over from Toyota which came after two Hondas. Really it depends on what options are available at the time when I'm ready to move on. I do find the 2014 E550 an attractive option so that could be my second MB if I find one I like when the time comes. But I'm probably staying put for at least another year in this one. We'll see...

KEY08

Ha! Oh it did happen. I will get some pics up when I get it home and it stops raining. You need one of these Fisch! It is a beast, but I have plans to boost it beyond stock trim. My dealer, is also a Renntech dealer so I will be having a chat about how far I can take it without jeopardizing the warranty. I'm not keen on blowing the motor or trans. The Designo Diamond White metallic makes my calcite white 550 look dingy.

thefisch

Music to my ears. Can't wait to hear and see more.

zipsman03

The car came yesterday, no comment. I want to give them a chance to make it right. As of now, worse decision since purchasing my first car brand new back in 1990.