SkidRowe

I purchased mine as I got tired of trying to track down discontinued interior trim parts for my 1999 C230 Kompressor 4 door sedan, which I had purchased for $500.00. After investing about $1500.00 I had a very nice daily driver. Then the opportunity came up for me to buy a 2011 E-350 4matic sedan at a great price. More modern conveniences and parts availability made up my mind. So going to unload the Kompressor and use that money to buy parts for the 2011 as needed.

Left Coast Geek

My wife has been driving a 1994 E320 W124 white wagon for the last 10 or so years, she loves it but it has 280,000 miles and various things are starting to come undone, like interior B pillar trim delaminating. We also have a 1990 300E 2.6 'rat benz' and 1993 300CE Cabriolet that was my non-winter daily driver until last winter wood rats made a nest in the battery compartment and chomped on a bunch of wiring and killed it

anyways, we both retired and simultaneously came into some spare money and started looking at newer to new cars last summer... I steered this process trying to anticipate what my wife would like (its not easy she can't tell you til she sees and touches and drives)... We tried Lexus RX, Lexus LS, Subaru Outback, Honda Accord (a very nice V6 accord in perfect condition, original grandmother owner, but the ride was awful on cracked pavement).... Mazda CX-5 (nice car, but the seats were too narrow for my wife's rear), Mercedes GLE350, and numerous others. finally she said, lets look at a newer Mercedes sedan... I did some research on the newer models, and decided the W212 E post facelift was the way to go, further narrowed it down to 2016. We drove a couple sedans, both in 'sport' trim, and the ride was *AWFUL*, we were like WTF. then tried a 'luxury' sedan, ok, thats better buttt.... then we tried a 'sport' Wagon, ahhh, MUCH better, so then started looking for a 'luxury' wagon, and had to widen the search to national before we found our CPO car in Santa Fe, NM, which we ended up buying sight unseen and having shipped here... it arrived December 24th.

(below .sig pic was taken late on the afternoon of the 24th, at the turn around point of our ~160 test drive, on the big sur coast, at which point we both turned to each other and smiled and KNEW we'd bought the right car)

BenzV12

I liked its edgy exterior design as well as its nice looking interior .Not to mention it was a Mercedes-Benz

Left Coast Geek

MB made a whole lottta lemons in the late 90s, 2000s, and really didn't get their act together until this one in the E class at least. C is too small for me, S is too boaty, so I'm stuck firmly in E.

these are our old benzes...






(the gold ugly ducking 1990 260E back there was our first benz, given to us not running right but very low mileage, a little old ladies car from Carmel by the Sea... perfect city car, already beat up, so who cares about door dings. also was used by both our kids while they were in college, heh.)

MBNUT1

So I believe the W124 chassis may in some ways been the pinnacle of Mercedes.

davidjohnbamber

Unless you really wanted a glove box in later years of production on cars with a passenger airbag.

Left Coast Geek

or cup holders.

bmwpowere36m3

​​​​​​

Didn't every W124 on the second hand market come with those wonderful aftermarket ones on the door cards...

In many ways the car was built much better than those of today (comparing it to the W212), but lacks the creature comforts. However, they weren't without their issues related to HGs, bio-wiring (engine harness and TB), center console wood cracking, leaking rear quarter windows on wagons (should have been urethaned), rotting passenger fender by turn signal (foam block behind that held moisture), transmissions that needed rebuilding ~150k, etc...

A big issue in the NE is rust and our '95 is in better shape for the its age, than either of our W212s that are only 9 years old. The plating on the older vehicles hardware was much better, the CAD or yellow-zinc and NOT the dull silver zinc of today's hardware that rusts if you look at it wrong. If you could combine the older hardware, with the full underbody paneling on the W212... that would be near perfection.

nota_amg

I bought y E550 biturbo because my Diesel R Class was totaled by some woman who wanted to be in my lane more than I did(she self-PIT'd herself and did some nice spins...lol) and I was tired of having slow family cars.I bought it in Louisiana and had the exhaust modded(read: deleted) in Houston on the way home...haven't stopped modding since.

pierrejoliat

I've enjoyed all my Benz's for what they were when they were, I liked the old ones for reliability and bank vault like door closing and quiet on the road, My three S classes were wonderful road cruisers and we enjoyed them for long road trips with safety and ride quality. I do like the 212 though as I feel it has some of the old panache, modern convenience and easy city-short trip driving. The 4matic is great in the snow, way better I feel than the FWD based systems in a lot of cars. It's easy to park and takes up less space in the garage which has been nice, somewhat quicker to wash with a little less wax. I actually like the pre-facelift better in the front and rear fender lines, I've owned the '12 for 8 years now and the '13 for almost 7, they've been great cars. I also have been looking at some new vehicles recently, but have found nothing good to replace one with, We did take a 6 hour trip last weekend, I kept thinking "I don't think this car is going anywhere for awhile"

davidjohnbamber

or A/C Evaporator Coils made with Swiss Cheese (holes).

bmwpowere36m3

Almost forgot the biggest nightmare job... I guess my brain suppressed it having done it on at least 3 W124s...

TeeEl

After driving my MK Z Hybrid for years I was ready for a second, fun car. I was originally eyeing a Corvette, but the one I test drove was so damn tough to shift, and hard just to get out of the parking lot. (It's seriously a land boat.) When I got back from the test drive the E550 had magically appeared on the lot (the lot owner was driving it). Test drove it and immediately fell in love. It drove so easily, rode so nicely, and was only a touch slower than the Corvette. Plus I absolutely love the exterior design of it. Probably my favorite Benz style outside of AMGs and super car models. Got it the next day.

pierrejoliat

Yes, I remember going to the dealer to switch rental cars in the middle of my '93 500S A/C issues, my hood was on the roof and my dash and center console were on top of that! I took one look and said to myself, sure hope he knows how to put that all back together without any missing screws!

VW2MB

After driving a Passat for a while and looking for tuning options, I wanted something with some tuning potential as well as european elegance. It was initially between the Audi A8L (v8 version) or any V12 Benz. After thoroughly researching, I found the v12s to be lacking in reliability. So I said well that's it. Unchecked the v12 option in the filters and completely forgot to uncheck the MB option. Scrolled through numerous Audi A8s and all of a sudden three MB E550s popped up. I said hm, interesting. 2011 E550, 2011 E550, and 2012 E550. One was convertible/coupe, the other was 4dr and black, and the other was palladium silver 4dr. I wanted the black. Looked up specs and then that's when it hit me. The 2012 was a TTV8. That's the ballpark I wanted to be in. And for $15k with under 70k miles? I had found my car. It's been a year this month!!

Fliplegend

My wife wanted a new car and almost had her heart set on a Volkswagen Alltrack. But for the price of a new one, we found our lightly used S212 which took some shopping because we both hate beige interiors. .

masads

I purchased my 2016 W212 deliberately. I never get the first-year all-new car. Having previously owned a second hand at the time of purchase 3 years old 2000 CLK 320 (azure Blue with Tan interior with Burlwood) I wanted to keep the same combination when placing an order. I loved my CLK but it was two doors so getting out to let folks in the back seat was a pain. Also, and the most important, it had...rust. And it spread everywhere real quick. And it kept getting worse. The mechanics were amazing. Rock-solid. Maintained the car impeccably but didn't notice the rust until much too late. The engine was bulletproof. Had the CLK for 13 years! Anyway got married and I had to get a sedan, so, I got in touch with the dealership and gave in my "order" - the request was in mid-October of 2015. Much to my surprise, Mercerdes-Benz in Germany stopped taking orders for the W212 as the plant had switched over to W213. So, I was left with what was already in Canada; or in-transit. And having my requirements, there was one in-transit and destined to go to another dealership but my sales agent made a "trade" before my W212 disembarked off the boat in Nova Scotia and put on a train for another dealership out west. And that is how I got my car. The only caveat - my car did not have the burl wood, it came with open pore natural grain brown.

Why did I want the W212 specifically? I love the style. Simple. It has the old craftsmanship of older Mercedes-Benz as the newer ones are now streamlined and don't have the heritage IMO. They are elegant yet sporty looking and the feel of the W212 is the perfect mix. The Cavansite Blue Metallic (I believe, Lunar Blue in the US) is, for me, to droll over. At night and in the evening, it looks black and under the sun it looks incredible IMHO. For 2016, I knew that MB added new features that were meant for W213 but weren't meant to be "activated" on the W212. I.e. Android Auto / Apple Carplay; Full ILS feature, etc. I love the AMG wheels that come stock. Sure, there are some features that I wish my car had but hey, you can't win it all. Two features that come to mind are the side roller shades on the doors that I wish my car had. I am not sure how to install them without breaking the bank as I guess it would require new inner liners to accommodate the roller blinds as i know some models have the feature and; flat-bottom steering wheel WITH the ability to heat. I like to keep my 2016 W212 stock as much I can. The only other "mod" and, if you want to call it that, is I did tint the windows to 35% all around and activate the Android Auto / Apple Carplay. I am still wrestling with getting Full ILS activated along with other features (Trunk Closure via SmartKey; All-way Air Distribution through vents; Fuel in Litres; Traffic Sign Assist) but it makes me happy that it can be done.

LILBENZ230

If you're saying you wanted burl walnut but got open pore ash, then you dodged a bullet there.

Back when I had a 2014 C350, I got a loaner car that was identical to the W212 I now own. I wanted one ever since.. three requirements - RWD, open pore wood, and designo Cardinal Red. Lucked up and found one CPO.

pierrejoliat

That Cavansite Blue is amazing isn't it? I went to Manhattan from Cleveland to get it, [my '12] would have liked more options also, but first priority was color followed by Pano then more options, Blind spot, lane keep and park assist. love the folding seats, xenons and heated steering wheel in my '13 though.

Left Coast Geek

thats amusing, my wife hates black interiors and we had to shop long and hard to find a beige interior.

LILBENZ230

I would have preferred the light gray/black interior combination.. where the seats are light colored, but the dash/floor/headliner are gray.

Fliplegend

Pretty sure its because black hides stains better. Damn dogs and kids!

pierrejoliat

Yes, light grey and black like my last two Benz's would have been nice, I wanted grey in the blue car but had to settle for beige, I wanted grey in the grey car and had to settle for black, my wife loves beige, I like the black better, but I drive the blue car and she drives the grey car. Go figure. The beige does go really well with the Cavansite Blue though

Left Coast Geek

dog rides in a crate in the back of the wagon, he has a history of chewing through seatbelts when he's annoyed with you... the back of the wagon has a weathertech cargo mat, and my kids are 25 and 30 now and have their OWN cars, anyways both are currently out of state.

cetialpha5

Same here, I hate both black exterior and interior. That eliminates a lot of cars from consideration. The beige looks good. I have the real leather in the W211 and the MB-tex in th W212. The real leather is even nicer. People complain that it's harder to keep clean, but I don't find it to be an issue. Some white dirt like dust stands out more on black than other colors. But no matter, I'm not a slob, I wipe things down so the interior is clean.