txtxyeha

I am in the market for a E-Class coupe with Distronics Plus in general and adaptive cruise control in particular. Given my budget is $30K - $35K I have been looking at the 2014 - 2015 model years. The trouble is none of the websites like Cars.com or even MB's Certified Pre-Owned website / listing of inventory use "Adaptive Cruise Control" as a searchable feature. I've also run into the problem twice that the features of "Lane Assist" and "Blindspot Alerts" are listed, then the (non-Mercedes Benz) salesperson says, "Oh, if those two features exist then adaptive cruise control is probably there too," only to find out (when I insist on them driving the vehicle personally) that it is not adaptive cruise control but a brake-assist feature. Compounding the problem is I am looking outside of my market, thus it is not as simple as driving to the local MB dealership and figuring this out for myself on a test drive.

If anyone has any cheats for me (e.g., if they have Keyless-GO and navigation they should have adaptive cruise control) I would be thrilled to read it. With the exception of CarMax's website which does have "assisted cruise control" as a searchable-feature, I feel like I am looking for a needle in a haystack.

Racin_fool

easiest way to tell whether it has the Distronic system is to take a look at the front grill.. The non-distronic cars will have a normal front grill with no flat center section.. As for the Distronic cars, they have a flat/smooth center section in the front grill between the headlamps.

KEY08

^ The face lift cars all have a center star, so it is very difficult to tell if one has distronic or not by looking at photos. The grill star is solid on Distronic cars, but the design is so well done that you cannot tell unless you actually feel it. That is my Distronic Plus grill pictured above.
Unfortunately, you will need to run the VIN for each car you are looking at to review the SA Codes. The code for Distronic Plus is 233. It is Autonomous Cruise control. Mercedes doesn't use the terminology "Adaptive Cruise Control".
There is no secret sauce to determine which options may or may not include Distronic Plus, like P1 or P2. It is not a very common option either, but I would highly recommend you find one with it as it is nothing short of amazing.

al300sd

You want to see option "23P DRIVING PACKAGE" on the build sheet somewhere..

cetialpha5

Yeah, it could be part of the driver assistance package. Anyway use this vin decoder to see what the car has. Used car dealers usually have no clue and say things like power locks, leather seats, sunroof, when they all basically have that.

https://www.datamb.com/

txtxyeha

Thank you so much for your feedback. Funny how my local MB salesman didn't share that with me...knowledge is power. Besides the CarMax website that will allow one to search based on "auto cruise control", everywhere else it is going to be more tedious. Sobeit.

cetialpha5

You get pretty good at cutting and pasting the vin number. I wouldn't trust any detail on a car site, I see mistakes all the time. Parktronic when you know it doesn't have it, and vice versa.

KEY08

Dead on. Just keep running the ones you are interested in through the site cetialpha5 provided. Good luck finding your coupe with everything you want.

E250_92101

Having looked through hundreds and hundreds of car photos to find my Disctronic, I recommend using autotrader.com and using "Distronic" as the "keyword" in their advanced search. I'm yet to see a Distronic E-class on Autotrader that did not come up with "Distronic" keyword so it really seems accurate. I think when the dealer/seller puts in the VIN, the system automatically populates the Distronic option to the Features list and it becomes searchable. I have had ZERO luck with any other website... Hope this helps...

tresean1

I feel your pain. I went thru this very same thing when I was looking for my baby. Keyword is PATIENCE; have lots of it and don't take a salesman at his first word. These "salesmen" have no clue about the features/capabilities of 90% of the cars they "sell"; there are just there to bring home a paycheck. Explain to him what exactly you are looking for and make him go out there and physically try to stick his hand thru the star emblem on the grille. If it's hollow = no Distronic; if it's solid = Distronic. If you have patience and laser sight, then you will find what you are looking for. Don't let the muddy water cloud your vision.

BTW, "Adaptive Cruise Control" is a generic term used by more inferior/generic brands and makes. Mercedes-Benz's official terminology is Distronic or Distronic Plus or Distronic +.