Looking to purchase a 2010 - 2013 E350 RWD sedan. Any suggestions on best year, or which to stay away from? Thanks. Gary.

 

My 2010 E350 is for sale

 

There's like 3 different versions. Early 2010-2011 had the older 268hp engine. In 2012-2016, they got the direct injection 302hp engine. The 2014 had the face lift and had lots more new options and changes. I'd get at least the 2012+, but even those still had the faded wood and ripped MB-seat problem. Mostly fixed by 2013/2014.

 

There is only 1 engine in those cars that will make 700-800 miles on tank.

 

One engine to rule them all-4.7L Bi-turbo.

 

I very much like my 2014 and you can still find these with some warranty remaining.

The 302 HP V-6 in mine is very nice.

Good luck.

 

i suggest you the E550 w212 it depends on your budget which year to get, but if you want an economic one get the E350 CDI, the E class is designed to be durable and reliable apart from being luxury and i remind you it is used as a taxi in Europe and i dont think they are using it because its cheap

 

Cheap in English has several different meanings, but German cabbies are using MB diesels mainly becouse they ARE cheap in the meaning that they cost less in total than any other cars. . They always go for 4-cylinder engines and you won't see 550 in the fleet.

 

It is cheaper than other cars??

 

By a mile.
When purchase price of 4-banger diesel MB is not the lowest, just fuel savings on next 100,000 km offset the difference.
Then you have another 1/2 million or full million of km of low-trouble driving.
With other brands most of the times you have to buy 2 to drive the distance.
Bare in mind US MB models have inflated prices for several reasons.
30 years ago I was drooling in front of Frankfurt MB dealer window. Brand new MB had sticker at DM 29,000. About $9,500 at the time.

 

I´d also pick a 2012 onwards E350 RWD. Those engines are absolutely beautiful and run awesome. Had my budget allowed it, I´d would have bought one, they are still relatively expensive in Germany or Austria. Fuel consumption is also excellent for a car of this size and power.

Lastly, I wouldn´t go for a diesel. They are being used in Germany as taxis not because its reliability (otherwise they´d drive for instanceToyota) but because of image. The first "batches" of diesel W212 were notorious for the many problems they had. Taxi trends goes into hybrids, taking into account the low emissions regulations. The only diesel I´d take would be a E350 +12.

Regards,

 

The MB image is American thing enforced by MB USA and followed to some degree by MB of Canada.
In Europe MB makes lot of models that are VW Golf class, not even talking about Smarts.
I think in last years MB minivans beat sales records. How is minivan for a brand image?

 

MB Minivans are high end both in Germany and Austria. You can find a lot of those which have been tuned, and they look awesome. the newer A-Class for instance are very nice, but far away in terms of luxury and confortness from a E or S-Class

 

We can talk about images and models forever , but I always LOMAO when I hear US owner reporting how German tourist gets into his E and asking to be driven to the location.
Point is that most of MB in Europe are 4-bangers (or less) while lot of US modes carry huge engines and only in last years you can see smaller models making it over the pond.

 

First batch of W212 had Bosch piezoelectric injectors, which had a lifetime of about 100 000 - 200 000km, newer ones are using DELPHI injectors, which are much better and cost about 200eur new + core discount if your dealer has that option. The injection pumps are quite reliable too. The most common issue I have heard about is the quantity control valve (y94, DELPHI part). W212 aftermarket brake pads, wheel bearings, cost around the same or less than 15-20 year old Volvo's mostly.

The OM651 engines don't last mainly because of long oil change intervals (50 000km in sprinters, 25 000km on cars), but 400 000km (most common cause of death is spun rod or crank bearings, but they die due to infrequent oil changes) with original injectors, while cheaping out on fuel filters and oil is not bad in my eyes, a well-maintained om651 example on a car which I know has got 700 000km, original camshafts, original injectors, original fuel pump etc, but 10 000km oil changes, gearbox 50 000km max. Older mercs had shorter oil change intervals (and no start stop engine wear programmed into them), that is why they last longer. My 2001 commonrail E320 CDI (which is straight 6 3.2 diesel, but it is using the similar commonrail) has got more than 500 000km, original injectors etc, but the turbo is showing a bit of age now (not creating as much as pressure as it should be on paber), going to buy a bigger turbo and chip it.

Some of those bigger mileage 2013 facelift w212 E350 CDI 4matic's have around 550 000 - 600 000 km on them in Europe, they hold up quite ok, if regular service items are not cheaped out on. E350 4matic taxi? Does not make sense for, why would anybody use a big engine in a taxi?

 

I'm wondering the same thing my self right now, I had to replace the om642 engine in my 2011 E350 at 22,000 miles, on its 3 rd oil change in 2016. Read some terrible things and I can't trust that it will last. MB's recommended oil change interval is evil to say the least. Mine is throwing the NOX sensor code with new sensors, another problem with the om642. Looking to trade in for either a e350 or e550 gas while its still running. Anyone have any recommendations as far as reliability? E350 vs E550 or even the rare E400 hybrid. Do you guys think the diesel from 2012 and up are any better?

 

Yes there are sometimes issues with adblue systems on those cars if the fuel is not good, remap with deAdBlue, dpf off, egr off always helps . OM642 engine has too got spun bearing tendency and oil pump death if the oil changes are cheaped out. Change oil and filters regularly and those cars will last. You changed the sensor but still got a code for those NOX sensor (sometimes the emissions can be off if there are turbo issues etc, maybe false reading from somekind of engine sensor, they don't always cause a DTC, but I have seen one gasser c220 or c250 with jumped chain due to somekind of engine sensor malfunction, but no code, can't recall the sensor by memory)? Is the exhaust flexi pipe intact or are there exhaus leaks (on w212 facelift om651 there is a rubber mount near the flexi pipe but there is nowhere to connect the grommet on the car (seen it on two mercs, but it seems to me like it is factory design, not some shade tree mechanic thing). Are the injectors ok? Friend on mine has 2008 om642 with over 550 000 miles, he has replaced the injectors 1x, nothing else unusual, few sensors here and there.

 

You seem to think the other car makers don't make diesels? They all do and diesel cars have been selling probably 10 times compared to gasoline engine cars for years in Europe. The whole continent is full of diesels and this is from the fuel cost. Diesel at least used to be cheaper / liter to buy and it already long time ago gave almost double fuel mileage. I don't know how the price / liter is today but mileage easily is double compared to same power gasoline engine in the same car.

MB is used for taxi not only in Germany but is very many countries in Europe and one big reason is its reliability, MB diesel has very good reputation and taxis typically run over 500 000 miles before the car is changed to a newer one.

What comes to the price of cars in Germany they cost way more there now that here in the U.S. Germany used to be the lowest cost country to buy a German car but things changed when they went from Deutsch MARK to EURO. The exchange was done 2 MARKS to 1 EURO but the sticker price tags on cars was not changed. This means that German car prices doubled in Germany over night.

Before the EURO German roads were full of German cars. Of course there were others but most of these were people visiting from neighboring countries. Now after EURO German roads are totally mixed with all kinds of cars and they are owned equally by German people. This is simply because the other cars now are cheaper to buy in Germany.

We are lucky here as the cars are sold based on the market area pricing, i.e. we can buy these cars with pricing that they should also sell in Germany.

I did a comparison of my own car for the price in Germany and here. The sticker price of my car was $71 000. The same E550 base without any equipment out the factory door was EURO 57 000. German vat I believe is at 19% so that raised the price to EURO 67 800. Then at the time I bought my car the exchange rate between EURO and US Dollar was at around 1.3 so this raised the cost to over $88 000 if I would have been buying the BASE MODEL of the car in Germany,

Today I just looked at one German MB dealer and tried to equip an E400 (no 550 engine anymore other than I believe on AMG model?) similarly as my E550 is. The price comes to EURO 78 000 out the factory door. 19% vat raises this to EURO 92 800. Exchange rate today is EURO 0.82 to 1 US dollar so the price of the car in our currency would be $113 200.

Purchase price of a Mercedes in Germany is higher than other cars like BMW and Audi. It is not like here where we have close to same price in competing models between different German makes.

 

To answer your question I can tell my own experience: My first MB was a new 2011 E350. It came with the Premium 2 package and was a nice car but for the weight of the car the engine just did not feel powerful enough. Now it all depends on what you want but I also first thought that it was enough but in about a year I realized I need to bigger engine. I also had experience with rental cars in Germany where I was given S-Class cars as upgrades (since I rent lots of cars with one company) and a couple of these has Distronic. What a wonderful thing on the car this Distronic is and I decided to find a car with it and with the bigger engine.

There are not many E350 models with Distronic though I test drove one and could have got that with $4000 between the cars but I also wanted the bigger motor so I got this 2010 E550 with the Driver Assist package that includes Distronic, Lane Keep warning and Blind Spot monitoring. I think my car has all options for the RWD car other than the Night Vision that were available at the time. Yes, it also has the AirMatic, which I like very much.

This E550 is WAY BETTER than the E350 I had and if I was you I would try to find an E550 prior the face lift including the Distronic option. It is my personal disliking towards the face lift models so everybody for his/her own. For me they are just ugly.

My 2010 E550 has 143 500 miles on the clock and it feels like a new car. The engine is strong and so far has not burned any oil. Seem very reliable engine to me. Just change the oil often enough (every 5000 miles for me) and go...

 

My 2012 E350 has been pretty reliable in 3 years of ownership!!

 

 

I bought a 2010 E350 4Matic about 3 years ago that had 96K on it and I have been driving it since.. I put performance brakes on it and it has been a gem... Drivetrain is rock solid in every respect. I have recently torn a front right boot on the drive axle and I am not sure whether to replace it all of keep driving until I have to do something, it seems that replacing the whole assembly is the best thing to do as I have read quite a bit on it... I have about 169,000 on it now and it still looks and drives great... One thing I was not aware of is how often the low profile tires pick up road debris and have to be patched or replaced and I was unaware of having to keep the tread depth so even between all 4 tires to not damage the 4matic diff... Other than those 2 things there is nothing I don't like about it..... I bought if for $12,000 so if it blows up tomorrow I can't feel too bad.. I drive for a living and after owning a 2005 CDI diesel, I never thought I would own a car that I like more, but I will have to say , this 2010 model has been every bit as dependable and rides even better... I have spent more on tires but this car feels so solid, I don't mind... And for a car that is 10 years old, the blue metallic paint still still draws compliments from people at Costco gas pumps... I am looking at a 2014 E350 RWD but I don't think this one is near giving up yet!!!!

 

I've replaced the boots on my W211, they were only around $40 for the boot kit from Mercedes and the actual axle is around 1k. For some reason on the W212, the outer boot kit is more like $230 and that's the discounted online price it lists for over $300 and of course the whole axle is still around 1k. The problem with the aftermarket ones is that they can cause a vibration which is what happened in my W211. I had saved the old joint though so I replaced the boot and put it back in and the vibration went away. In your situation, I would just get the aftermarket boot kit. Usually they use a cheaper type of rubber so that it doesn't last as long as OEM, but maybe it will be enough to get several years out of it. That $230 price I think includes the joint itself which might still be fine if you caught it early enough. They just don't list the boot separately, although they do that in Europe.

https://parts.mercedesbenzofwappingersfalls.com/oem-parts/mercedes-benz-cv-joint-boot-kit-2043300585

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fits-Mercedes-Benz-C300-Front-Left-Right-Outer-CV-Axle-Joint-Boot-Kit-43449/112972390346