I feel your pain. I had to settle for the color black which I swore I would never get. It was the only new diesel in CA when I purchased it. But the car has been amazing. Recently made it from LA to SF and nearly back on 1 tank. It is also a 4matic and does well the in the snow.

 

Since my last reply new things happen.
ScanGauge made X-gauge for monitoring DPF on 651 engine and they might have one for 642 by now.
I have 2 cars with 651 and driving with scanner noticed that reg happens for short time each time I push accelerator pedal harder for few seconds.
I drive 5 miles to the freeway and have to accelerate uphill. That is point where reg klicks in, but it will go to off when I gain the freeway speed and let the pedal go.
Looks like car did reg right before I start driving with the gauge. After 600 miles the soot status is at 75%, where the scale goes to 200%. Will take me awhile to get there as the car is not driven daily, but will post once it happens.
Than on other 651 I did dpf delete. The tuner is not very good in follow up, but after some tries with disconnecting and reconnecting sensors, it seem to work fine.
The smog scanner shows "catalytic not supported" but all other points are passed. Sometime after Holiday season I plan to stop at NV smog station and see if the car will pass sniff test.

 

@LSkrabut
Hi, I have a 2015 GLK Bluetec and am considering getting a 2016 E 250 Bluetec used. Was worried about a couple of things...rated mileage/diesel consumption seems to be higher than GLK....what major expenses should I expect assuming I do all necessary preventative and system prompted maintenance?

 

I my self drive 2015 E250 Bluetec and have 122000 miles.
1. Timing chain stretch for the USA version of these cars doesn't apply on all of them since I saw a lot of models of these cars with different mileage where the highest were 220000 miles and the engine made no sound of metal or chain stretch in it. My Mercedes doesn't have it too luckily.
2. Diesel Exhaust Fluid tank fails usually because of the really cold or hot weather, and due to overdue with the fuel filter replacement. By maintaining that small fuel filter that is located on the top of the engine is easily can prevent fuel system to make dirty and fuel tank not to crack, as also overdue fuel filter starts to brake down inside sending some metal pieces into fuel delivery system which is of course bad.
3. Engine may be particular to specific oils? As long as u use oil with original Mercedes specification 229.52, ur car should run fine, but mostly recommended is full synthetic 5W-30, but if there is none, u can use 0W-20 only if it has 229.52 specification, but if u used 0W-20, on the next oil change u have to use 5W-30. Personal advise and experience, never put 5W-40 in the diesel bluetec cars, even if Mercedes employee would recommend it for you, I once did that on my 2013 ML350 Bluetec. After 50 miles it burned all my DEF system and to fix that I had to pay $5000. But of course I didn't pay that, I just ordered a chip from Canada that turns off DEF system on cars, and my ML350 was a regular diesel European car without any DEF system.
4. Any problems in higher mileage applications? There is small problem starts after some mileage with engine where most common oil leak would be bottom throttle body gasket, it is kinda pain in the *** to replace, but possible. Also, small o-ring gaskets on bleed valve, engine crankcase cover, or motor ventilation crankcase breather starts to leak oil a little bit in the engine. Those o-rings get cracked in there and you have to replace it immediately because it lets oil sip into the injectors and injectors would go out. By the cost it would be easier to replace all those things but not injectors. How to determine this problem? Really simply. When engine is cold and car stayed overnight, open the oil cap and leave it on the top but open. Turn on the car and look at the cap. Have somebody to help you and gas while you are outside. Look for the cap not to jump. By that I mean that cap would jump from vibration when the car just runs, but when somebody presses gas the cap should stay still. If the cap keeps jumping, it means that air with bad gasses gets into your engine and you have an air leak somewhere in the system. It also shows that oil is getting to injectors. If the cap is jumping, you have to change bleed valve, engine crankcase cover, or motor ventilation crankcase breather as soon as possible.
5. Anything else I should know about USA-market E250s? Weak spots? Things to look out for? Look for the cars that had a recall done for emission system recently. They would have 3 year warranty on them for the emission system. If the recall wasn't done, it is even more great. If the recall was done before 2020, stay out of those cars as recall is done to have an updated DPF filter in there (or Catalytic converter in other words). Sadly on all bluetec cars DPF filter gets out in 5-10 years, getting cracked and filled with trash. Mercedes regeneration system can be done by only official Star program, but if DPF got filled, your NOX sensors would go out and regen would only help to clean DPF, but you gonna need to change NOX sensors. Those kind of cars needs to be driven really smoothly without gassing a lot so you do not fill DPF filter with trash and the car would last s lot longer.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to contact me at matvey2508@gmail.com