pezzy669

So figure I would pop in real quick to give a quick update after I have had my new to me '11 E350 4Matic now for almost a month. Have fallen even more in love with this car now that I have gotten the hang of the heft/size coming from my C300 but a few major things I have become more comfortable with.

Pros:

Power) The difference between the 3.0 and 3.5 M272 are very much more apparent driving than they appear on paper, I think its 40 HP more and 30 lb/ft torque more on paper but even motivating the 4Matic system and probably quite a few extra hundred pounds in the E350 it feels very much faster off the line, highway passing feels almost the same. The E350 is much less dramatic and requires quite a bit less pushing at city speeds, even in Economy it squirts off from a standstill much quicker than my C300 did in Sport. Get it kicked down into 1st gear and I am pretty certain the E350 4Matic would walk away nicely from a C300 RWD.

Handling) I was first kind of concerned the first time I took this car on a curvy road, only because when I felt the initial wallowing that comes with the E-Class I would back off my speed a little bit thinking I was about to plow off the road. It took me a good couple weeks to realize it does firm up nicely and takes a great set if you push a little bit past the cush. Definitely two personalities to this car, comfort until you hit that sweet spot of pushing it to where it feels way more capable than it's nearly 4,000 lbs of curb weight would suggest. I don't drive this thing like its a Civic Si or anything stupid like that as it would just look ridiculous in an E350, but yes when I am hitting a yellow turn arrow or a long sweeping freeway ramp I may push her harder than most E350 drivers.

4Matic) First I was thinking how ridiculous it was I was buying an AWD MB in Atlanta, GA as it is mostly unnecessary around here but I liked the car and figured why not as there was no fuel economy downside and yes on occasion we get some snow. Did not think it would make any difference whether it was RWD or AWD, my mind has officially been changed. It may be completely in my mind but the way it powers off the line just feels different to either FWD or RWD, then there is the lack of a inner tire losing traction on RWD of FWD on a turning acceleration causing the traction control to rudely intervene. Have driven in a few rain storms, would honestly say RWD would be fine in rain on wet roads after those two drives, I never felt like traction was lacking in wet conditions in my C300.

Cons:

Fuel Economy) Fuel economy is mehhhh. While I am able to achieve the city sticker (17 MPG) on my 100% city commute on a good day where I hit most of the greens, i typically average only ~14 MPG over a tank when you factor in the bad days of hitting all the red lights and/or sitting in traffic where the "from start" will read anywhere from mid-11's to mid-13's MPG,. I was prepared for this as my C300 would only get ~1.5-2 MPG better under same patterns.

Engine/Trans Mounts) I need to get this scheduled to get done. It is maddening to me that Mercedes makes this a ~80k mile part, I would take slightly more vibration and harshness to get 150k out of a set of a mounts. My '09 C300 needed all new mounts around the same mileage and I now understand this is just a Mercedes thing.

Bluetooth Audio) Text message comes in and music starts skipping, open the home screen on my phone and music starts skipping, try to use Google Maps and music skips like crazy. Never had this issue with any other car I have owned that had BT streaming ('10 Mazda 3, '15 Mazda 3, '16 Jetta, '12 Fiat 500).

Other than that I will say this car has surpassed my expectations and to find little wrong with it besides for the above 3 mentioned items is pretty darn good. I am looking forward to many more years with my E350.....now to get those engine and trans mounts replaced.

Lolxa

Sell the E350 and buy a E550, it gets more fun at the cost of terrible fuel economy

cetialpha5

For bluetooth, take it in to the dealer and describe the problems and get the firmware updated. They normally won't do it unless you describe specific problems. I also had bluetooth connection problems/phone problems and satallite radio problems where it would cut out for no particular reason even though I was in the clear on a treeless highway. This would be a good time to use the $125 off $250+ service that expires on September 30th. There's also a few other threads that talk about how to get Sirius for about $30 for 6 months.

https://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/servi...ndofsummer2018

thefisch

Nice review. I've found 4matic to be more stable in heavy rains than cars without it. Not a big deal, but it's a plus.