Good assessment, considering your needs. Don't need the light package myself, as I seldom need to drive at night, and the standard LED low beams are excellent. Forget the Pano roof, too. I outgrew that in my 40's. Air suspension is problematic long-term, and one might want 4WD only in northern climates.

The car looks great to me. I would clarify with the dealer whether their statement "Leather Interior" means actual leather, or MBtex, just so you know. I like the MBtex myself, as it will last longer. Do look for any splits in the creases.

Have fun on your test drive.

 

The car has run flat tires in the car story?? The former owner seem to do alignment every 10k service. Btw, I had my transmission mount replace by dealer last month at 36k miles. Not sure when I should replace the engine mounts, and/or trans mount together.

 

The pano roof seems really cool. As far as the Park Tronic, I drove school buses so I know how to use my mirrors. We have a visit little outdoor cafe and some weekend mornings, I'm amazed at the people who can't parallel park. I feel sorry for the rims.

 

I'd seen MBtex mentioned before but didn't know what it meant. I'm assuming some kind of vinyl. Believe it or not, I prefer cloth here in South Carolina, but as long as the seating surface is vented, or cooled, I'm fine.

I had a black on black leather Maxima back in the early '90's. Was the brochure car. Was like riding in an oven. Never again.

 

The run flat tires on the Infiniti Q50 I drove, 9,400 miles, seemed hard as stone. I was concerned this E350 had them too. I was looking at them today. They're Continentals, but I didn't see anything that indicated run flat. I'll give them a closer look tomorrow, and see how they ride.

 

Thank you all for all the advice. I wouldn't have gone this far with this car without your input. Hopefully this car is as advertised.

 

Just realized in my subject line I spelled it "advise" not "advice". Thanks for not calling me out.

 

Is a 2016 E350 drive by wire steering? Not that it's all bad, but a friend's wife had the first BMW 3 series hardtop convertible, and the drive by wire throttle response sucked, and the steering wasn't great either. 2008 or so? No feel.

Maybe don't tell me. I'll drive it tomorrow and see if I can tell.

 

Check the trunk and see if you have a spare. Usually tire manufacturers make two types of the same tire style, one is a run flat and the other isn't so it's hard to tell just by looking. Many people switched from run flats to a regular tire and got a dummy spare and the ride was much smoother. The parktronic is fun to play with. Sometimes I pull up with 3 lights behind someone in traffic. Can't figure out why drivers these days like to leave 1.5 car lengths in front of them in the city, that's why people can't make it through the light if everyone leaves a big gap like that. I like my power trunk closer too. You should see the look on their faces when you hit the button. I did finally flip someone off once with the trunk, she had cut me off earlier. Anyway, she laughed when it opened, then had a weird look on her face when it closed. You can open and close the trunk from inside the car with the switch.

 

To me, the car fax looks fine and not out of the ordinary as others have mentioned. The replacement of the head unit could be related to a wire issue for the rear deck sub which was an issue for some, and given the lived in FL, it’s more likely as it was a heat related issue. Not a big deal. Transmount, again not a biggie. My 14’ is at 42k miles now and I can start to feel a little vibration too. The motor mounts on that one should be a good bit easier to manage as it’s not 4Matic, meaning you won’t have to navigate around the diff and front axles.

You save yourself a small fortune with buying parts via online vendors instead of dealership. That’s basically true for all cars, but especially true for MB. For instance, I replaced all pads and rotors on mine with genuine MB parts and it cost me slightly less than $400 to do it. Parts came from a MB dealer in FL via parts.com, but there are a few other sites the guys here can point you towards.

What ive found with German cars, and I know some will disagree, but I think they’re easy to work on once you get past that intimidation factor.

I agree 4Matic is most useful in snow country, but it’s also fantastic in the rain. I’ve had many AWD cars in my past, from Subaru to Toyota - and will say hands down without a doubt, the system in this Benz is nothing short of amazing in the rain. It’s a more fixed platform for power delivery between the front and rear, not the floating around the car when needed. You do not get that sense of the power rotating around you at all which can be a little uneasy and unable to predict. In this car, it’s like a tank, you know what you’ve got 100% of the time. I’ve driven mine in downpours at 80mph with out so much as a hint of concern, which I can’t say for any of the others I’ve owned in the past.

know this - the E is a widely used taxi in Germany, so its built to take mileage and abuse. And they don’t exactly drive slow over there either!

i love mine, it’s such a nice place to spend time in and with. It may be 5 years old now, but still one of the most handsome looking cars on the road today at any price. Ages extremely well, and never mistaken for something else at first glance. Nothing even resembles it in any way.

 

Sounds like I don't understand Parktronic. Thank you for the input. Still can't believe I'm contemplating a Benz.

 

It basically lets you get a lot closer than you think you can. Not as useful as the past because you have the rear camera so you don't really need it for backing up. But for the front, you can get pretty close. I believe it also parallel parks for you too. My 2011 only had the parking guidance feature on parktronic, the 2014+ models actually do the parking for you. But I've never used that particular feature, quicker just to do it manually, would take longer following the prompts.

 

Funny you mentioned the AWD. We have a 2001 Subaru Outback AWD. 304,000 miles Just spun the front crankshaft bearing. It was a great car. It's in Florida with my daughter, who subsequently bought a Civic, and I may just go back and pull the bearing to see if I can drive it back.


Anyway, what I learned over the years on the Subie is that it preferred factory parts. Found an online dealership that would sell them cheaper than local, though when there wasn't a huge difference, I bought local. I don't want to AutoZone or Advance Auto this Merc. I want it reliable and happy to play.

One thing I did learn on the Subie, with AWD, if you buy tires, get four, and keep them rotated. If you only replace front or back, the worn ones roll at a different speed than the new, and the rear diff clutches don't like it. Mostly cause the Subie is FWD 90% of the time, then pushes more to the rear when needed. I never had a problem, which I attribute to rotations and all new tires at the same time.

Thanks for the advice. If I buy it, I'll keep the parts genuine.