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Finally found my way back to Mercedes after straying for a while. I've owned a 2005 C230K, a 2009 E350, a 2011 C300, and a 2014 C350 over the years with the W203 and W211 being my favorites. I've wanted a facelift W212 since they debuted in 2014, but never pulled the trigger until now. I wanted a distinct color, for it not to have the fading burl walnut wood, and real leather seats. So I picked up a Cardinal Red one with the lighting package, AMG staggered wheels, silk/beige leather with ventilation, and open pore wood. So far the only issue I have with it are the stupid juddering wipers which act like every other recent Mercedes I have ever driven (W203 and W211 did not suffer this).
MBWorld has been a great source of information and camaraderie for a lot of years and I'm happy to be back and to hopefully learn a few things about this W212. First things on my to do list are add a lip spoiler, tints, and apple CarPlay activation.
Picture of the open pore wood as requested. The car is in great shape - just under 30,000 miles now. Dealership CPO service record they gave us showed original owner bought prepaid maintenance and everything was done on schedule at dealer. Invoice at lease return shows 4 new tires, new front brakes/rotors, a new sunvisor, and a new transmission mount all replaced before it was put for sale as CPO. Original warranty till 10/2020 and then CPO after that through 10/2021 and extended through 10/2023.
Looks great LILBENZ230. Good to see another C-Class owner trade up the chain as I did. Let's hope our W212s last as well as the "Little Benzes" did.
So far, I like the W212 a lot but the W203 looks to remain the favorite. I picked up a 2005 C230K just off lease in 2008 at 25k miles. Traded it in late 2012 at 150k and only because the timing chain had began to rattle and it was cost-prohibitive by then. Still the best car I’ve owned.
I spent a weekend on a test drive with a different 2016 E350 with MBTex. I didn’t have overlap, but it seems like the MBTex seats were more comfortable? These aren’t bad but I swear the others were softer and actually would go lower in travel. These have ventilation so maybe that’s the difference.
The leather is nice, though. Not quite up to par with the semi-aniline leather we had in a Lexus, but much nicer than other cars we have had with real leather.
01-03-2020, 02:24 PM
