All E550's after 2013 are 4M

 

All E550's after 2013 are 4M

 

nice coincidence

 

In Oregon, Washington, and California AWD such as a 4Matic doesn't require chains as along as your tires are All-Seasons, or Snow tires. Its funny that you mentioned Lake Tahoe as my 4Matic was great driving in a snow storm with about 6 inches of snow on the roadway a few years ago in March.

 

get a TCU tune from Tornado Tuning. It’s a one time update to TCU via OBDII port. Very quick shifts now.

 

I'm aware of that, but that is not what he asked. The thread title specifically talks about 350s. Someone suggested he search for a 550, but the OP is considering 350s.

 

Mine is a 2014 350, 4Matic with pano roof and led light package. Does not have distronic, not even blind spot. On a car that size, I’ve never needed nor felt the need for the blind spot monitoring. The distronic would’ve been nice, but I’ve not missed it either, especially control of the cruise control on a stalk and not the steering wheel, making it exceptionally easy to adjust speed at 1’s and 5’s MPH increments.

Personally I love the 4Matic. I’ve driven the car with absolute confidence in 10+ inches of snow without issue (except jamming up the lower lip with snow, but no biggie). I’ve also been in torrential tropical downpours in it with being in NC during hurricane season and did not flinch one bit with 80mph on I95 heading back to DC. It handles like nothing else I’ve owned.

love the pano roof. Yeah I heard the pop noise once, and only once in the 3 years and 30k miles that I’ve owned it.

Must have option? In my opinion - the upgraded LED lights! Best I’ve seen in a sedan. You can tell if the car has them by the daytime running lights. If they look like two air quotation marks in each lease, then it’s the LED. If it it’s just a row of bulbs along the bottom of the lense, then it’s not LED. I think they’re incredible, move with the steering, side marker lights on turns, insanely bright yet smart to not blind oncoming traffic, and has auto bright setting that works flawlessly.

 

I would go with M272 RWD.
Edit: E550 RWD (2010-2012)

M276. intake valve carbon build up, .spark plugs is a pain. Comlexity of high pressure fuel pump. All this for what? 20hp?
4matic..transfer case will start failing sooner or later. Engine mounts is a giant pita. Winter tires are much cheaper and easier.

 

I'm not sure carbon build up is that big a problem Plus with the M272 you also have the intake manifold issue. You get an extra 34hp as you go from 268hp in the M272 to 302hp in the M276. Engine mounts are a pain with either engine. 4matic have the same size on all 4 corners so you can rotate the tires. RWD tires wear out in 1/2 the mileage due to the inability to rotate the tires.

 

Have you seen M276 valves? We did spark plug on my friends 2014...I could not believe how much **** is on those valves. Does it matter? Time will tell I have no idea.
Engine mount comment was in relational to 4matic. Much easier on RWD.

Tires would least for my concerns, but fair point if you put lots of miles.

 

I don’t think carbon is a problem on these engines, especially thanks to no turbo on them. I’m at 50k and smooth as glass idle. Transfer case is part of the transmission setup, so just take care of the fluid and filter of the transmission and should be ok (sure, it could go, any transfer can no matter what brand), but proper fluid condition should prevent problems in general.

The high pressure fuel pump, only thing that I don’t like about it is the ticking noise that comes from it. That’s a thing with nearly all manufacturers though these days. The low pressure on port injection is silent, which if I had to say, I wish was the same for the direct injection engines too.

I can’t comment on the spark plugs. But at the end of the day, it is a Mercedes after all. Not gonna get away completely from those those mystical repair bills entirely.

the engine mounts is indeed the booger between the two platforms. The 4Matic makes it more complicated to get them out, and there costs more. Anywhere from say $1,500 to $2k. And they do start go at around the 60k or 6 year mark. That’s the price for the AWD.

 

Mercedes has managed carbon buildup really well with their DI engines, I would not concern myself with that.

I've said this in a couple of other threads.. I've owned a 2 M272s and 2 M276s. The M276 is the superior engine, by a large margin. I always find it strange when people recommend against it. The M276 production numbers are huge, and aside from a few issues around the introduction, it has proven to be a very reliable engine used across the lineup from C to SLC to SL to GLE to S-class.

Yes, spark plugs suck, though. I'll be paying a specialist shop for that work.

 

Yea ok...here are the pics from 65k mile 2014 benz. No build up...lolol M272s have been around forever. What's the issue with them? The oldest 276 is what 7 years old at most? That's like brand new engine.

 

And 272 production numbers are small? 272 has been in all the same cars since mid 2000s to early 2010s, almost 10 year run. M276 has has much shorter run since switching to turbos in 2017.

 

Are you serious, there were lots of problems with the M272 when they first came out. Like the balance shaft. I think by 2010, most of the issues have been sorted out, things like sensors, oil cooler, centrifuge etc. But the main problem it still has is the intake manifold. That can be a 2k job at the dealer, but it's about $650 for the intake manifold plus labor to replace it. That probably happens in the 80k-140k range.

 

Fair enough there were issues in the early versions, but we are talking 2010+ here.

 

If you had the choose between the two engines, I'd say the M276 would be better than the M272. An extra 34hp and no intake manifold problem that would probably cost you close to $1000 or more even at an indy vs slightly more difficult to change the spark plugs is no contest. Plus there's some threads on here where people claimed they didn't need to take off the intake manifold to replace the plugs on the M276. I got my 2011 pretty cheap because it had high mileage at the time. If I had to buy one these days, there's probably not much of a price difference between a used 2011 vs 2012+ so I'd go for the 2012+.

 

Intake manifold does not need to be removed for spark plug replacement on the M276 naturally aspirated engine. I just did the plugs on my M276 W166 about two weeks ago. The engine idles and runs smooth as glass.

Right (passenger) side plugs are easy. Air filter housing needs removed.

Left (driver) side plugs are a bear. Middle and rear plugs are obstructed by the engine ECU bracket (after ECU removal) and PCV hose. The ECU bracket ideally should come out, but is not spelled out this way in WIS or other DIY documents. Also, the ECU bracket seems to be different for various vehicle installations (E-Class, GLE, etc.), and it was particularly offensive for me on the GLE. The GLE has taller fenders and higher ride height which makes reaching down to work on the plugs a bit harder than on sedans.

 

You missed the point entirely. The M276's large production numbers did not somehow mean the M272 production was small. The M272 was a fine engine, but it had its own issues and at this point is old news. Hell, at this point we're basically at the sunset of the M276.

The valves you posted don't look great, no. But if the M276 were going to have widespread carbon related issues, 7 years is plenty of time for them to have surfaced. Our old N54-equipped BMW was experiencing the issue in the 40-50k mile range. That's not too say there won't be an isolated issue here or there, but it is not common. That was my point - at the number of M276s out there, if carbon was a crippling issue the way it was in BMW and Audi, it would be on every sub-forum on MBWorld.

I've owned both 272 and 276, and actually neither one ever caused me any issue whatsoever. That said, the M276 is the superior engine. At least equal, if not better, probable reliability while also having better drivability with more power and better fuel economy. Win/win.

 

W212 transfer case failures are not precluded by timely transmission fluid changes. Audis have lots of issues but I don't think Audi Quattro drivelines have a reputation for failure like W212 transfer cases.