hyperion667

It's basically what you like more. The CLS is a rarer car yes, but harder to get parts? I don't agree with that assessment. I really like mine very much. I say go for the CLS
if car seats and passengers are not a factor. If you do have kids seats and or plan on taking friends/family out the E will be much easier for both.

cetialpha5

It's a rarer car so you're not going to find as many in the junkyard or used parts on eBay or aftermarket parts. But parts from the dealer should be fine, they just tend to be top dollar.

pierrejoliat

The CLS is beautiful in that color combo, but the E has the most options and is also a great color! I would buy the E, but I did that twice when I could have bought the CLS which I also looked at. As before, it really came down to back seat access and folding seats for hauling big stuff once in a while.

And it's a '13 so it has a newer command setup than the '12 CLS.

gNasty

I'ma go with the 550. I think I like to CLS body styles more but I need something that I can put the seats down when I want to go to the range or whatever else that comes up

gNasty

Appreciate it boys.
I'm 30 minutes out until the 550 gets here. What are some things to immediately check to make myself look like I know what I'm doing lol.

KEY08

Just start kicking the tires. Lol. Look for any obvious leaks. Oil, coolant. Check the brake fluid reservoir. Brake fluid look clean? Pull the dipstick. Is it topped up and honey colored? Does the car pulse under medium braking? A/C blow cold? Heat/ cool seats work? Massage function working? COMAND working as it should? Back up camera comes on? Distronic can be set at speed?
scroll to the Assyst and see when the last service was performed

Hammer the throttle and it should blast off almost immediately.

gNasty

When these cars are idling are they noisy I can't tell if it's a fan or a belt but something's making noise at idle the guy said it was a high pressure fuel pump needed to run the twin turbo engine but why would it need a lot of fuel when you're just sitting there in gear? Also it seemed real loud going down the road he said it was the tires I had a 09 E350 before this and it felt 20 times smoother and much more quiet is that due to increase in the motor size? Does the e550 Ride like the 350 as far as it's smoothness and that comfortable ride or going up to the twin turbo did it take that away?

pierrejoliat

Engine is a tad noisy with the hood open, the 212 is a new direction for Mercedes, it rides nothing like the 211. that said a sport rides firmer than a luxury, you haven't mentioned which your buying. Tires get noisy as they age and these are 45 or 40 series not the 65 or 60 series on the 211, which is the last of the floaty E classes

KEY08

No, they are not noisy at idle. Sounds like a bad idler pulley. Should ride like a dream. If you have noise it’s the tires or something else with the suspension.

Left Coast Geek

212's have 45 or 40 series tires stock. a V8 E550 very likely has the sport (stiffer) suspension, with 245/40R18 wheels if it doesn't have staggered wheels. a v8 might have the active air suspension, where you can set it for comfort or sport modes.

KEY08

@gNasty So, did you buy it?

pierrejoliat

Yes, I meant to type 40 and 45 series, thanks

pierrejoliat

Both my Benz's are louder at Idle with the hood up than my Lexus RX350 and my sisters LS 500. But I agree, they are not particularly loud.

KEY08

Yes, they definitely make their own noises and in the 550 you may here the turbos spooling up with a brief blip of the throttle. I guess if someone described the engine as loud, I would look for something out of whack. It is a V8, but the pistons are smallish and the description of a high pressure fuel pump also had me confused. All FI cars have high pressure fuel pumps, so it sounded like the seller was hiding an engine bay noise with the old diversion tactic.

Senecat

He's busy roasting all the "cool guys" in town with their Hellcats Lol

He'll probably post back soon as that's about how quickly an M278 can drink a full tank with a heavy foot Lol

RosSauce

It should be really quiet without strange noises. I’m pretty sure no one would guess there’s a V8 under the hood of these cars since Mercedes did a good job dampening a lot of the engine and exhaust noise.

Engine and transmission mounts could be collapsed if you feel vibration under load and a little at idle. They will wear at some point and are more difficult to swap on the 4Matics. Like I mentioned before, def get a pre-purchase inspection. Spending $100 now could save you thousands in potential repairs down the road. The color combo and options are awesome though!

Arrie

I have a 2010 E550 and a 2013 S550. The E is with the 5.5 L NA engine while the S has the Twin Turbo 4.7 L.

With the hood open and outside there is a huge difference in engine noise. The S is way louder especially for the first 45 s or so after cold start but even after it “settles down” it is a lot louder than the engine in the E.

With hood closed inside the car I cannot hear the engine at all in the E other than with heavy acceleration and I think it is mostly exhaust noise I hear then, not so much engine itself. In the S I can hear engine some and very clearly during heavy acceleration. I actually like this as it allows better use of the manual gear changes that I sometimes do when passing someone on a 2-lane hwy.

What comes to noise while rolling on the road both of my cars are terrible for road noise. Tires are the main player here. It is obvious MB saved with the noise insulation compared to these cars in Europe. These are way quieter to drive there.

Talking about the high pressure fuel pumps (yes, should be two of them in V8) being noisy is nonsense. You cannot hear the pumps unless they are in very bad condition in which case I would want them replaced before buying the car.

Left Coast Geek

FWIW, my tire noise abated significantly when I switched from the new Contis that came on my 'luxury' E350 to a new set of Michelin Pilot Sport AS4.

gNasty

I did buy it, then returned it. Brake light came on along with another light. Wanted to wait until I could get pre inspection purchase before he cashed check (it was the weekend) and he was fishy so I cancelled.

Senecat

Great!

Send the link so I can buy it!

cetialpha5

I'm with Senecat. I don't care what problems it has, shouldn't be too catastrophic to fix. Brake light is probably nothing, the brake light switch isn't that much and it could just be low on brake fluid or I'm not sure what you mean by brake light. It's easy to hit the foot brake when you get into the car so you could have just hit the brake release to get rid of it. Otherwise if it had a brake message on the dash, it could just mean it needs new brake pads which is a common maintenance item on all cars. I have a code scanner so I would have scanned for any codes on the spot. Never got a PPI for any car I bought, did it afterwards. Of course both of mine were loaded but not as loaded as the one you passed on.

no_mulligan

I have an Aultel 539B scanner ($90 amazon). I would plug it in and go for a test drive. Look at live data such as STFT and LTFT to get an idea on the O2 sensors. Looks at the both CAT temps. Look each cylinder for misfires. Just because there's no check engine light doesn't mean everything's great. It sometimes takes a certain level of repeating situations before a code is thrown. Pull all the covers off engine. Loosen the big band clamp on the engine filter housings. Pop them off. Pull the big rubber block off. Now, with a flash light look around. Is it all clean? Fuzzy dirt cake could be a blown head gasket. If it's oily around connectors, run away. Most of what i mentioned isn't cheap to repair.
I also have a paint thickness guage. Measure inside the door frame to get reference thickness then look for variations from that. Can't hide body work from me.
I have a simple tire thread thickness guage. Measure every valley for uniform wear across the tire.
Good luck.

no_mulligan

I have a carbon pile battery tester. I would run that to check the battery is in good shape otherwise that's another $250.

no_mulligan

A cheap brake fluid moisture meter is a good idea too as well as how dark is it. Vegetable oil color is good.
I'd take the front tire off and look at pads. Brake job around $600 parts only.
Look at the serpentine belt for cracks in the ribs. Doesn't cost a lot to replace but a little bit of a pain to do.

gNasty

Yeah I'm glad I did there was certainly something up with it. And the owner swore up and down his mechanic looked at everything the week prior but was not trying to let me get a PPI done. Aka he's avoiding it for a reason. Trying to purchase this CLS

WDDLJ9BB7DA064670
Aware this is not the right place but it's listed as a 550 but under the VIN it's actually CLS 500 any different or was the CLS 500 just the Europe version?!? What do y'all think about that one doesn't have all the bells and whistles but much nicer to me.