Anyone that says that the e300 sounds strange hasnt driven one. From inside the engine sounds perectly fine and goes about its business without calling any attention to itself. The car never feels underpowered. In fact the car is more than plenty fun to drive. 90% of prospective buyers will not care what is moving their car along smartly and almost silently. Though the car is slower to 60 than the 350 however the 1 /4 mile is essentially identical. Who cares about how many cylinders are under the hood when the performance is almost identical and the new engine gets 20% better fuel economy? Pretty silly and nonsensical argument to me.

 

Living in Florida I drive with the sunroof open and the windows down 9 months of the year - July through September being the exception. Because of the lack of power one must continually adjust the accelerator causing continuous gear and rpm changes. That was my experience during a multi-day test drive. The bottom line is the E300 is an under powered car that sounds like a mosquito buzzing about the ear sort of like that old Honda Civic in the next lane.

 

I agree with C4004matic. Some folks just count cylinders and have a biased against the E300. Bet those same people are still using blackberrys

Never heard a mosquito buzzing. What does that sound like....ok...you think a 4 cylinder E300.

 

Living in florida the only people that drive with their windows down are the owners of beaters with broken A/C's. In Fla 90% of the yime its too hot too noisy too dangerous or raining to drive with the windows down. In fact unless its a drop top I dont think Ive seen anyone driving with their windows down since the 80 when finally ac became standard in all cars.

 

You obviously don't live in Florida and only visit the crowded tourist traps. You are acclimated to the cold temperatures of the North. Here we turn on the heat when the temps are at the point where northerners turn on the A/C. I'll take a warm 80 degree winter day over a 70 degree summer day in Wisconsin. I've been in Appleton in July when people were complaining of the 72° heat.

 

Thanks for sticking up for the maligned E300. I was beginning to think I had made a mistake.

The E300 is an improvement over my 2010 and/or 2014 E350 (both great cars) in nearly every regard, including engine performance, but excluding engine/exhaust sound, which wasn't even a factor.

 

I can only hear the engine sound at full throttle. For regular acceleration and cruise, everything is basically quiet. I can't hear or feel the engine running at idle (I do have the Acoustic Package installed), unlike my 2013 E550 which I always felt some vibration (the engine mounts were checked and were fine). I am thoroughly enjoying this car and the technology coming from the W212. I don't understand all of the negative comments for this design. The engine has more than enough power for my driving style and routes (and I have had multiple W211, W212 E500/E550 vehicles to compare against over the years).

 

Im fine with the engine, except for the start/stop which is still pretty jarring, though that is expected even if you had a 6 cyl. You would need an 8 or 12 for it to be practically imperceptible. However, engine sound is not that pleasant. However, I dont feel vibration at all during idle, and I am fine with the power/acceleration

 

Select Sport or Sport+ for the engine and the sound becomes like a 6-cyl thanks to MB piping in simulated engine sounds.I usually turn off the Eco start function.

 

Not selling well.

 

I live in Newport Beach and feel as you do. We ordered a 2016 E350 for my wife, with the idea that we could hold onto it for a few years, so that any early kinks in the W213's could be dealt with before we get one. As far as I am concerned, "THE" biggest kink is the lack of a non-AMG six cylinder engine option. 500+ AMG monster cars everywhere, which offer performance which is virtually useless by law abiding drivers, but you and I can't have a nice E400, due to CAFE restrictions. Yeah, right! Yesterday, as I was walking through a parking lot, a new E300 idled by at 5mph and the engine sounded like some old rattle trap! No sir! No E400 Luxury model, we'll be shopping another brand.

Regarding Fletcher Jones, years ago, I made the mistake of giving one of their clowns my phone number. It was a nightmare, with never ending calls from them. Whenever I walk their lot, just to look at the cars, I always feel as though I need a shower and maybe a shot of penicillin afterwards. I hate FJ, will never buy there and highly recommend MB of Foothill Ranch.

 

I'm sure the new e-class drives well but man is that thing boring looking. And the new CLE is another eye snoozer. What is going on MB? You had 'forward design' in your back pocket with the last gen models, sexiest headlights, taillights and body panels in the business... but now? Front ends that all look like Sprinter van variants, lame and cheap looking headlight and tailights... and truly... the most boring 'ultra-conservative' soft body panels that are right out of Toyota circa 1990. Snooze. Ain't buying nothing from you until next gen.

 

I guess your views are similar as it relates to the S550 and the C300. The design theme is consistent with the new E. I think the new design is a big improvement over the E212 platform and the interior is innovative and outstanding.

 

" and the interior is innovative and outstanding" I could not agree more. The new interior is really lovely, and more's the shame that it's been paired with an engine that is just not up to par. I expect that MB will be highly motivated to offer the new inline 6 in the E-Class very quickly.

 

I would hope so. They lost me to an Audi s8 10 days ago after three e's over the last 16 years. Not happy with Mercedes at all. Regards. Ned.

 

I have not experienced the 2.0L I4 in the E300, but I have plenty of experience with that same engine in the W205 C300 and I do not like it one bit. It sounds bad and is very peaky. Much prefer the 302hp M276 V6 in the older "350" cars like mine.

I will reserve judgment on the rest of the E until I can experience it.. I sure hope it is better than the W205, though. The interior design in the 205 is nice, but upon close inspection there are quite a bit of materials that are, shall we say, suspect.

 

To each his own, but I'm not able to get my head around all the concern about engine or exhaust noise. The engine performance is certainly comparable to the previous model. Who knows why Mercedes chose to exclude the E400 in it's introduction of the new model. Probably concern that 4cyl wouldn't sell given American's love affair with cubic inches. The E300 is a luxury sedan (even in "Sports" trim), and it fulfills that mandate nearly perfectly. If you want a hotrod version wait for the E63, or go buy a S8. No problem.

Anyway, read here about Mercedes sales. They are doing just fine.

https://mbworld.org/articles/mercedes
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Mercedes is very fortunate to be one step ahead of the German competition in the model cycle or they would be getting hammered imo. One of the reasons one buys a Mercedes over a Honda Accord is for the extra luxury as well as the much better performance, both parameters. Only offering the 4 makes them fail in the second comparison. Of course the sales look good, it's a new model and auto and light truck sales are the highest on record, many people just don't care but then again, many do and they are losing some of those customers. In the scheme of life, it don't mean sh-t to a tree, life moves on and its Inauguration Day, time to celebrate Democracy! Regards. Ned.

 

When the C400 came out everyone was complaining that it wasn't enough of a "performance" model thus it was "transformed" the following year to the C450 AMG and now the C43. From that experience they learned their lesson and thus now they chose to forgo the "400" version of the E model.
The E43 not only gets all the AMG banners badge ****** want it also gets a very big boost in performance compared to the 300 model, not to mention, a nice boost in profit for MB given that its almost 20K extra when optioned similarly. I don't think MB gives an iota about "diluting" the AMG name given that AMG is probably a money pit anyway if they can use it to make good money on their regular menu. Its smart marketing. Furthermore, this also helps AMG's bottom line since they can increase the profit from their operations thus assuring they have a steady flow of cash for their truly unique products.

 

AMG = Add to Margin Greatly

My issue isn't with a 4 cylinder engine. It is with the lack of power especially at highway speeds. The additional 90 horsepower of the 3 liter engine is desperately needed.

I test drove a '17 BMW 540i yesterday. It's a great car but lacks the refined interior of the E300.

 

I have two Mercedes with turbo 4s. They have more than enough power for everyday driving. Americans have become spoiled with their expectations of huge engines. My wife has family in Ireland. The majority of cars sold there do not have the huge engines we have in the USA. I have had on numerous occasions driven BMWs as well as Mercedes with smaller engines in Europe and they are just fine. On reading these post. Someone went and bought an S8 over an E300. That is like comparing apples to oranges. An S8 is the similar to an S63 not an E300 or even E400 or E43. I think in the future we are going to continue see more smaller displacement turbo engine. Mercedes is already planning to use The new inline 6 in the S class as its main engine.

 

I drove the E 300 at well over legal speeds and the car accelerates more than adroitly to well over 100mph. If a comparison is needed, it is as fast as an accord V6, a car virtually everyone considers more than amply powered. Furthermore, the turbo 4 sounds more refined than a Honda 3.5 anywhere in its range (in part due to synthetic sound), I'd call that a pretty good performance from any four banger. The fact is the only way to tell the engine is a four at all is to count the spark plug wires! This engine is way more powerful, refined and better sounding than most v8s from the 70's!!! The whole rigmarole about the base engine being a 4 cylinder is dumb, every one uses a 4 as the base engine for their midsize sedans, in fact, for every German midsize sedan the four always outsells the 6 by a very large margin. If anything, Mercedes is very late to the 4 banger turbo midsize party though it came well dressed.

 

I suspect the gear change has less to do with power shortage than with maximizing the efficiency by using all of 9 gears the E300 has.

When use as daily driver in the typical urban settings, the E300 has no problem in strolling along, passing slower traffics in 70MPH to 80MPH range, becoming an extension of your thought and just squirting through traffic holes as you see them. My wife drives between 3 to 4 job sites a day, so fuel economy is an important factor to us. The base engine provides a perfect balance of adequate power, refinement, and economy in our case. The MB drivers I see on the road around here seem to prefer the right lanes rather than the left ones . So I suspect the 4 cylinder would be fine for these folks as well. In case if you crave for some excitement, there's always the 43s and 63s, primed and ready to serve. I think MB has always been sold as an executive sedan, aiming at providing comfortable but competent transportation for the well heeled rather than competing in the performance arena.
With that said, the E300 really sounds raucous at cold starts, specially if you stand near the back end of the car. My MB shop foreman acknowledged this and said the sound would improve as the engine gets warmed up. This is true to some degree. From inside of the car, this is a non issue. The NVH isolation, the sound system, and the toss-able nature of the car serve up a calm and confident ride while push everything else to the background. For the general population, these are the qualities we search for. For enthusiasts, you'll have to pay to play.
One area that the E300 can certainly be improved is the electronics. My car has been in the shop for 6 times in the past 6 months. Of the 4 E300 loaners provided to me, 2 had their Check Engine or other warnings lit up while I was driving them. One of the loaner also developed a rattle on the dash area accompanied by display glitches. The latest incident occured yesterday. While I enjoy the E300 very much, its lack of reliability in little things and the COMAND system begins to worry me.

 

Nobody is saying that the E300 shouldn't exist, it should, for those who are happy with it. For others, nothing short of an E400 will do. Is a simple, non-AMG, six cylinder powered W213 too much to ask for when spending $70K+ for a luxury sedan? I don't think so. Personally, I would just love an E550 Luxury sedan, but I know those days are probably gone forever.

 

Ouch! 6 times in six mths is very bad indeed!! If you're in the US I'd definitely consider a lemon procedure.
My C400 has had only 2 unintended trips to the dealer. I too have suffered multiple electronic glitches one of which was that the radio quit. The 2 unscheduled ones were for airmatic troubles (in one visit both airmatic and the radio were kaput). When airmatic has any "faults" it defaults to sport+ setting giving you a very brittle ride. Unfortunately, it doesn't give you any messages only "keister" warning.