78degrees

Just buy a E63 S, it has the widescreen cockpit as standard equipment..

BeachBunny

HUD is indeed part of P3 for 2018. Interestingly, HUD was the item in short supply last year and the Q3 package for MY17 was P3 minus HUD. I have a call into my sales guy and I'll update when I get more info on shipping/etc.

I'm not sure how the assembly lines actually work when it comes to different options & such, especially when there are different drive-trains involved, especially petrol vs. diesel.

W213Sal

Not only different drive trains but also yours will have thee steering on the wrong side and mine will have it on the right side . There was a BBC show last year or the year before called "Building Cars Live" it was a 2-3 hour live show where they took you through the whole build of a Mini in BMW's Oxford Plant. It was amazing, you should try and catch the show somewhere.

W213Sal

Hi Guys,

my car just came into port (a month early), dealer says everything is on it, except it has the wrong suspension (sport rather than luxury) which I don't particularly care about so not worth fighting over, lowers the car by 1" (15mm). I've been told everything else is on it, this includes HUD and Dual screens. Now I haven't seen pictures, but looks like you american guys should have no P3 armageddon, and you can order as many P3 W213's as you like and they should come with dual screens (if we're to take my dealer at his word)

robert c

Interesting events here with mine with P02. Yesterday I recieved a call with another (5th) revised date December 9th. Today I get a call that the car is built and does have P02 not the Q2 screen delete. What had always interested me was after the second delay a VIN number came up and that was in mid October I believe. Why a VIN number issued and car not built? I believe mine was built after the second revised delay and stored waiting for a part that could be "plugged" in such as a dash screen. Any thoughts? I hope they didn't switch it to a sport as that was too truck like driving. I have owned F350's and 3500 HD's Ford and GMC diesel trucks so know what they feel like!.

78degrees

Have you tried to check out the VIN-number in EPC? I'm pretty sure that VIN went to another customer.. If you post the VIN here I can check the production date and delivery date..

BeachBunny

Follow-up to this (and the private message I sent)... Had a nice friendly chat with the dealership I'm buying my E300 from. The saleguy AND sales manager both said "No F---ING way" is this an MBUSA fault. My sales guy has been selling MB for 15 years and he said he's never seen it happen. Not sure of the manager's experience, but he also agreed that it's not possible. Whatever the dealer specified in NetStar is what gets built. NetStar is directly tied into the manufacturing / production systems, including inventory (parts) management.

@W213Sal: Thanks for the heads up on the BBC programme! Unfortunately I can only find the second half, but still a very good show.

prowlernfo

Well, I received an order confirmation 10 days ago for a P3 E400 for ED in early March. The dealer just called today and advised me I could not get that car with the P3 due to a problem the dual screens, there are no more available build slots for that configuration and would have to wait until May. But, does not the order number reflect the fact a car has been ordered and confirmed for the requested configuration? Apparently not.

W213Sal

My car has arrived (taking my dealer's word for it cause I won't see it until next month) with dual screens last week. Something fishy must be going on. Your order doesn't go through until the dealer puts the order into NetStar, this happened to me. One dealer took my deposit and told me yeah everything fine no problem, next week he says no brown nappa leather, no HUD, no Widescreen. I told him to F off and give me my money back, re-placed the order with another dealer and he was able to get the order in no problem and the car is here (5-6 weeks from order placement, I'm in Ireland though). My car isn;t a P03 (we don't have same packages as USA) but I specifically ordered HUD and Dual screen and my dealer says the car is here and it has those. I'm supposed to get pictures soon. I'll keep you guys updated.

and @BeachBunny I think that happened to me too, after I saw it on TV I wanted to show it to my dad and I couldn't find the first part, I haven't tried looking again in a while though some streaming site somewhere has to have it.

BeachBunny

CALL A DIFFERENT DEALER. This dealer just is dragging you along. Once something is ordered in NetStar, it's as good as made and will be made by the time promised. The only time this doesn't happen is if there's a major screwup (ie: recall / lack of government certification). Even then, quite often they'll make the cars anyway, put them aside and repair them. Many times they'll even ship the cars to their destination countries and the VPCs at the destination perform the required repairs. MB isn't going to shut down a production line.

Also, different dealers have different availabilities in terms of slots & options. Initially we hit this brick wall with my current dealer and for about an hour it looked rather grim. Many phone calls were made by the dealership and ultimately a production slot for my P03 E300 was made and the dealer is deferring delivery on 2x S-Class cars until later in 2018.

elp_jc

The E43 too. And now would like to ask the gang a question: Had to abort the C63s due to the hard suspension and cabin noise for my wife, so now I'm officially looking into the Es. Drove an E400 coupe, but wasn't impressed with the lowered suspension ride (non-airbag), and wind noise due to pilarless windows, so will buy a sedan, and equip it with all the goodies for my daughters (3rd zone climate control, heated rear seats, side and rear sunscreens, nappa, etc). I also want AWD now, so I can avoid having to buy another car with AWD, so I think an E43 with the standard (sport) air suspension, standard 19" wheels (with all-season tires, correct? And are tires staggered on those?), and the acoustic option should ride better and be quieter and more comfortable in the back than an E400 coupe with spring (lowered) suspension, correct? That way it'd be much easier to spec one, since it already comes with many things I'd order, or don't mind having: digital cluster, AWD, air suspension (although it's 'sport'), 19" wheels, premium package 1, and a few extra ponies. Otherwise would have to buy an E400 with all those options. I want some sportiness to it, and as long as the car rides better and it's quieter than a C63, my wife would be fine. And unfortunately, with the options I want, would have to order the car for sure, hence me looking at this thread. Thanks gang.

e400c

For what it's worth, I now have a NetStar order slip from the dealer for a E400C with P02 (dual screens), with production date set for the third week of March 2018. Not sure when that means the car will actually be built or arrive in the US, given some of the very long waits and delays reported on this thread, but I will cautiously call it progress compared to the "we cannot place your order because P02 is not available" I originally got from another dealer that motivated me to start this thread, which has been extremely illuminating!

BeachBunny

@elp jc: I'd caution you against getting the 3rd zone climate control. Why? A couple of Mercedes mechanics I spoke with advised me AGAINST getting it for myself. I concur, as the loaner 2011 S550 I'm driving until my E300 arrives is having issues with its stepper motors, as does my 2015 E350. (After 10+ months in the shop, my E350 STILL has HVAC stepper motor problems.) All of the E-class cars come with air vents in the rear of the center console. The 3rd zone does add vents in the B-pillars, BUT every vent gets controlled by its own stepper motor, yet another thing which will eventually act up. It also gives you the REST feature (residual heat), but with remote start this becomes another unnecessary complication.

@e400c: Production date means what it says -- That's when the factory will be making it. No questions about that. Those dates are based on supply chain, parts allocation, and inventory control. As in, everything needed to build your car WILL be at the factory and ready to go by that date. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. I'm not sure where you are located, but if you're near the East Coast, expect it to be at the dealership roughly 2 weeks after the production date.

e400c

Not sure how much of this this applies to the E43, but I spent quite some time trying to understand this for the E400 Coupe at the dealer, and this is what I found out about the options:
- RTK refers to 19-inch AMG wheels with R02 all-season tires, which are non-staggered (245/40R19, I believe)
- RTD refers to 19-inch AMG wheel with R01 high-performance tire, which are staggered, with 245/40R19 fronts, and 275/35R19 rears.

Actually, a quick google search for "2018 E-class dealer order guide" should give you a link to the pdf with the full list of options. The full set of wheels and tires for the E43 and E63 is found on page 56. Only the 19 inch option (RTE, same as the RTD above, but with black accents) comes with all-season R02 tires, staggered with the sizes I mentioned above (which is indeed different from the non-staggered RTK option in the Coupe). Everything else is 20-inch wheels with high-performance staggered R01 tires.

e400c

Good news today! The E400 Coupe has been built to my specs and is awaiting shipping from Germany. So far it has all been on schedule according to the NetStar listing from November. Now need to get the car's VIN to be able to track it on the ship.
Besides the shipping tracking at https://www.2wglobal.com/webapps?fra...uickSearchPage

are there other websites people use while waiting for the car to arrive? I found some russian website where the VIN can tell you the options in the car, but I'm not sure how reliable it is (or safe?). There is also Mercedes EPC, but a subscription costs $75, is it worth it?
In any case, it's getting closer!

Wassaby

You don't need to track your car by VIN number. Just ask your sales person the name of the ship and you can track it on many websites available.

This is an example from NETSTAR:

e400c

Yes, the sales person said he will let me know the shipping info as soon as the car reaches the port in Germany. I did get the VIN # WDD1J6FB4JF057836, but the datamb.com site has not been updated with it yet.

Skyblazer

Same delayed delivery issue due to parts shortage.

Ordered a USA 2018 E400 wagon on July 26, 2017 and the car arrived 8 months to the day on March 26, 2018.

It had to do with ordering P03 and/or dual 12.3 instrument cluster.

Dealer said there was an unforeseen interest in these items and vendor couldn't provide.

Steven B

e400c

Well, the beast has finally arrived, the happy end to a saga that started in November 2017, and that would have ended very quickly at a recalcitrant dealer if it was not for this forum.
The car was built exactly to my requested specifications, meaning this is possibly the first (and maybe only) Diamond Silver 2018 E400 in the US, as that color had late availability.
So far I love the elegant design and the color (been wanting a car with no B-pillars since I was a kid!), the impressive low-end torque of the engine and confident ride, the lovely interior, and the glorious Burmester 3D surround sound system. Only downsides are the non-adjustable dampers, as discussed in other threads, and the run-flat tires may be harsher than regular tires, but until I replace them with Michelin Pilot Sport A/S 3+, I won't be able to tell for sure.

I attach a few pictures, better ones may come if the weather and time allow.
Thank you again to all who encouraged me not to give up on getting the car I wanted. It was a long wait, but ultimately it was definitely worth it!

teksurv

Beautiful!. Love the Designo interior and #d high end system.

TUSK

gorgeous car. let us know if the michelins help on 19" rims.

CarFan1

grossmsj

It's interesting how they implemented the 3D-High End Burmester in the coupe. It looks like you have your tweeter in the door panel next to the 4-inch midrange. The Sedan has the 'spin-out' ring radiator (tweeter) next to the window A-pillar.
I wonder if this is due to differences in A-pillar design allowing the lack of a B-pillar in that car?

e400c

Yeah, the tweeters are mounted in the doors in the coupe and do not rotate out (one less party trick, but the sound is still very good). Interestingly, the side mirrors are also mounted on the door instead of on that A-pillar triangle like the sedan. The coupe's windshield has a smaller angle with the horizontal and the door shapes are different without the frame around the window glass. Perhaps that eliminates too much space and structural integrity to mount things next to the A-pillar, but your theory that it's due to the A-pillar reinforcement to compensate for the lack of B-pillars holds just as much water.