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Looking at the E300 or maybe E43
Hello gang at mbworld. I haven't been on this site in more than 10 years I think... I was fairly active when I had my 2005 E55 which is still the pic in my profile. (Since then, I've had 2 M5's, Acura RL, Audi S5, etc, but have been driving a Jeep Rubicon for the last 5 years).
Amazing that it's still there and it's been so long... My wife has a 2018 SLC300. She LOVES it. It's a lot of fun for her and I enjoy it as well. /tangent For her A-Service, I drove a 2018, brand new, E300 as the loaner car, and really really really enjoyed it. I'm not sure it's because I've been driving a Jeep Wrangler for so long, but the luxury and ride really impressed me. The interior and comforts in particular blew me away. The accent lighting on the 2017+ is particularly intriguing to me. The ride, although a bit under powered, was very comfortable. My only beef is the power being a bit light... but as I'm aging, I care about that a lot less than I used to. The other issue I ran into was the NFC chip turning on Apple Pay when I used the charging pad, but I found I could turn that off in the COMAND system and it went away. (Is that true for the 2017's too?) I am planning on buying pre-owend. There are some good deals on 2017's it seems... low mileage, well equipped, decent amount of warranty left for low 40's. My Thoughts/Questions: 1). Is it worth waiting for the E400? (That means paying new pricing ... not sure it will be that much better) ... somewhat rhetorical as only I can answer whether I should pay for a new vs. pre-owned. 2). Can the 2017's turn off the NFC in the MB menu like the 2018? --- PS. I'm not open to turning off Apple Pay on my phone as a solution, etc. 3). Does the ambient lighting look as good with a beige (lighter colored) interior as it does black? (love the lighting on black, but usually prefer lighter interior colors) Has anyone used "Carvana"? :). I have this car burning a hole in brain... Ugh. Wish I didn't just to save the $$. |
After one year of ownership I absolutely LOVE my loaded E300. And I definitely would have bought a lightly used one if that was an option when I placed the order 18 months ago. And for power, my last car was a BMW 550i. I definitely do not miss the extra power. The E300 is plenty powerful for any normal driving needs and even a tad extra for those moment when you want to feel young again. :-)
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I second what Sunrose said. I have had mine for 18 months and I really enjoy it a lot. The quality of the interior, especially the wood and the ambient lighting makes it feel really special. I came from a 300c hemi into the E300, and I don't miss the extra power nearly as much as I thought. It is quick enough around town and only really runs out of steam if you are looking for a strong 50-70 sprint. ( I don't look for those as much as I used to... )
They just opened a Carvana here in Charlotte, I see a lot of the license plate frames around, so someone is definitely using it, but I don't know anyone who has personally used it. |
Can only comment on 3) ambient lighting: I have a 2018 E400S with Macchiato Beige/Black leather, and a Macchiato Beige head liner, and the ambient lighting is amazing. Coming from a 5-series I thought it was a bit over the top at 1st, and dialed it down to BMW orange, but pretty soon I was experimenting with the different themes. There's a reason MB uses deep blue as their default ambient light: its unique and really eye catching, without being distracting.
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...I have a beige interior too. Lighting looks awesome!
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Within the last week, we bought a new E300 and a new E400. The E300 is a great car and the engine quiet and responsive enough for my partner. I just wanted the extra oomph of the E400, but I'm sure I could have easily lived with the E300.
I didn't know you could turn NFC off in the car settings, so I'm going to have to check that out as NFC does come up every time we place our iPhones in the charging cradle. It doesn't seem to affect Apple Play though. Ambient lighting looks great, no matter what color interior you get. I don't know how I've lived this long without such great ambient lighting in my car. It just puts a smile on my face and makes me want to drive at night much more! I can't offer any comment about Carvana, sorry. |
NFC can be turned off in the system menu. I leave it turned on because one gets the benefit of the vehicle's cellular antenna via NFC.
One E300 issue I have is with the very noisy, underpowered engine. It lacks the oomph to quickly merge into traffic. The Tampa Bay area has very short merge lanes going into tightly spaced high speed (65+ mph) traffic. The E300 is 30% slower than the E400 (6.5 vs 5.0 seconds). I would have selected the E400 if it was available when I ordered my car in early 2017. |
Originally Posted by ua549
(Post 7521865)
NFC can be turned off in the system menu. I leave it turned on because one gets the benefit of the vehicle's cellular antenna via NFC.
One E300 issue I have is with the very noisy, underpowered engine. It lacks the oomph to quickly merge into traffic. The Tampa Bay area has very short merge lanes going into tightly spaced high speed (65+ mph) traffic. The E300 is 30% slower than the E400 (6.5 vs 5.0 seconds). I would have selected the E400 if it was available when I ordered my car in early 2017. |
Great input! thank you all for responding.
NFC can be turned off for sure in 2018's and newer. I haven't found whether it's true in a 2017 and am hoping someone can check... It's located here: NFC Area in MB The solution is to go into your settings in Comand and turn off the NFC feature. Navigate to: 1. System 2. Connectivity 3. Uncheck "NFC Surface Area Active" As for Carvana, a buddy of mine just used them for his daughter's car (she turned 16). He swears by it now. He spent less than 15 minutes at a dealership. He did it all online, and then when you go to the store, you just wait for it to come out of the "vending machine". They give you some big token to put in and it goes and gets it. Kinda silly, but fun for sure. He did all the paperwork and stuff online and didn't hardly have to do anything there. There's also a 7 day guarantee for full refund, but I don't know the details on that either. I'm looking to get an E300 (or maybe E400) White/Beige. We'll see! I'll definitely keep you posted! |
Originally Posted by Scott in H-town
(Post 7521891)
Great input! thank you all for responding.
NFC can be turned off for sure in 2018's and newer. I haven't found whether it's true in a 2017 and am hoping someone can check... It's located here: NFC Area in MB The solution is to go into your settings in Comand and turn off the NFC feature. Navigate to: 1. System 2. Connectivity 3. Uncheck "NFC Surface Area Active" As for Carvana, a buddy of mine just used them for his daughter's car (she turned 16). He swears by it now. He spent less than 15 minutes at a dealership. He did it all online, and then when you go to the store, you just wait for it to come out of the "vending machine". They give you some big token to put in and it goes and gets it. Kinda silly, but fun for sure. He did all the paperwork and stuff online and didn't hardly have to do anything there. There's also a 7 day guarantee for full refund, but I don't know the details on that either. I'm looking to get an E300 (or maybe E400) White/Beige. We'll see! I'll definitely keep you posted! |
Originally Posted by rbrylaw
(Post 7521871)
Can you point to anything where it says the car benefits off the vehicle's cellular antenna via NFC? I don't see how that works at all. NFC is Near Field Communications. The cars cellular antenna should not be affected in the least by the NFC chip in the car.
Basically the phone uses NFC to connect to the car's cellular antenna. It is called capacitive aerial coupling. |
Originally Posted by ua549
(Post 7522101)
I posted it yesterday in the thread where you asked how to turn off NFC. I'm sure that you can find it.
Basically the phone uses NFC to connect to the car's cellular antenna. It is called capacitive aerial coupling. |
Originally Posted by rbrylaw
(Post 7522107)
I found it, thanks. The NFC chip does nothing to help cellular communications in the E Class in the US. For the US, NFC was not enabled to do what it does in Europe, including letting you use your phone as the Mercedes Key. I simply don't see any value in having NFC on in the car.
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I just test drove a 2017 and the option to disable NFC is not on the menu like it is on the 2018+.
The salesmen said the techs no how to do it, but he was also probably just trying to sell me the car. |
Originally Posted by Scott in H-town
(Post 7522183)
I just test drove a 2017 and the option to disable NFC is not on the menu like it is on the 2018+.
The salesmen said the techs no how to do it, but he was also probably just trying to sell me the car. |
Originally Posted by rbrylaw
(Post 7522186)
I wouldn't let that one feature stop me from buying the car if it had most of what you want and is in really good condition. The worst you'll have is an iPhone (if you're an iPhone user) show the Apple Pay screen when you put the phone in the charging cradle. The phone screen goes dark within 30 seconds, and you drive around and do as you want regardless.
The car I found is Blue/Beige with 9k miles, panoramic roof, P1, AMG (Sport Body Styling, Sport Interior, Sport Interior (P15), Perforated Front Brake Discs & Fr Brake Calipers), Burmester Surround, NATURAL GRAIN BLACK ASH WOOD TRIM, etc. MSRP was $64 and they're asking $48 for CPO. (Nov 2017 - Nov 2022 CPO coverage). I'm very tempted... Trying to go slowly with the process though. |
Originally Posted by Scott in H-town
(Post 7522224)
Agreed. It's not a make or break issue.
The car I found is Blue/Beige with 9k miles, panoramic roof, P1, AMG (Sport Body Styling, Sport Interior, Sport Interior (P15), Perforated Front Brake Discs & Fr Brake Calipers), Burmester Surround, NATURAL GRAIN BLACK ASH WOOD TRIM, etc. MSRP was $64 and they're asking $48 for CPO. (Nov 2017 - Nov 2022 CPO coverage). I'm very tempted... Trying to go slowly with the process though. |
Originally Posted by rbrylaw
(Post 7522228)
Sounds like a great car! Let us know what you wind up doing. And of course pictures are required if acquired!
When/if I get it, I'll post a lot of pics. |
I really liked the e300. Smooth good handling and good power. I recommend however you hold out for one with the dual screen option. The cars control systems were designed with the big screen in mind and are a notiably clunkier without it. Plus, it looks much better. In the cars without it the mixture of center screen plus gauges looks pretty awkward.
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Originally Posted by c4004matic
(Post 7522245)
I really liked the e300. Smooth good handling and good power. I recommend however you hold out for one with the dual screen option. The cars control systems were designed with the big screen in mind and are a notiably clunkier without it. Plus, it looks much better. In the cars without it the mixture of center screen plus gauges looks pretty awkward.
Can you honestly tell me you think this is awkward looking? The dials take the exact same amount of space as the all digital cluster and are actually framed really nicely, giving some added visual interest to an otherwise flat panel. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...0d2a388de4.jpg |
Holy cow... that pic exemplifies why I want this car. Let's face it. That's the part of the car we see the most! No other interior approaches it IMO.
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Originally Posted by Scott in H-town
(Post 7522354)
Holy cow... that pic exemplifies why I want this car. Let's face it. That's the part of the car we see the most! No other interior approaches it IMO.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...8eadc0bf42.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...c0d1b7ac87.jpg |
Looks awkward to me. The center stack is sleek and modern whereas the gauge stack looks old and dated. It's a lot like an old BMW gauge cluster I had back in the 90's.
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Originally Posted by ua549
(Post 7522398)
Looks awkward to me. The center stack is sleek and modern whereas the gauge stack looks old and dated. It's a lot like an old BMW gauge cluster I had back in the 90's.
Here's the BMW 5401, the direct competitor to the E Class and guess what? It still has analog gauges. There is nothing wrong with analog gauges. I'm happy for you that you got the all digital cluster, but please don't denigrate other's who didn't or don't. https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...84977e5150.jpg |
Originally Posted by rbrylaw
Can you honestly tell me you think this is awkward looking?
You asked for opinions, so that's what you got. Analog gauges look awkward in a digital dash. The BMW 540i interior with analog gauges and a display tacked on the dashboard as an afterthought is why I did not buy one. |
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