As I mentioned in an earlier post the local MB dealer misrepresented live traffic availability (in Canada) on my 2018 E400. They made if very easy for me to swap it for a 2019 E450 which has the Mercedes Me goodies including live traffic. I picked the car up a couple of weeks ago and have done about 750 kms on it.

Obviously the two cars are almost identical. I have the some colour (Diamond White metallic) but have the dark ash glossy wood trim on this one which I prefer to the open pore trim on the 2018.

I anticipated that I would feel some gain in "grunt" with the new tuned engine but honestly I don't feel any difference at all. Occasionally I think the pick up from say 90 kms to 110 kms on the highway is a bit snappier but if it is it's marginal at best. It also could be my imagination.

I do like the new steering wheel controls which make use the cruise/adaptive feature easier. I prefer the old steering wheel though which had "honeycomb" inserts above the cross column. The new one is smooth all the way around.

The Mercedes Me stuff is useful and I am grateful to have Live Traffic again.

One negative is that the new car seems to be totally useless at perpendicular parking itself. I drove around a mall parking lot with the search feature on and it never found a suitable parking spot despite driving by several opens spots between two parked vehicles on both sides of the car. My old car seemed to find these spots better although it certainly wasn't perfect. I need to do more testing to see what's going on.

 

I'm glad you're enjoying the 2019! I'll be able to compare the E400 and E450 side by side when I get my E450 either tomorrow or Tuesday, and we already have an E400. I honestly wouldn't expect the bump up of 32 HP to make much difference. On the self-parking feature. I haven't gotten it to work myself, but then I prefer to park my car myself anyway, so it's not a big deal to me. I try not to park between two parked cars anyway.

I hope you continue liking the new ride!

 

Yeah, I always try to part at least 3-4 cars away from the nearest car, but somehow half the time someone will park next to me for no particular reason. The extra walk is good exercise...

 

 

One worry I have now after reading that worst car post is about the GPS based Distronic. I'm hoping that as the poster said in that post that it does not do crazy things on the highway like try to turn when going straight and that sort of thing. My 2018 E63 AMG seems fairly accurate in that way, I recently drove the car back to Florida for the winter from Rhode Island and the only really fault I could find when on adaptive cruise is that sometimes the radars spots an exit off the highway and makes a bee line for it and you have to intervene, other than that it is most helpful. I was hoping the Distronic would be even more improved with the 2019 models as this technology seems to still be progressing. I hope the guy in the other post is wrong, I really was counting on the Distronic being even better. I'm also hoping maybe the sound system is better than in my AMG, although I suspect it's probably the same, It seems to look the same. I'm just not real thrilled with the sound quality in my 2018 E63 AMG, I mean it's not horrible bad or anything but the system in my 2015 S550 which is a HK sounds a lot better and much more musical and less electronic. I'll be doing a direct comparison of both cars fairly soon as I will have both wagons in my garage. Obviously I know the AMG will be a lot faster but perhaps the E450 wagon will be a better daily driver and I'm sure it will ride better over bumps, the AMG is a very taunt suspension as that car is mainly all about performance. I also know the gas mileage will be substantially better with the E450 Wagon, my AMG on the trip to Florida was averaging around 23 mpg on the highway, that was around 70 mph. I suspect under the same conditions the E450 wagon would be closer to 30 mpg. The range on the E450 should be great, meaning on a drive from up north to Florida I could probably do in only a couple of fuel stops. The AMG was 3. Definately going to miss my 2015 mercedes S550, it is probably about the smoothest most comfortable car ever built. I just really need a wagon for the travels I do.

 

I'm getting my first E450 CAB this week. About the Distronic. Is this some sort of a radar adjustment that can be done at the dealer? Those that have it, how well does it do in parked garages or a parallel parking situation? It would **** me off to have paid for an option that doesn't work.

 

I have had Distronic in a number of MB's and the system has worked flawlessly. My incoming CLS 450 will have it also.

 

 

I'm sorry...I misspoke...I meant the parking assist package; not distronic.

 

Unless one is severely parking challenged, the parking assist package is not worth the price. That said, I have it on my E300. I use the 360° camera a lot, but I don't let the car park itself.

 

No worries…. Never used the system…other than the surround camera which in my opinion is a great benefit….

 

The parking assist gives you audible warnings when you are parking. If you do not have parking assist you will not have an audible warnings. I do not need (or want) my car to park itself. But I definitely want the audible alarms. My prior BMM's had it, it is standard on my wife's Ford Edge Sport, it is not on my present 2016 E350 and I really miss it, and I wanted it (audible alarms) on my new E450: Hence I ordered the parking assist package.

 

 

I'm so looking forward to the surround view camera system on my [hopefully showing up at the dealership today] E450!! I like the audible warning beeps one gets parking with the car itself, but being able to see in front will be a bumper saver for sure!

 

One feature I really like about the overhead 360° view is the black band around the car. It is approximately 2½ (¾ meter) wide which is perfect for parking close to an obstacle such as a curb.

 

I agree. The most important function is the audible alarms ( had this on my Cadillac). What I'm really looking forward to is the 360 degree camera...always hard to gauge how far forward to park. Never had this on a car before. The parking function (parallel) would be helpful for my wife, who is dreadful at that.

 

Due to the places I park the audible alarms rarely go off. They won't trigger if there isn't a solid obstacle within a foot or two. A curb won't do it.