Rod's New Ride
 

At long last the wait is over! To say I'm thrilled is an understatement. Got to the dealership at about 3 this afternoon for a scheduled delivery at 3:30. The paperwork was ready the car was ready and everything went so smoothly. The Concierge lady who helped get everything set up was simply amazing. Even though I know how to use most settings, she taught me things I didn't know, she input my radio stations, she got me all connected with the new Mercedes Me Connect, which is totally different than Mercedes Me and provides a lot more information, including gas level, etc. Also of interest is that Mercedes is now partnered with AT&T for Internet service in the 2019 cars. Since I am already an AT&T customer, my car internet service will be billed to my cell phone account and not be tied to Mercedes at all. I imagine this will be a good thing as the Mercedes internet services were spotty at best. Unlimited data is $20/month.

I haven't had much time behind the wheel, but what time I have had was terrific. I truly didn't think I would be able to discern any difference between the E400 and E450, but there is a real difference. Acceleration is stronger and the car just feels more potent. For whatever reason, maybe just because the odometer came with just 9 miles, it feels more solid. I love the new steering wheel. You can do virtually everything you want including engaging Distronic cruise control from the buttons on the wheel. The cruise control stalk is now gone, YAY! You just have the turn signal/wiper stalk and the electric stalk for adjusting the height and depth of the steering wheel on the left.

I'm sure many will remember me saying I didn't think there's anything wrong with the analog instruments and I still believe that, BUT man oh man, the digital instrument cluster takes things to a new level. I'm currently using the Progressing display, which let's me put navigation on the right and the odometer on the left. So so so COOL!

Thanks for all the friendships this forum has helped form over the last several months. For those still waiting for your new cars, the wait will SO be worth it!

And now the requisite pictures taken with my iPhone. Oh and on that. I'm beyond happy to say the charging mat has been made bigger. My iPhone X barely fit the E400 or E300. My iPhone Xs Max WITH a case sits completely flat on the charging mat! Really Nice!

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CONGRATULATIONS! That is one super nice looking car. Did you have Ceramic Pro coating on the car? I can hardly wait till it's my turn to share...should be this week! I'm so glad you found improvements over the previous years car. HAPPY DRIVING! :zoom:

Thanks Rusty. Yes, they ceramic coated the car (I didn't have to pay for it though) inside and out. Also had the windows tinted with a high quality Nano Ceramic film. It's not really possible to tell as I didn't want the windows to look tinted (darker color), so the tint is clear, but provides 99% reduction of UV rays and significant heat reduction too. This coming Saturday, I have my personal detailer coming over to put a pure coat of Collinite Carnauba wax on the car and wheels. I'm so looking forward to your reveal with pictures and impressions!!

Great, looks really nice. I like that wood combo with the nut brown, goes well. The wood I'm getting may be a little too dark, be interesting to see how it looks in person, my car came into the dealer today, should be getting it at 4 tomorrow.

That's great news! Looking forward to your pics too!!

I am truly loving the Natural Brown Ash Wood with the Nut Brown Leather. It's a really nice change after having Natural Black Ash for the last 4 years.

Wow, that's exciting! It looks great! Now, I can't wait for mine I should be 4-8 weeks away now. Unless I upgrade to the E450 (I am going to take the 300 for a drive again on Saturday to make sure it meets my needs)

Thanks! When you take the car this weekend, keep for a few hours. Put it in the types of driving situations you'll experience in real life. For many the E300 is more than enough. But if you don't feel it meets your needs, don't talk yourself into getting it.

Thanks very much!!

Awesome! Love that color combo and the Blue looks really nice.

But didn't you order the metallic pea green queen size family truckster? You think you hate it now, but wait until you drive it!

Who you calling a queen?? LOL Don't really know what a pea green queen size family truckster is??!!

It's the car Chevy Chase bought in Vacation movie.
I'll delete this post tomorrow so I don't mess up your thread.

Congrats ! The car looks stunning in this color combination too!

Crossing my fingers that it doesn't rain, because I refuse to drive a brand new car home in it (just me). Hoping it also will be somewhat warm, so I can drive it with top down!! Make use of the heated Airscarf...lol. If I have to wait a few days, so be it.

My dealership offers clear bra and some other paint protective, so I'll have to get an independent for the ceramic coat. Sounds like you got a great deal. I tried to get my dealership to give me credit on the run flats and replace them with Turanza Serenity Plus for the difference, but no go. I hate rf tires, but I'll see how these work out before I ditch them.

Correcct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the point of Ceramic coating was to avoid having to wax the car?

Again, love the pictures...tally ho!

Beautiful car -- I'm glad it finally arrived safe and sound. Can't wait to hear more reviews from your experience as you are one of the few to have had a 300, a 400 and a 450.

No, DON'T remove this post. I love the humor!!! Thanks!! And now with the clip, I understand what you were referring to!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!
Enjoy your new car in good health.

For some reason I mis-remembered that you ordered a coupe, but obviously not.
Very beautiful car!

Last Friday I went to my dealership to drop off some paperwork before taking delivery of my C300 on Monday...I have a super nice sales advisor, and we were talking about music and that led to my saying that although I optioned my C300 with EVERYTHING that I truly want, and nothing that I don't want, the next POSSIBLE frontier would be an E Class because I was intrigued at the high-end Burmester system which at that moment I thought was 'just' $3400. He is not even close to being a pushy sales person, and asked me if I've ever heard it, which I have not. So he and I were also talking about a song list for a first roadtrip in my new car and he had some amazing suggestions, some of which I have never heard....so we went to an E300 in the showroom to A) Listen to that system and B) Preview some of his song suggestions. So of course it took me all of 30 seconds in the car to see how wrong I was on the price of that option.... $5400, not $3400....but o la la, it sounded amazing. And the E Class is just a classy car, too. So, hmmmm.......

And again, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

I hope it doesn't rain. You're really not going to hate the RFT's. Honest. My new car came with Pirelli's which I'm happy about. I've always like Pirelli tires.

I believe the ceramic coat is most for putting a rock hard, harder to scratch and get surface scratches on your car. But I've always been advised it's a good thing to put a good of coat on the ceramic finish and so that's what we've always done and it's worked out really well for us.

Thanks and yes, that high end Burmester system is AWESOME. I still couldn't justify $5400 as the standard Burmester is pretty darn good all on its own, but yes, the super duper one is amazing!

I find your use of the word ricer very un-refreshing. But carry on. You look old in the reflection so maybe you just can't help it?

It was a reference to another thread where one poster suggested these wheels made the car look like a Ricer Car. I mean no disrespect as this was said in jest. And yes, I'm not a spring chicken, but thanks for pointing out that I'm old. How kind of you :mad:

That said, since I seem to have offended you with what was intended to be a humorous reference, I tried to change the title of the thread, but it evidently won't let me.

Don't mind Hype, he's an interesting character. Congratulations on your new car! It looks fantastic, I love Lunar Blue, same color as my wife's SLK. Enjoy it.

Thanks. I would never intentionally offend anyone. I have asked the forum mod to change the title of the thread so I don't "offend" anyone else!

I sincerely meant no disrespect.......I know you're a polite forum user and it threw me when I saw the racial bit about rice......I'm not Asian but it still just sux in todays day and age......and I merely mentioned your age because I thought
an older man would know better..........if we can just stop the racial divide in this country we'd ALL be a lot better off. Sorry to be a SJW:nix:

Dude, that looks freak'n awesome! I can see why you were so excited now. I really like the color combo. I agree that the natural brown ash wood combo with the nut brown looks really nice.

I love the digital instrument cluster... now all of the fun starts trying to figure out exactly how you like everything configured. Yeah, that's cool that they eliminated the cruise control lever, there was way too much going on on that side of the wheel. That's definitely nice to hear that they made improvements between the model years, I'm sure that you helped these guys that have been waiting for their 2019's (we have all played that waiting game and every little bit helps get you through it!)

Thanks for the pics, keep us posted with your thoughts on the tech... and most importantly - drive and enjoy in good health! :zoom: