After putting on about 1300 miles on my E450 CAB (don't drive in winter unless it's completely snow free and dry), I'm really happy with all the options I got. Don't have the HUD, because it would have taken too long to get my car.

Only option I didn't get that I regret a little was the massage. Heard it really isn't that effective for the money....still....

Any options you wouldn't have bothered with, or wish you would have gotten?

 

Probably the tire pressure monitoring option (different from tire pressure warning). I have it on the C class and I use it more often than expected.

 

Air body control - it's not worth the money, and makes no difference at all

they wireless phone charger would have been nice and maybe the "hands free trunk opening"

what i love the most on my car is the adaptive cruise control - this, in combination with the "auto steering", makes it so effortless to drive

 

 

 

Well, first of all.... you know us guys and our measurements :-)

I've never measured it but I'll bet it's at least 3-4 inches from the lowered position in E, S, S+ to the manually raised upper position. I'll try to measure it today and see what I find. -- the car that is :-)

 

Ok... embarrassment time..... Again, typical guy.... not even close on the actual vs. perceived measurement. Measured front and back wheels from the bottom of the fender to the top of the circular trim on the AMG wheels.....

Lowered position.... 4.5"
Comfort position.... 4.75"
Manually raised position..... 5.5"

So, there is only a 1.0" difference between the lower-most position and the upper-most, manually raised, position. It sure seemed like a lot more!

 

1" hmmmmmm
so how much does that option cost per 1/4"

 

For me it was worth it..... I've saved my front bumper from getting scraped several times. And, I personally, could definitely feel a difference in comfort mode between the spring and the ABC version of the same car (albeit a 2018 version when I test drove them). The ABC felt more "feathery". I like that. Your mileage may vary.

 

I'm in the mode of enjoying learning stuff in the car. I'm a bit split minded when I think of cars. Part of me enjoys driving them, and part of me enjoys the comfort and tech and ease. Sometimes the tech/design does make it easier, othertimes not. I loved my last car for it's simplicity, knobs, smallness, "driver's car"ness etc. But it also lacked some basic tech things like homelink for my garage door. And a comfortable pothole laden commute ride.

This E450 I've decided to embrace the luxury side. And although it has been frustrating at times with the tech, I need to learn more of it to develop my quickest workflow. This week I'm enjoying the voice tech. I hadn't explored it much because in past cars it was slow and limited and never became a habit. But I'm finding it more rewarding in this car.

So

Features (maybe some are standard) that I LOVE & am glad I got.
(note I have only owned the car in winter so far.)
450- engine and trans are wonderful, but I could see less power might frustrate some in such a big car. The 450 moves with ease and poise.
Rapid heating seats
Heated steering wheel
Passenger seat controls on drivers side.
Center 12.1 screen.
Kick actuated rear gate (estate/wagon) - surprised that I am ALWAYS carrying two grocery bags!
The Designo interior, with the dash in leather and ceiling and pillars in alcantara, open grain wood center- it's simply stunning all over. So many complements when people get in. Makes me feel spoiled and like there were zero compromises.
Acoustic glass- pretty sure it helps, but unclear how much. But it's also one of those things where it's so quite now, that my ears will seek other quieter rattles now. Can't comment on the heat reflectivity yet. I did find the pencil my kid left in the rear passenger door though- so it's all okay now! Everybody can stay calm.

Features I don't need/would not bother ordering:
HUD- would rather not use it, I find it distracting more than helpful.
Distronic- love the safety features, but too much of a control freak to let the car drive.
Lane keep- I guess I don't signal as much as I should! The judder feedback interrupts my "spirited" driving style.
Run Flat Tires- I know they are standard, but were my least liked aspect of the car. (plenty of other threads for this.)
19 inch wheels- happier with my 18 inch snows I have on now. Will reconsider when I put nonRFT on my 19 factory wheels. I think an MB luxury irde is helped by the tire situation immensely.

Still debating:
Luxury vs Sport suspension- sometimes I'm looking for stiffer.
Suprisingly- the panoramic roof. I love the idea, but don't use it. I even close the shade more than open. It is winter now, but suprised- when I open it- I either don't notice, or close it to keep the sun out.

Just mine- for whatever insight you see here.

 

re ABC: that is indeed very handy, but it'san expensive feature if that's the only real advantage!

Re soft close: isn't this someting that is always activated? - maybe i don't Completely understand the system…

 

All soft close doors do is close the door by itself if you close the door to the fist latch position. In other words, we have ALL gone to close the door on our car and it doesn't quite close and latch. then you have to open and close it again with more force to fully close it. Soft close doors will finish closing for you.

I originally added it to the order because my wife has a GMC Yukon Denali (I call it the Space Shuttle) that parks next to my car in the two-car garage. There is barely enough room to get a bicycle between two cars, even when they are parked as far apart as possible. I was worried, honestly, that my wife (when driving my car) might not quite close the door after she got in and open the door and bump it in to her car. Figured the soft close door would finish closing so the door it didn't have to be re-opened. In reality, it's been a non-issue.

 

I also kind of wish I hadn't bought the HUD. It's OK.... but I find myself still looking at the progressive display in the left display more. I have to consciously make myself look at the HUD. And forget it if you're wearing sunglasses, it almost disappears.

The only thing that really catches my eye is the blinking speed limit sign in the HUD when I exceed the posted limit, which is freaking easy to do. Last week, I was in rural Virginia and following someone else to a destination. That other person had a lead foot and I didn't feel like getting a ticket (small town speed traps). Eventually I had to catch up. I was in the middle of catching up and looked down and realized I was doing 96mph! I couldn't even feel it -- or really hear the engine going that fast...... Impressive but scary.

My former Escape's engine would have been as noisy as a jet engine going that speed.

 

I wish I bought the designo leather seats. The plain heated/ventilated leather seats are so hard and uncomfortable after a few minutes that I've had to add seat cushions to keep my bum from getting numb. I love all of the other options on the car.

 

Hilarious

For me, my only regret was that I didn't purchase the full driving assistance package (distronic). It would have only cost me another £900 so it wasn't about the money. At the time I was thinking that I would probably never use it and while that may still be true, I do wish I had ordered it. Especially as I've learnt through other posts on this forum that the system is much improved on the MY19 cars.

 

One thing I didn't get was the ventilated seats for 2 reasons: One it is a convertible, and two, I hate that perforated seat look. I had it in a previous SLS Caddy and it felt a little creepy and didn't cool any more more than an air conditioner would. Maybe MB is different.

Those that have it, do you feel it worth it?

Glad to hear some of you wouldn't order the HUD again. As I said, I initially wanted it, but it was such a building delay that I passed on it.

The distronic system is absolutely fabulous on the 2019. Very reliable! Almost makes the car totally autonomous and is really nice on long trips...well worth the money IMO.

 

Just put Hydraulics on the car and you can raise it two feet lol ... My car is pretty much loaded with the exception of the Air body control and the Air Balance package. I don't regret not having the Air Body control but I wish my car had the air balance package, I miss that, my 2018 AMG Wagon had that as well as my 2015 S550. I have the Heads up Display but rarely use it so could have done without that and the Soft Close doors I probably could have done without too. I do regret not having the heated steering wheel and heated arm rest, those options would have been nice. I reaylly can't regret anything though because I bought a in stock car at the dealer and excepted it the way it was, I did not want to wait for an order and the colors of the car I got were perfect, diamond white and white int and yacht blue top and dash and carpets. The Wagon I got has about 6K less options than the Cabriolet I got, but that's fine it's more of a work car. The Wagon just has the base seats with the MB Tx, Thats ok though as that MB tx is strong as anything and I'll probably never damage it. Less to go wrong in the Wagon too, like no multi contour seats which is probably a good thing as the car is on the road so much, doing 25K per year with the E450 Wagon. The Cabriolet, maybe 6K per year.

 

I have to say, there isn't anything I regret not getting and there's nothing I regret getting. For me, the way I optioned my car is simply perfect for me. I didn't get (though toyed with getting momentarily) the massaging seats (I got to try them and wasn't wowed) nor air-body suspension. I also didn't get air-balance. We have it in the E400 and it's something I learned I could live without easily. I also didn't get HUD, which is something else I tested and found wasn't great with UV sunglasses (mandatory attire when you live in the Sunshine State). If my car fell off a cliff today and I had to reorder a new E450, I'd get exactly what I have and that's a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

 

 

That's truly wonderful.

 

Even if not fully functional, the Intelligent Lighting package, for me, is a must have. I love seeing he dancing led light show when you turn the car on and the lights follow corners as you turn, which provides much better visibility at night.

 

I like it, but you need to understand what it is (and the limitations) in order not to get frustrated with it.
it is definitely NOT an AC , but merely ventilation.
as such it will suck the air from the back through the seats, which means that if the car has been on the sun for long, the air it sucks through will be warm too.
but still; it will cool the seats faster than without and it keeps your back nice & dry
it's one of those features that you don't notice so much until you switch it off.
but the option is only available with leather seats, so it can become an expensive option!

 

Living in a very hot climate, ventilated seats are another must, IMHO. True, they aren't air conditioned, but the air they blow is cool enough to really help. I use this feature a LOT. Heated seats on the other hand, in Florida is an option I could easily live without. I can't remember a time when I used heated seats even once.

 

Ditto. I didn't need the HUD option. It's only useful when I have NAV going since the directions show up there in case I'm playing around with another screen.

I wish I'd gotten rapid heated seats. It's been freezing this winter in NYC and early morning drives to work are not fun for the first 10 minutes. Ditto the heated steering wheel (I opted against this because my last one broke so I figured, how necessary is it? Very, in practice).

And, I wonder if I should have splurged for the scent package. It sounded ridiculous initially, but it's probably a lot more pleasant than the preposterous febreeze I have sticking out of my air vent. And yes, I know it's awful but I train every morning and have to leave my gear in the car. Ugh.

Everything else is perfect, and I have it all except air suspension (already discussed in many other threads). The car rocks with the massive double display, designo, distronic, parking, lighting, etc.