Hi All,

Figured I'd start one of these (it's been a long time since I've done any build/mod thread on forums), but I do love this car alot, even though it has its nuances.

For Starters, I bought earlier this year a 2018 E400 Estate (Wagon) after about 4 months of searching. Had a few Criteria's, including PP1 and AMG Line Exterior and mileage under 60k. Was looking for a Blue on Brown for quite some time, and had given up that they even existed. Most of the Blue's had the light macchiato interior, which having 3 kids, didn't quite suit me. Surprisingly, when I was looking for this car, the process reminded me of how LAZY dealerships are, especially when you are from out of town. I was looking nationwide to find something and the amount of people that had given up or not even responded to me after a phone call and email looking for some specifics was staggering.

Right before my family went on a long vacation, I was casually looking again (as one does when they are on the hunt) and one popped up locally in the Houston Area, at one of the big Mercedes dealers. No picture, only description that it was a White Wagon with nut brown interior. I frantically called and got an appointment set up to go see it. My sales associate, who couldn't for the life of her understand why I was so excited to come see a wagon 1 hour before they closed, understood after I and a few of the employees told her about the "cult" status. It had just come in for a trade, and apparently the owners got a new s214 wagon for trade.

Even though it was Polar White, it looked great, considering it had the AMG Line AND Night package. After driving and taking a bunch of pictures and assessing all of the damage (keep in mind it had some dings and some light curbage and old decals from the previous owner), I was assured it would all be taken care, and it was. It took them about 2 weeks (so it was good that we had go on a long vacation), and they fixed up what was required and what I mentioned (including new tailight, headlight, refinished wheels, interior panel replacement, gas cap and purge valve). I was called to come pick it up and it was a beauty!




The car drove great and I was quite happy with how it drove on my way home, although I was very careful. Houston Roads have the tendency to potentially have an entire furniture set laying on the side of the road so I was even more careful then usual. (side note, when I was driving my wifes car home from the dealer there was a dump truck in front of me and I couldn't get away from behind it and cracked her windshield 20 minutes into ownership).

Once I brought it home, it was time to sell what was my daily at the time, a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI. It was a great commuter car with almost 100k of worry free miles under my ownership (and looked great).



I have an itch for modifying the cars, so I started doing research (or well the limited research available on this chassis). Had a vision of what I wanted it to look like, but again, not much information for stateside, more-so for European models.

One of my favorite features, and really the entire reason that I went for this wagon was for the rear facing 3rd row. Like mentioned above, having 3 kids, it is impossible to fit 3 across any non giant SUV, and I do not care so much for SUV's as my primary modes of transport. My RS4 barely doesn't fit anyone in the rear seats (let alone a Doona Baby Stroller/Car Seat and normal car seat or Booster). I would have considered the E63S, but unfortunately no 3rd row, and retrofitting by cutting out the support beam was not in the cards from a safety perspective.

Quick Run Down on the Factory Options:
149: Polar White
124: Nut Brown/Black MB-Tex (for 3rd row)
736: Natural Grain Black Ash Wood
737: Center Console in Natural Grain Black Ash Wood

P01: Premium 1
322: AMG Line
521: Night Package
591 3-Zone CC

Thanks for reading and hope you stick around for the journey!

Here is how it looks like now!

 

Plans for the future modifications (will do separate rundown of each one):

1) Suspension
The big complaint that I kept reading was the car didn't feel sporty, and almost land yachty. It had some body roll when taking tight turns, but I didn't quite see that it was that bad. If anything the Pirelli Run Flats were really the weak link.

2) Wheels
I was never a fan of any black and silver anodized style wheels, ever. I always thought they and are gaudy, and my initial thought process was to HyperDip them gloss black. Additionally, these being 18's made them look undersized, considering the length of the wagon. I had BBS on all of my previous cars, and was looking to do the same (CH-R's to be precise for this model).

3) "E43" Inspired
It is very annoying that the E43 wagon was not sold here, yet remains virtually similar to the E400, minus what I surmise is a more aggressive tune. Therefore I wanted to take inspiration from the overseas model (without upbadging) and perhaps a mild Tune and TCU programming for an extra 50-70hp. This includes minor trim pieces, OEM + style. New Grilles, diffuser, exhaust,etc.

4) Long Ownership
Trying to keep this car for a long time, therefore I will also be documenting little problems I or the MB dealer/Indy shop find.

 

Placeholder for Grille Discussion / Vinyl

 

Place Holder for BBS CI-R

 

Placeholder for H&R Sport Springs after BBS CI-R Install + Spacers

 

nice wagon. Did you lower it?
I wish they would have made the chrome strip above the rear lights black on the night package.

 

Yes, It is lowered, although with the AMG Line sports suspension, it doesnt make as big of a dramatic effect as it does on the standard.

Regarding the black trim, I think if the badges were black it'd be a necessity. I am probably going to keep the factory mercedes emblem, in which case the chrome above the rear taillights, the door handles and the chrome ring I left around the grille will be enough of a touch to bring it all together.

I will make a post later on with the before and afters for all of the things I have done to the car. Waiting to see when the spam filter stops blocking my posts.

 

Posting this to get this thread off my unread list. Seems the OP is too new and have their posts reviewed before making them visible. Problem is, it still shows up in the live feed and won't clear the unread messages icon. Not to mention that it takes way too long to review and approve the post.

 

Well, this weekend was the weekend from Hell with this car.

Car fully loaded up, 2 girls in the rear seats, and my older son in the bench seat, we got side swiped by a young distracted driver who tried to avoid the car in front of me stopping short and swerved into me and i swerved to avoid him and got pushed into the guardrail. (He ended up hitting the car he was trying to avoid after bouncing off of my car).

Hope to get some news back from insurance soon. I am going through my own insurance as the insurance company of the at fault driver, is nothing less than absolutely awful when it comes to claims.

Heres some pics, any insight would be nice. I am quite concerned about the right rear quarter being the most damaged, hoowever the car drives straight and apart from some scraping of the front bumpers, it doesnt look too bad.

From my knowledge, this is waht is damaged:

- Scuffed rear bumper
- Scuffed front passenger door
- both headlights broken
- both fenders are busted
- hood is dented on both sides
- front bumper is broken
- both rear quarters have obvious damage
- driver side mirror is clean broken (hanging on by wires).
- all 4 BBS CI-R's are scuffed. Driver front has the worst of it.

At the end of the day, I am of course happy that we are all safe, even though it scared the crap out of us because we were literally just minding our own business and then BOOM, but the car did its job.
I have already arranged that the body shop of choice I will be taking it to is the Collision/Body shop with the Mercedes Benz dealer I bought it from, so if they decide to fix it, it will be done correctly.

passepassdriv

 

Man, I know your frustration so well; I'm glad you and family are safe. The car will get fixed or you'll find another one (more likely totaled?)

in my experience, polar white is so much better than diamond white metallic designio to blend and to match

 

Because the car is a 2018 model, they may decide to total it. If not, make sure to have replacement parts installed and not body putty. Also have a full paint job because matched paint will ultimately age to a slightly non-matching hue. BTDT

 

I know you don’t wanna hear this but make sure you take it to a Mercedes-Benz authorized repair center. This is gonna make the repair extremely expensive and likely total out the car. You’ve had too many body panels touched to really worry about getting it fixed in my very honest opinion.

 

plus you'll always know it's had major world; and the flaws may drive you mad.

total it and start shopping

 

I agree with the other posters: get them to total the car - which your car being a 2018 should not be hard to do.

No matter how "perfect" the repair will be, in all future Carfax reports, your car will show extensive body damage, which will dramatically affect in a very bad way the resale and/or trade in value of your car.

 

excellent point

 

Well small update. Progressive came back with their initial estimate, which is laughable at just under $10,000 for the fix.

Tomorrow it is being towed to my Mercedes Benz Dealers Collision center. Should be interesting as they are very thorough.

I do love the e400/e450, but part of me now is exploring the E63S if/when this one gets totalled out. Of course the RS4 would go if I bought it, but it would be something to entertain.

I do like the 3rd row seat, which the E63 doesnt offer, but my middle child is growing out of her car seat and will be in a booster soon, so I think it is manageable (at least I keep telling myself that).

 

consider this sticky if you decide to go to the E 63 route

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...fixes-diy.html

 

I expect that estimate to quadruple after going to the Mercedes center. Mercedes doesn’t authorize repairs or partial repaints through the majority of the car so any panel that is touched would need a full respray and every panel that is dented would likely need replacement if it is replaceable and each bumper, even if there is just a scratch into the bumper would require replacement under Mercedes. It’s the extreme other end of repairs and totally worth it if shooting for the total.

 

I have just come back home from dropping it off at the Collision center.

My representative also was of the opinion after they do the tear down, it will most probably be totaled.

Such a shame. The Polar White on Nut Brown was really tough to find with everything else aesthetically and mechanically in shape.

I expect to hear the final verdict by early next week from Insurance.

 

This is really very sad... just as I was starting to read this thread and follow its transformation. Glad the family are all a-OK, which is the most important... but if this happened to me, I'd be in therapy by now... @belugawagon I know you are no fan of SUVs... me neither, but will you consider an electric MB EQS 450/580 that comes with a 3rd row that can accommodate your family comfortably? They are going for dirt-cheap prices and are available at many MB dealerships or other retail auto shops. A 2023 lightly used (<30K miles) and loaded 450 may be $40K or less... and $50K or less for its 580 trim. Good luck and sending you good cheers and positive vibes on a great outcome to all this.

 

Sorry to hear about your accident. We also have a 2018 Polar White E400 wagon that we custom ordered. We now have around 38k miles and we've been very happy with it. We're likely to keep it for many years. About 10 days ago, I spent around 16 hours detailing it and applying ceramic coating to it. It has always looked good, but now it looks truly amazing. Here are a couple of photos after detailing it. Good luck with your search finding a replacement.




ment.

 

Another chapter in the wind down story of my lovely e400 Wagon.

Insurance has declared the car a total loss, with approx. 27k worth of damage.

Unfortunately if not for the cosmetics alone, the driver side suspension was damaged and the steering box (5k by itself) needs replacement. Really truly a shame that such a well optioned S213 is now off the road for good.

As of now I'm just waiting for the payout amount. Unfortunately my plans for buying a new car have been put on hold as my wife's ageing Q7 has now started suffering from Audi-itis and everything is breaking left and right, so her car is first up to get replaced. I will have some more fun driving the RS 4 around for now until things settle down.

 

beautiful car. I had the 2017 in Polar white with all the bells and whistles, package 3 distronic, acoustic glass, air shocks, massage seats, etc. Best car I ever owned

 

I have the same car: 2017 E400 wagon in polar white and P3...the dynamic seats are maybe my favorite option. The only thing I wish mine had but doesn't is the heated steering wheel. I live in VT/NH and once you've had a heated steering wheel, you wonder how you ever lived without it. My car was originally sold in SoCal so that explains why it wasn't ordered.

@belugawagon sorry for your loss. I've never been emotionally attached to cars, houses or any other inanimate object but I would be truly sad if this happened to my car. I'll never find a deal like I got when I bought it.

On the Audi Q7...my independent mechanic only works on German cars and he tells me that Audi and BMW keep him in business. His wife drives a Mercedes.

 

ah yes, heated steering wheels, had one, and wife always mocked having a heated steering wheel as she has "gloves" , until her Mazada CX-5 has a heated steering wheel now and she cannot live without! Absolutely a "first world problem" as the saying goes but having lived in Bangor ME and now still in a coldish area, a must have!