Cars looks good

 

The last gas powered E Class should be a perfect ending to a long history of a very successful model in Mercedes’s history. The W214 should emphasize build quality, high quality material, a chassis build like a tank, tactile buttons and knobs for often use controls, bring back the old magic carpet ride, a sedan that could handle today’s pothole filled streets and innovative safety features. All the reason that made me a loyal Mercedes owner.

 

Yup it would had been totally appropriate for all the digital stuff to stay and remain on their "futuristic" EQ models and like you said leave the last gasoline E-Class alone.

 

I'm what you call "older folk" but I enjoy all the tech that can be stuffed into anything I buy, including vehicles, kitchen appliances, plumbing, etc. Have you ridden a TOTO today?

Major systems in my house are computer controlled. I stopped short of hopping on the Amazon or Google bandwagon. I do not like either company. That being said, I object to touch screens and endless menus in vehicles. They require the driver to stop concentrating on driving because they have to read menus and figure out where ta given function has moved to on the display, select it, etc. I favor buttons or levers for basic vehicle functions because a driver knows where they are without changing focus on driving. Even in my '18 E300 with COMAND one cannot change entertainment functions without navigating through 3 or more menus, selecting and clicking the mouse. The only saving grace is that voice control is available for many functions if one can remember exactly what to say especially for seldom used functions. There are hundreds of word combinations that are available in the Mercedes Voice Control System.

 

Wait sorry, which one, this one? https://www.fixturescloseup.com/wp-c...rylic-main.jpg

Nothing wrong with a smart home though

 

i have buying MB cars since 1983. Between my wife and I, we are presently driving number 25 and 26. I have a 24 GLE53 on order and have been promised the first E-Class allocation from my dealer. Yes, you have probably guessed it, I am an old guy but do not want to go backwards when buying a new car. I want it better than the car I am replacing. I love thé new tech with each new car. For most functions while driving voice commands will get you the wanted function. In more complicated settings it is easier to do while the car is stopped. I do not play video games but could car less that the car has such an application or a zoom camera for video conferencing. MB is building a car for various segments of the population and has always been a forerunner in safety and technolgy. This new E will be thé everything car in a dying segment. In Canada, passenger cars are now only 16% of new vehicle sales. MB is not deterred by the fact that this ks the last of a great series. They are offering the best, most advanced vehicle in a dying propulsion system. I am super excited to get this beautiful car.

 

At least the camera is not standard so we aren't forced to have it if we don't do video conferencing.

 

The E-class is best known as the Taxi car in Europe.

Do you think these taxies will have the hyperscreen?

 

I think the ones used as taxi cabs are very basic and base diesel models? In that case, the W214 shouldn't be an exception, maybe other than the rear screens and passenger screen but still doubt it.

 

I have ridden in them…..utterly basic, cloth-seated models. They are used as taxis in Germany (with a fewer number of BMW 5-series and a few Audi A6s also present as taxis), since they are super durable. The BMW 5-series is not rated as very durable back there, vis-a-vis the E-class.

Absolutely no comparison whatsoever, to the E-class that’s sold in the US.

 

https://www.motor1.com/news/665341/2...ed-grille/amp/

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/a...it-214170.html

Well, here’s our first teasers to the new 5 series. One is a teaser of the exterior and interior and the other is a leaked picture.

Rear looks copy paste accord. Just like the facelifted 3 series, it seems like BMW is taking more styling cues from Honda than they are themselves. Interior looks like it could be very cool but also seems like they could royally f*ck it up. The way the ambient light bar ends and all the sudden it pops out wayyyy out in front of the dash with the “floating” curved display (which looks like it’s on stilts in all the other models ) looks easy to mess up design wise and could easily be the make of break part of the interior. Grills also look like they have grown a lot. Not to the level of the beaver tooth M3s, but still not an attractive size considering their shape. Finally I hate these little squinty headlights with the mini triangular angel eyes on the sides. The half halo they had for previous generations looked pretty cool, but the ones on the new X5 are just horrible and are likely to be the same as the new 5er.

 

In many European countries you'll see the E-class as taxi but not necessarily the "taxi version".

 

Hopefully the production one is better, productions cars and official images always looks better than spy or leaked photos anyways I guess it has to do with it not being the final product or just low quality/resolution images. Another thing is, seeing these cars in person also would look better if past experience was any indication.

 

Still the same look and same car though...

Also, the metrics here is very basic but the V class and EQV in Europe is luxurious...

 

I've heard the E-Class is used as a taxi thing so many times, and it's true. If you owned a taxi company, would you prefer a fleet of cars that meet the needs of your customers while requiring minimal time in for repairs, or a fleet in repair rotation? The fact that the E-Class is used for this purpose just means to me it's a solid platform, one which can be configured quite nicely for personal use. That said, I have to wonder if those used for taxi purposes use the 48v system...

 

Rhodes, Greece is a good example of this. When I was there, you’d see taxi’s ranging from W210’s all the way to 213’s. Sedans, Wagons, AMG-Line, Luxury-Line, etc. They grab whatever they can and run them for 500k+ km, and I mean literally whatever they can grab, some of these E-Class’ had smoked taillights, fake AMG accessories, aftermarket stars, leather, headliners, etc. They really put them through abuse there.






Funny enough if you go to Munich you can get an S-Class and even a Maybach taxi!

 

One news item that caught my attention is that the entire system is controlled by a single chip. I personally have a major aversion to such a single-point-massive-failure aspect.

I used to have a prior generation BMW M3, back in the day, where the entire lighting of the car was controlled through a single relay and once while returning back from a trip, late at night, the entire lighting system of the car (headlights, taillights, hazard lights, interior lights etc) failed, and obviously I immediately pulled over and the car had to be towed. Single-point-massive-failure ! As soon as the lighting got fixed, I traded-in that car. Great car, but disastrous design when it came to the electrical controls…..zero redundancy in case of failure, since everything was routed through that single point.

 

Shades of Lucas!

 

Most equipment in a car has no redundancy. Cars can't be legally operated with a failure of one light out of a set such as a brake light or a head light after dark.

 

Redundant systems are a thing of the pass except sometimes for critical systems. The Boeing 737 max grounding should have taught us that planes and vehicles should have redundant systems for critical functions. Unfortunately, most car companies are run by accountants and lawyers now, not engineers.

 

Anyone heard when the w214 can be ordered in US?

 

I noticed that when it comes to the 2024 All-Terrain (W214), seems like the car is being designed from the ground up to be a real “All Terrain”.

More along the lines of what Audi did with the All-road, than the current W213 generation All-Terrain. The current W213 All-Terrain seems to be a regular wagon just jacked up a tiny bit (they say an additional 2” over the regular E wagon), with some plastic wheel cladding added in, than an intentional ground-up “All Terrain” design.

 

A real crossover all terrain E class sounds very exciting. Lets face it, some of our pothole filled streets here in the northeast US requires an all terrain vehicle to get thru. An upgrade chassis and suspension would add to it even more.

 

 

While the taillight is still taking its sweet time to grow on me, I am wondering ... since MB really liked to put their stars on everything,

the grille https://jbcustoms.es/public/images/p...1677761340.jpg
the lower bumper https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mbw...9046d9f9e.jpeg
the interior https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WNO9icnqRDk/maxresdefault.jpg
their infotainment and start-up screen: https://cdn.motor1.com/images/mgl/ZX...en-teaser.webp
the taillights: https://mezha.media/wp-content/uploa...14-900x600.jpg

I am surprised the designers didn't use the stars as the headlights and called it a day, you know, call it the illuminated star I mean.... the star headlight. I am glad they didn't though. Although given their obsession with their own logo, I am not surprised if they come up with such for the facelift W214.