So I recently became a new member of the W214 club (coming from a W212). I leased a 2024 E350 service loaner with a few thousand miles on it, which is what I was looking for because I wanted to get the best discount. It's my first car purchase in 12 years. I am just blown away at how much the new E-class has changed compared to my old one.


I would have preferred to custom order my car with the colors & options I want, but time was of the essence so I had to find something quick. There are more than a handful of Mercedes dealers in my area, but most of them only had white exteriors and/or black interiors, which I don't like.


I found a beautiful Cardinal Red with Tonka Brown E350 at a local dealer and that is the one I ended up getting. Even though I wasn't thrilled with the salesman the rare color combo is what sold me. I also test drove a white with beige service loaner with the rare Airmatic & Rear Wheel Steering option, but it came with 20" wheels and summer tires, which means I would have had to pay another $1,200 to put all-season tires on it. I also wasn't crazy about the white color, but it was fully loaded and the dealer was openly offering 20% OFF of MSRP (MSRP around $81K), so it was tempting.


I got a discount of just over 17% OFF of MSRP (MSRP: $74K) on my red E350 and it was well optioned. It has the $1,500 Super screen, $1,030 Burmester 4D sound system, $990 Digital Light Package, $200 Night Package, 19" AMG wheels $1,100, $400 Illuminated Grille, and $1,950 Driver Assistance Package. The only option that was missing that I would have liked is the upgraded Multi-contour Seating Package.


When you're driving by yourself you can change the wallpaper on the passenger Super screen display. There are a few options like the animated Mercedes star pattern along with some static wallpaper images of the Mercedes headquarters in Germany and a couple images of an E-class.

When you're in the car alone you can just speak MBUX commands without having to say "Hey Mercedes" every time. So you can say "Close the sunshade" instead of "Hey Mercedes, close the sunshade."

It also looks like Mercedes got rid of the Cardinal Red option for 2025 in the US. They changed it to Patagonia Red.

I'm thinking about ditching the Continental runflats and putting the Michelin CrossClimate2 for an even more comfortable ride, but we'll see. BMW finally got rid of their runflats on the new 5-series after people complained for over a decade.


The new E is a great car and I'm not surprised it won Motortrend's Car of the Year Award. I've rented the new BMW 530i several times in the past year and drove it hundreds of miles, but it doesn't compare to the new E in terms of interior design and quality and just the overall way it makes you feel when driving it. You can tell BMW went the "cost-cutting route" on their new cars like the X3 and 5 series.


I love driving my new E-class. Whether on the highway or just around town. It's so comfortable that you don't even feel like speeding because you just want to enjoy the ride. The interior is stunning, especially at night with the ambient lights around the cabin. I did a 100-mile drive yesterday on the highway and had the cruise control set at 77mph for most of the trip and I got 34 mpg.

 

nice vehicle congrats again!

 

Nice color combo. Congratulations and enjoy. It's a really nice car to drive.

 

Congratulations! Enjoy!