Bamafan

I know a few here are looking at / waiting for a 300d. Here are a few thoughts after the first 10 days of ownership.

Pro's
- Power and responsiveness are more than adequate. I have an NSX and have owned other sports cars. While this is not a sports car, it is very torquey. No problem at all around town or on the highway.
- It is a monster road trip car. We drove to Alabama from Indiana over the holidays. Great, smooth ride, supportive seats, and a range of over 700 miles.
- The drivers aids are coming in useful as I get used to the size of the vehicle. Particularly helpful is the red warning triangle if a car is in the blind spot.


Con's
- The car inexplicably goes into neutral when you shut it off. It only goes into Park when you open the doors. So if you go to a parking lot, shut off the car, and take a moment in the car, you will find yourself rolling across the parking lot (I have--twice). It will just be a matter of remembering to shift into park manually. But on every other car I have owned with push-button start, the car goes into park when you turn it off.
-The Mercedes puddle lights are an affront to good taste. A bit embarrassing.

It was fun to drive past the Mercedes plant and think that the GLE was built there less than three weeks ago.

ilz

If you put a dab of lip balm on the puddle light projectors, the logo disappears. It's not ideal, but it's a pretty quick and easy fix.

Kongo

Just got back from a road trip Austin to Colorado Springs. 2000 miles with an average of 33.1 mpg on the open road--around 26 in town. Distronic plus was great on those long open roads. Only difficulties were sometimes having to fuel up where the big rigs do because there was no diesel at the car pumps so we sometimes had to drive around back. Some of them had def dispensers, but I had no reason to use them! Also found I had to search for a pump with a car size rather than truck size nozzle! Cheapest fill was $1.74 a gallon in Dumas, tx, which at the moment is under about 2 feet of snow. We just escaped in time.

Bamafan

Wow. I think we're getting just over 30. We've been able to find diesel at every station we've stopped at.

What are your likes/dislikes about the 300d so far?

ChuckinTucson

The DEF pumps at truck stops won't work anyway. Mercedes has very cleverly installed a screw-on system for adding DEF, so you, at least initially, have to buy it directly from them. You probably noticed that the DEF from the truck stop pumps is around $2.50/gallon. When you buy it from the parts department at your friendly dealership, the price is about $10/quart. In my opinion, it is the equivalent of stocking up your liquor cabinet by buying booze from the minibar at a Ritz Carlton.

What you can do is buy your first quart from MB, screw it into the AdBlue filler and empty it into the car. Unscrew it. Then take a knife and cut the bottom of the plastic bottle off making it into a makeshift funnel. You can then buy DEF at the local truck stop by the box which is much much cheaper.

fabbrisd1

You are mistaking what works for a 13 ML for what works with a 16 GLE.

Pump DEF "works" for Mercedes GLE - unless you have some weird-a*s DEF pump nozzles in AZ...

Kongo

The info on DEF is good to know for when the time comes. And I found the "puddle light" amusing rather than tacky. To each his own, I guess.

I liked most everthing about the gle, but haven't yet got the hang of voice command. I found my old garmin much easier to use. And found it would not search for a particular hotel beyond 125 miles even if you knew the name. Not a problem in most places, but in the pan handle or far west Texas . . . Also liked the garmin' ability to dial the hotel straight away -- but maybe I just need to experiment more with the built in GPS. I mostly resorted to dialing in the locations like I did on my old glk.

As far as power goes I was usually fine, but when I accelerated from about 60 while going up Raton pass there wasn't much there. Did't try to downshift manually, however. My 2011 glk was always fast off the mark, but nowhere near as good on fuel or inside space (as I am a large guy).

ChuckinTucson

Glad to hear this. I'm sure the nozzles in Arizona are the same everywhere. Happy to see they made the change.

alphainfinity

New 300d owner here as well guys. Glad to know that we can add DEF at the truck stops. Has anybody had the need to add DEF between service stops at the dealer? It was my understanding that there should be sufficient DEF to last between oil changes.

My 14 RAM 1 ton is a little different. I can go 15-20k miles if I am not towing between def fill ups. Once I throw 16k behind the truck and put the Cummins to work, I am averaging about 1800 miles. I have a 5 gallon DEF tank on the truck, not sure how large it is on the 300d.

Kongo

[QUOTE=alphainfinity;6667142]New 300d owner here as well guys. Glad to know that we can add DEF at the truck stops. Has anybody had the need to add DEF between service stops at the dealer? It was my understanding that there should be sufficient DEF to last between oil changes.

The problem is not that you will need DEF between services, but what the dealer will charge you to top it up! Consumer Reports, I believe, had a write up on this. Can't remember details, but they charged them well over $200 to top it up at service when it could have been done by the owner for about $30.

LSkrabut

As a possible alternative – Go to a fueling station for big trucks/rigs. Most have DEF pumps at the diesel pumps for a lot less than even the 2 ˝ gallon box that can be purchased at most automotive stores. The turnover rate of their DEF fluid tanks, should not have a shelf life issue to worry about either.

I done this twice now, last time, at my 20k refill on a E250, I went to a local Love’s truck stop. Pulled up to the rig’s diesel pumps, went in to the cashier, got a special nozzle adapter that fits the larger DEF pump nozzle. 3.3 gallons later, returned the adapter (free use) for less than $10, , my E250 DEF tank was filled up. Got to admit, my little E250 was somewhat strange and humorous to see in line with a dozen fuel islands with those BIG rigs filling up


The adapter is call - Mis-Filling Prevention Device (MFPD). Not cheap to buy, but most large truck stops should have one that you can use to fill up with DEF to your diesel Mercedes.


Right now I am pushing the limits to a point on my E250 on running the tank somewhat empty. So far I gone 15K miles and still no warning lamp. I will probably only go another 500-800 miles, since I got a 50K service due. I wanted to be sure I used up most of the DEF fluid before I refill the tank since the service life of DEF is anywhere from 2 years or less depending on the environment the fluid is stored or has been in the tank.