ipp

Why not get a W210, that might get you even happier...

NCE500

I recall you were flaming quite a few of us when your were getting your W212 last Winter, apparently reality has set in.

Having driven 3 W212 service loaners, I can personally state that cost cutting is apparent everywhere you look inside...and outside. Dash materials, headliner, door panels, carpet, everything is cheaper. Ditto outside; door handles, bumpers, wheels; heck, even opening the hood is now 1 latch and the hinges and bolts holding it on are noticibly cheaper. I had a W211 E550 before my 63, everything stated above applies compared to that car too.

I am sorry to say it, but I am not at all motivated to move on to a W212. When the time comes to part with the 63 in the future, a used W221 S600 or the new 5 series both look much nicer to my eyes. W211 is a timeless elegant design, W212 frankly does not measure up as you now confirm.

I wish you best of luck getting out of your 550, but it will cost you so much that it will likely not be worth it unless you can get someone to take over the lease outright. Good luck and keep us posted.

ESIX3POWER

Yes youre absolutley correct, what can I say man? I honestly thought I would be happier with the " new body style " V8 motor E550.. I actually do not have any gripes with the exterior, I really like
The styling of the car but as a previous member mentioned, happiness comes inside the car and at this moment Im just not happy.. It actually took some time for me to feel this way, I was super excited
And really enjoyed the car for better than 6,7 months..
But lately it has hit me like a ton of bricks.. Last week I saw a very similar black E63 on the road and I found my self cutting cars just to catch up and have a glimpse of that baby.. I was staring and saying, damn the saying is very true " you never know what you’ve got until you’ve lost it " .. I will have a speak with my dealer this Saturday and see what we can come up with. Depening on the $$$ as always, I will make a decision. I just do not feel the warmth and comfort in this new car.. Althought I will say,the materials are built to last. I can totally see the W212 interior look exactly the same in 10-15 years. Its built not to wear out.
I don’t like the fact that I cant tilt the front lower part of the seat higher while lowering the back end of the seat.. I don’t feel nearly as comfortable in this car as opposed to the 63.. The sun visor is so damn cheap also. Other than the sport steering wheel and the ac/heat controls,which are very cool, I don’t really like much of the interior.. Its funny because I have been looking at CPO E63s and suddenly they seem very high priced compared to 6,7,8 months ago. What happened ??? I will let you guys know what happens after Saturday..
Thx all

ESIX3POWER

I painfully agree with your post, completely. Well see what happens..

K-A

I agree with much of that.

I always try and follow my "the materials are downgraded in a refinement sense" with the fact that they feel stronger, more durable, and built to last. M-B basically cut the elegance/smoothness level, for a more take-a-beating level. With my 211, I was very meticulous about the inside, and wanted to keep everything perfectly clean, etc. With the 212 I don't worry about that as much, it feel like it'll take care of itself almost, and indeed it does feel like it'll look the same in 15 years with practically no care.

Things like the dash not looking as glossy, and having this tough material that almost traps dirt further confirms this, as it's a rougher feeling, sans some refinement, but feels like it's unbreakable or unfade-able. The W211 seems like it requires more care to keep that fancy sheen, I would use Protectant on it, because I didn't want those individual materials to lose their richness, yet don't feel the need to on the W212. It's a trade-off I guess.... If you want to be optimistic about it.

Lack of warmth is also something I've always said about the 212. The ONLY way to feel any warmth from it at all, is if you get a good color combo, i.e the two tone offerings, if you go all black, it's very cold and not too coddling.

The W211's on the other hand, is a very warm, very elegant, very rich feeling inside. A bit more "old-world", which I do like.

And I FEEL YOU ON THE SUNVISOR!!!! It's ridiculous, I hate how it feels, not like the nice thick 211's.

Also, indeed, M-B cut costs in SO many little areas you usually might not notice. For example, not only are the floor mats a little flimsier and cheaper, but notice on the passenger side, they don't have the little buttons that clamp them into the ground, like the driver side does. The W211 has BOTH. THIS IS WHAT MAKES THESE CARE DETAIL ORIENTED LUXURY CARS!!!! The 211 made me feel good and assured that it's something special because it excelled in these areas, with the 212, they didn't seem to care about that as much, and wanted to put effort into the areas they can market, more-so.

//Rant off.

JonMBZ

That's the same way I feel I work for mb and still don't like the w212. I thought it would grow on me, but it hasn't I also had a customer who bought a W204 and he has been driving mbs for decades and has been a customer of mine forever. He hated the W204 and came here to the dealer and showed off his new Honda he traded in his early leased W204 for. Well I still hate hondas, but it's sad to see the way things are going with the interiors of the vehicles.

K-A

The W204 was officially the downfall of M-B in the interior refinement-quality sense. The fact that M-B was able to release that POS inside, and people still bought it, allowed for them to change their interior direction. I've been vehemently complaining against the 204's inside so hopefully more would complain, and M-B would have to axe that direction, but of course the sheeples still bought it as it's a "Benz", and still think they're driving in the lap of luxury due solely to that aspect.

Unfortunately some of the W204 has made its way into the W212/E. Now let's see how the next S-Class turns out....

220S

That's an assumption. Let's not forget that the W212 has only been out for about a year now. Only time will tell.

In fact there are two reports already about the seat control buttons breaking on the W212s.

OTOH, there never have been complaints about interior material failure on the W211s. i.e., there are no common issues of trim, switches, buttons, etc., failing apart from the inception of the W211. Electronic failures, yes. And those failures are already being reported with W212s. But interior materials, no.

K-A

True. I actually don't mean things falling apart as much as I do materials that feel like you can bake them in the sun for a decade, and probably will look about the same as when you left it, VS the 211's seeming like it might require a tad more maintenance to stay pretty.

As for things breaking, considering the cost cutting going on "under the radar", I wouldn't be surprised if the 212 has cheaper components (like someone said, bolts under the hood or whatever even) that connect point A's to point B's in the little interior areas.

For one, my headrests feel like they have more "give" than my W211, and my seats do too (done on purpose?.... I doubt it), as the 211's felt more sturdy. Also, the seat controls connectors feel flimsier, however the physical buttons feel fine. The interior door handles feel thinner, lighter, and dare I say "cheaper" than the W211's thicker, fuller, more substantial handles. Someone actually mentioned the outside handles being cheaper on the 212, unless you're talking about the disgraceful P1 Packages getting monotone handles instead of the traditional M-B chrome fancier trimmed handles (which P2 cars come with, so it's fine with me ), then that's actually an area that I like the 212's feel better. Even when I had my 211, I'd compare the two, brand new '09's (or my '06) didn't feel very smooth to pull, and felt a little "chintzy" compared to the more smooth and strong feel and "pull" of the 212's outside handles. On my E, the handles didn't bother me as much as the slap happy horrid sound the front doors made when you slammed them (don't ever try it with the window down unless you want to cry). That's an area where the W212 is definitely improved.

Anyway, I like both (now), and I'm an equal opportunity player, I could go all day stating the little areas I notice that I find better or worse on the new car.

Quadcammer

I wonder if this is a bit of an eye towards MB heritage. Back in the 60s to the late 80s, MB interiors were not terribly opulent and the material appearance wasn't mind blowing, but they lasted forever.

Ninjaryder

I'm okay with the interior in the W212 considering the price point except for the 50cents spent on the door pins,WTF?! If your fussy about luxory but tried to go cheap on price you'll be dissapointed IMO. Just by adding a few things like P2,two tone interior,& pano cleaned up the appearance quite a bit. Designo would have made this car almost perfect.

Henrik

I have to somewhat agree on that..


At least in Europe, when I was a kid in the 80's (Sweden my case), MB:s weren't PRIMARILY luxury cars..
You could buy one that were luxurious if you opted for a lot of extras and bought one of the most expensive models. But the MB:s back then were more of highly engineered cars.. doing everything a bit better than other cars.. but primarily being sturdy durable automobiles that you had to pay a premium to get.

We had a lot of 200, 220, 230, 240 's over here with gasoline and diesel engines coming with manual transmissions and with no equipment as standard whatsoever. In those cases, which were the most common trims over here, the cars were bought for being very well engineered work horses that also gave you a very nice ride comfort. If you also wanted real luxo and a fast car you had to pay extra..
Even the S-class (w126) in entry level trim had a tad of a "work horse" feel to it. I remember the reviews from that time sometimes referring to the interiors as something like "cozy as a surgery room... but perfectly laid out.. extremely clear to read.. everything looking to be carved out of a solid rock (and so on..)"

I think the interiors of the new e and c classes somewhat reminds me of the w123 and w124 era.. not primarily luxurious.. (the pre facelift 200/230 123's didn't even have wood on the dash at all fx. All plastic but durable as hell. The facelift 200 w123 was the first entry level E to get one small stripe of wood along the dash..) but extremely well built and sturdy, lasting forever.

That's what MB was for me when I grew up. So for me, the new E is the first MB in a very very long time that I feel is getting back a bit to the origin of the brand. It somewhat, a little bit, reminds me of the 123/124/126's and it's the first time in a MB since the 124 era that my heart said something to me. Just a little, little bit of that same old feeling I had when I was a kid.. but it was there nevertheless.

So maybe I can finally buy a newer MB than the 124 and still feel that my heart is with me at least to some degree. It's the first time I felt that way in a very very long time.. for like 15 years or something.. :-) So I've been waiting for this.
I also like that the hood is visible again from the drivers view.. and the airy cabin which reminds me of old MB's.
..and.. MB:s didn't have oval headlights when I grew up.. :-)
..even thought I think the 211 is a very harmonic design.


I agree that the interior of the w211 is much more cozy. But as pointed out in earlier posts.. the w212 interior can be made looking much warmer by applying the right colors and wood trim. It's very very boring in black-black. (though at the same time reminding me a bit of that pre-facelift entry level 123 we had in Europe a long time ago.. before MB got "Lexusified" soft and plush :-) )
It's a German car goddamnit it's not supposed to be cozy, it's supposed to be a highly engineered purpose built clean reliable MACHINE... not a f**** barbie doll.. It never was.

220S

^^^
imho, MBs will never be like the W124 ever again. Manufacturing philosophies have changed. Cars are meant to be cranked out of the factory in mass quantities and turned over every three years (i.e., leasing.) Daimler's biggest shareholder is an Abu Dhabi state run investment firm. Share values have become paramount.

Henrik

^^^

Off course nothing will ever be exactly like before. But it also depends on what we value. If it's mass consumerism with quantity over quality and short-sighted satisfaction that always will need an increased dose to work, then we will never get back to anything near a 124, that's for sure.

But values change over time.. even if it's a long time sometimes. So never say never. Society as a whole can get wiser.

And I'm not sure this buy-more-stuff-and-throw-away-society is going to last. It's not really making us any happier or more satisfied as humans after what I've seen..

At some point we will probably be able to design our cars for ourselves though. Maybe that will solve some of the problem

K-A

I think it's the "Leasing" generations that have changed around car makers approaches for the worse, which of course, is tied to the mentioned societal trends we're seeing.

Regarding the W212 bringing back that old school charm. To me personally, when I first got this car, that's the first thing that struck me, it just drove like an older Benz, feels so strong and unbreakable in ways.

The W212 never really reminded me of a model being meant to spawn memories of the W124 so much, as many people see it, as I've always seen it as a "new age W126" more-so, even during the initial days of the car when I hated it (so it's not something I conjured up when I got the car, etc.). Of course bringing back that "80's vibe" that the 212 obviously kind of does, it only makes sense that it would be the 124 as it's an "E", but I feel this car is kind of an evolution of the 126 more-so, especially stylistically, and character speaking.

VCA_AMG

So anyway, when are you pulling the trigger and getting a W211 back in your garage?

K-A

LOL. Only an E55 would do now for me being that I already had the E350, and I'd like for it to be soon.

Henrik

"...but I feel this car is kind of an evolution of the 126 more-so, especially stylistically, and character speaking"

Agreed.. now when I think of it..

I haven't driven the car though just sat down in it.
The view down the hood and and the feel of interior space resembles the 126.

So yes.. the 126 is probably a more correct similarity.

It's funny because like many others I didn't like the car at all first.. just seeing it from the outside. At least the taillights were horrible. But with some nice rims and AMG bodykit the whole car is really, really growing on me.

I was at a dealership this friday just looking around, and one of the workers drove off in one of the w212's (probably a testdrive after a conducted service or something) and halting the car in a 90 deg turn for a stoplight up a short slope. The car leaning a bit sideways and the hood pointing up in the air.. in that position the look of the car for some reason said w126 to me ..and my spontaneous reaction was.. wow.. the car looks cool, I want it
This is the first time I actually feel something for a newer MB.

So yes I have to agree as mentioned. It's a bit of an evolution w126 over it.

Jakpro1

Really interesting posts on this thread. I can't stop reading it. For the first time ever, I am starting to worry about buying the twin turbo e when it comes out soon.

I gotta go and experience the cheapness of the interior for myself and go from there.

Jakpro1

Holy cow, just closed this thread and did some searching on the interior. The nice interior is now an OPTION????!!

Is this for real?

Quadcammer

That looks terrible. You got the nice leather on the dash top, and the lower dash is the horribly cheesy plastic.

The difference in these two materials just makes the plastic look even worse and more noticeable.

220S

Don't forget that press release is not for North America specifically. It's a Euro Daimler press release. Artico leather is the non-US term for MBTex. Plus some of the options just won't be available here.

Don't expect much. Anything like alcantara or smooth (non-embossed) Nappa that was standard on the W211 will be an option on the W212. How do you think they lowered the MSRP? It comes from somewhere.

There's a lot of talk on the AMG PL (where MBUSA monitors all the posts) about the cost cutting. I think MB is slowly understanding that nobody wants C Class cheese in their E Class AMG. But they've committed already to cost cutting. This (options and also designo) is one way to work around that.

Henrik

I think the interior shown in the pics above looks very high quality.. except the plastic around the radio buttons, which I hate. But it's the same on the w211. Earlier benzes always had wood around the buttons everywhere.
Changing it out for the same black "piano" surface located around the shifter would do it for me. Everything else looks fine (except that everything is black black black black everywhere which makes for an extremely depressing interior)
But no reason for me to diss a whole car just because of a piece of plastic. Most important for me is that it's solid anyway. I dont need alot of bling. That's for women :-p

rondocap

I've always liked the W220 S class and W211 E class interiors. They have a good blend of materials, and look luxurious. The W221 s class, while nice, I feel is a bit too "modernized" and cheap looking compared to the W220 - the same holds true for the W211 vs W212. Modern interiors are nice for something like an SLS or a sportier car, but I think in 4 door AMG's it should still go more towards that stately elegance that they've been in the past...makes their muscle-car side stand out even more.