May be ordering for an early December build tomorrow and would like to know which options you would order again if you were doing it all over and which ones you would leave off.
Also, are there advantages/disadvantages to the Blue or Merlot Nubuck in terms of comfort, longevity, ease of cleaning, etc. I have only seen plain Charcoal leather.
Thanks!

 

The advantages of the Blue & Merlot Nubuck are in the eye of the beholder; if it appeals to you, go for it. No first-hand experience with either, but they're likely to show more soiling than the charcoal. That's exactly the reason I went with the latter.

Thanks to a dealer employee's goof, I had a chance to re-order my 2005. Absolute must-have in my book: Xenon lighting package - still can't understand why this car comes without them as standard equipment. Everything else is icing on the cake. See my sig below for the options I chose.

 

Beowulf

'05 Pewter Silver Metallic/Charcoal E55 AMG (Dealer mishap - on the way out)
'05 Brilliant Silver Metallic/Charcoal E55 AMG (On order - week of December 13 build - 317 Comfort Package, 319 Lighting Package, DVD COMAND Navigation, Parktronic, Power Rear Window Sunshade, 6-Disc CD Changer, Electronic Trunk Closer, Keyless Go)

Nice choice since I have the same color and options, with the exception of the rear window power shade.

 

Blue Nubuck

 

I've seen it in person...it pictures do it NO justice. Thousand times better looking in person. Spero's car is one hella beauty!

 

2nd

 

Thanks so much for the replies. When I posted I did not realize that ALL interiors come with Nubuck. I assumed the plain Charcoal was all one material. Would love to see pics of the Merlot. The Blue looked sweet in those photos. Beowulf: Do you use your rear sunshade? They look cool going up and down but I'm afraid that coolness would on display only the 1 or 2 times I played with it to show it to friends. Am very excited to be getting the car. It's gonna be a long 2 months.

 

Must haves - Xenons, Sunroof, Keyless Go, Heated Seats, Either CD or Satellite (but not both), Integrated hands free phone. I could do without the drive dynamic seats - never use them. The panop roof looks nice but is no better than a regular sunroof IMHO. Would get the rear sunshade if the car's gonna be outside a lot.

 

You obviously have great taste!

 

It makes a definite difference during the summer when my car is parked outside at the office. The "coolness" factor translates into literally cooler interior temps when the car's been sitting outside in the hot sun. Usually the front half of the car is shielded by the building's shade. Well worth it for my situation.

 

I have the Merlot and honestly pictures don't do it justice.

Must haves are Xenon, Panoramic Roof, Keyless GO, Active Ventilated w/ Drive Dynamic seats, Rear sunshade with the side roller blinds for rear passengers, CD Changer, and Parktronic.

 

I use my rear sunshade on a regular basis during hot summer days with passengers in the back or when parked in the sun. If you have little ones, a must since they are always in the back and they hate it when the sun is shinning bright from the rear. My opinion is it gives the car a more upscale and sophisticated look. It also allows for privacy since it is harder to see what is going on in the back when folks are behind you.

 

Very true, with two kids myself its a great idea to have this in any car. Plus it keeps the car cool. Too bad you cant get the solar panels anymore, otherwise I would have suggested that with the Pano roof.

 

The must haves are keyless go, pano, parktronic, cd changer, xenons, imho of course.

 

With a one month old at home I second this. We use power sunshade all the time when she is in the car. The ones on the side windows are very helpful as well. I wouldnt call it a must have unless you have little ones though. Before my daugher was born, only use I got was showing it off when I first got the car.

Other musts IMO:

Xenons - the car "deserves" them - frankly they should be standard. I find it rather amazing that my old $32,000 Honda S2000 had them and they were xtra on my $80,000 benz!

Nav System - I use all the time and it has saved me more than once

 

Bi-xeon, Navi, Rear sunshade/side shade roller, parktronic, panoramic roof, keyless go, trunk closer are must.

I have active ventilated seat plus dynamic seat. Only used them couple times. I can live with out it.

 

Charcoal/Merlot

 

t-bone. have you posted pics of your car with the new wheels? would love to see them

 

Thanks for all the feedback and photos. Got a wild hair to go the Designo route until my sales person told me it would set the order back 6 months.
So I went with Flint/Merlot with Keyless Go, Electronic trunk, Rear Shade, CD Changer, Sat Radio, DVD Nav, Hands Free Voice Control, Parktronic, Tire Pressure, Lighting Pkg. Will be built end of December or first of January.
Couple of ancillary questions: What is your best and worst range on a tank of gas? Do the back seats fold down? How many E55's come to the US each year?

 

Nope, and I wish it did. Great option list, I don't know why they said designo would set it back 6 months, I ordered designo and this was to replace an allocation that was already ordered and subsequently cancelled so it actually went in as a change (had to get the regional sales rep involved). Don't settle with a car of this caliber, get what you want, exactly what you want (just my opinion)

 

Krispykrme...I agree on the ventilated seats, but the dynamic seat option is a must in my opinion. I use that sucker a lot and it does the job in keeping you in your seat!!!! I like the massage feature, too...just wish it would go further up my back, rather than just keying in on our lower back area.

If I had to do it over...I would probably add satelite radio to my options list,too.

 

Gorgeous color combo and nice option choices are hard to beat, vitaman!

No idea on gas mileage - but my car's becoming best friends with the local BP Amoco station. Seriously, I don't pay too much attention to gas consumption (I figure that's just part of the admission price), though I have noted 20+ mpg on a steady highway cruise. Update: just checked and it says I'm averaging 16.6 mpg! This is after a couple of quick 0-100 runs yesterday (finally got the repaired Pewter '05 back from the dealer last week - now just waiting for the replacement car to arrive). Think I need to vote with my right foot to make greater contributions to its gas mileage delinquency!

I haven't found any definitive source for production figures of W211 E55's, although some, including my dealer, say each of the 311 U.S. dealers are allocated two cars. I'm pretty sure the actual number of E55's sold in the U.S. is more than that, although the mbusa site says:

"AMG models are special, limited production vehicles. Production and sales vary by model, but annual sales of approximately 1,000 for each model are typical, unless a model is in extremely high demand. In 2001, approximately 18,700 AMGs were sold worldwide. About 40% of AMG models are sold in the United States."

Another source says that the 2001 production was apportioned as follows:

"AMG’s main markets are the U.S., Canada and Germany. All in all, the company sold about 3,800 C-Class vehicles (C 32), over 2,500 E-Class passenger cars (E 55), more than 2,000 CLK 55s, around 2,200 SLK 32s, more than 3,500 M-Class vehicles (ML 55) and nearly 4,000 S-Class vehicles and CL coupes (S/CL 55) last year." Hmm, I notice it didn't say anything about SL55's.

If those numbers are accurate, and given the 40% US-bound production, I'd guess the current flow - assuming some sales growth - is probably 1,500 U.S. E55's annually. Anyone have better info?