Hey palll where on earth are you lol ?? I would love to do a side by side comparison vs the 212 ! I can't wait till we find a w211 55 vs 212 AMG !

 

I have to agree with Motor Trend "the car is over-styled and too busy. You can definitely tell it is a Mercedes, but it's a design that won't last long". Completely subjective, I know, but I prefer to wait until the FL or W213

 

+1
I'll wait, too. Plus it'll have the more powerful and mod friendly TT motors.

Right now the current W212 E63 is an odd duck sitting in between better performance with the arrival of the TTs and soon to be revised facelift styling. I have a suspicion they won't sell a lot of these until then.

Top Gear's Jeremy Clarkson was even less forgiving about the design:

"There’s a curious and extremely ugly styling detail on the rear wings of the new Mercedes E-class. It’s a crease that sets off from the back end with much purpose and drive, but when it reaches the door, it sort of gives up and, like the Okavango river, meanders about before giving up on the idea of existing in the first place.

One thing is for sure. It serves no purpose. It will make the car no faster, no more stable at speed and no more economical. And it’s not a traditional Mercedes thing either — it’s not like the BMW Hofmeister kink in the rear window, which is present on all models."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/dri...cle6717935.ece

 

LOL. Clarkson's hilarious.

My fav's from that Article:

"Mercedes says, apparently, it added the crease as a nod to some model in the company’s dim and murky past. Probably the one Hitler drove. But this makes no sense really. When I buy a new iPod, I don’t want it to look even remotely like my grandfather’s gramophone player. So why should I want my new car to have a feature from the days of running boards?

And, anyway, no one is going to say: “Ah so. I see you’ve hinted at the 1942 Doogleburger model with that crease on the flank.” They’re just going to do what I did: spend hours wondering if Mercedes has the first idea about form and function."

And:

"Nevertheless, despite all this, I don’t believe the crease in the E-class was there from the get-go. I may be wrong, of course. But in my mind the stylists did the car and then thought: “Oh dear. That’s a bit boring. Let’s put a styling detail on the rear wings to distract people from the tedium.” Think of it, then, as one of Jon Snow’s ties."

 

LOL,
I've never owned an AMG before, but after test driving the w212 E63, I'm sold.
I guess it all depends where you place your priorities...comfort, handling, style.
If you want all these things satisfied, you're heading into a much higher price point.
As for me, I place a higher premium on the driving experience...

 

Oh, this was excellent! You just nailed it! Yeah!

 

My last reply refers to 220S' comments.

 

I think you misunderstand it all. Of course we all put our priority in the driving experience. But does that mean we all have to be content with owning what we consider an ugly goose just because it's there? No, we don't. Because we choose cars for both performance and looks.

Performance and styling go hand in hand. There's nothing new or unusual about that. Design is a huge issue. It's been there from day one in the history of the automobile, come on!

And as AMG and MB owners, we also watch more carefully (then non-owners) the progression of these cars. Just as BMW owners watch the progression of the M5, etc.. And mfgs track this stuff and pay attention. Look at the E60 compared to the F10. A whole new shift in design paradigm. Why not just leave the car closer to the way it was? That would have been a lot cheaper. And if the car should sell on performance only anyway (as you suggest), then why even bother with the design at all? Because design sells.

(p.s., that's also why facelifts occur; no just to help move product but to improve on design.)

 

Of course design and style are factors.
But it is how much one would weigh those factors.
Every model that comes out with a major redesign, there are ALWAYS the loyal faithful who NEVER accept the new design. Happens all the time.
When the E60 M5 first came out, I really thought it was hideous. But the power and handling won me over. As one matures and the design evolves, the new becomes old.
When I look at previous generation 5 series or 7 series, I really think it looks dated.
So, yes. Of course style and design are important factors that need consideration. But some may place alot less importance on those factors.
Perfect example would be the V8 Vantage. When I test drove it when it first came out, I absolutely loved the style and design, but I could not get over the lack of power. Just not happening.

 

I guess we could agree to a certain extent.

I definitely wouldn't buy a car that underperformed even if it looked supremely gorgeous. But nor would I buy a car that looks hideous just because it performs like no other. Even if I had the cash to spend, I would never buy a Bugatti. I think it's ugly as sin.

And I don't like the E60 either. But I like the performance that's for certain. But there's no way I'd have one in my garage (the new F10 may now be the best of both, we'll see.)

I'm no fanboy of any brand and so each new design gets scrutinized by me on its merits alone. And of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it gets somewhat subjective, but car design and performance is what the pleasure of car ownership is all about.

 

I don't really understand why some people dislike the new styling but I personally LOVE this




After test driving it today I think I'm going to get it

 

I love the front, and the profile with the 19"s...The only part that I'm not a huge fan of is the exhaust tips, but that's easily changed...Enjoy it if you get it...That is a sweet looking beast..!!!

 

I know its quite a change from the W211, but at least its way more of a "updated look" than the W203

 

Huge congrats, that must be a great feeling

It looks sharp and aggressive especially in the E63 form, I just can't get into the boxy lines. I saw one next to an SL today, and the sultry lines of the SL made the new E350 look like a mechanical box, IMO.

Oddly enough, looking at that W203 next to it, even just that little spec of it, I prefer those soft and smooth lines (for the record I'm not big on the W203, and don't think it's "nicer" than a W212, but it kind of proves to myself why the lines of the 212 just aren't "for me").

 

Those tail lights are way too huge and fugly. Plus the Ponton haunch is fugly (as Jeremy Clarkson said.)

The rest of it's okay. But hopefully they'll realize what they did and do an early 'butt lift' on the W212.

And I'm not too keen on those new style wheels. That extension on the lip where they stamped "AMG" looks like old style wheel weights on the lip. Weird.

 

Yeah, I have my "love/hate" areas with it too. That's funny about the wheel-weight thing.

You'd have to think, after literally massive criticism toward the cars butt, from just about every review, Mag, Car Forum, etc. M-B must be thinking of what they're gonna do with the F.L.

Like the old saying, "looks like the designer of the front of the car never met the designer of the rear". Such different personalities coming from each angle.

Fact is, M-B has never changed the actual design and construction of any area of a car for an F.L. The actual shape, proportions, tail-light design/shape, trunk, "sloping-downward" nature, etc. are gonna be here to stay. Aside from tweaking the bumper, literal "light" design, and playing with chrome, etc. the rear is probably gonna stick. If they did go through extensive lengths, it would be due to nothing more than too much criticism. BMW did massive re-doing with the F.L E65 7-Series, and we all know how much criticism it took for them to get THAT pig done. Fortunately the 212's bland sloping rear and bulky taillights don't hold a candle to the fugliness that occurred with the OG E65's butt or face, and as we all know, BMW owners are LOUD with their complaints and/or fanboyism.

 

What does "F.L." stand for?

 

+1

 

Nice pics K-A. Man, I'm liking this thing more and more each time I look at it. Is that Obsidian Black or flat? Can't tell from the pic. I see the 19"s, but I've recently learned that they're not a necessarily lock for the performance package,... you can order them individually. Good luck!

 

Yeah you can, actually most of the new E63's I've seen with the 19's have not had the performance pack...I think it was like $2500 for the wheels...

 

Face-Lift.

 

Mind if i ask what people are paying for the lease on the new e63?

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but can you clarify what you mean by "non-adjustable suspension"? Both the old and new cars have 3 transmission modes: Normal, Sport1, Sport2 (or similar name). The only suspension adjustment that was lost on the new car was the button to manually raise the car an inch or so.

I am confused about your reference.

 

^^^ I think that's what he meant(?) I like being able to raise the car; too many bad driveways around here and generally bad exits and entrances in parking areas, etc.. I'd have a destroyed front lip and scraped up exhaust tips if I didn't have that option many times here in LA.

Aside from the design, which is very subjective (I have a love hate relationship with it at the moment) there are a few things about the W212 E63 that are troublesome.

First off, the motor will be replaced by the time the BMW F10 M5 will be on the market (Spring 2011.) So that makes this W212 as an odd duck. New body design but older motor. I would wait.

Secondly, and this is where I'm truly disappointed, is that the car has been decontented. The MSRP was dropped and that missed income has to be recouped somewhere (hey, Daimler AG is a publicly held company and stockholders get angry when profit isn't there.)

I went yesterday again to the dealer and looked carefully.

The following things will not seem like anything to most people (esp brand new MB owners) and I realize they don't affect the performance of the car. But they do show that MB is cutting costs and it's unfortunate, imho.

The headliner is cheap C Class material and no more Alcantara.
The door panels are not padded and instead are hard with hard leather (the W211 had a soft quilted and pillow-like leather panel)
The sun visors are C Class, thin and filmsy.
The leather is not soft quality Napa but harder pebble grained leather like the E350/550.
The overhead interior lamp is no longer the ambiance halo light but instead a hard white plastic square lamp like the C Class.
The vents are chrome colored plastic; there is a lot of cheap looking chrome colored plastic which tries to look classy but fails to do so.
There is no carpet material on the lower doors or the center console.
The floor mats are a flimsier material.
The gauges are like the C Class gauges with cheap plastic chrome accents (like at the base of the dials.)

The list goes on and I'll go again to take pictures. The salesperson I spoke with broke down and admitted what is going on. In fact, Daimler made a big issue in a press release a few months ago about sharing parts bins with the C Class and the E Class and making production much more profitable. These visible material cost cutting might not seem like much but over the production run it can save lots of $$$.

Now, none of this might mean anything to anybody here. And car mfgs are profit driven companies. That's all okay. But when I see a new model come out that has very visible cost cutting going on, it gets really disappointing. And MB has always been the company that builds with detail in mind. I sort of expect evolution and not devolution. I expect something way better than what previously existed. Sure the W212 E63 has MCT (already in the SLs) and a tuned suspension. But beyond that nothing's really changed.

By next year we'll have a new and totally different E63 AMG performance-wise but that cost cutting in materials will remain. It's kinda sad, that's all.....

 

Wait what do you mean a totally new e63 in a year, it just came out? Went to check the car out today, great and all but the back is so underwhelming. It makes the car look like it should cost a lot less then 100k, not sure what benz was thinking making a car look so cheap from the back. But it is a great car, not like i will see the back when i am driving it so most likely will get it after my lease is up on the jag.