C or E class? Some advice please

[developer]

Thanks to you all for your comments. I like the comment about not being old enough for an E Class. I think I may be just in that camp. Just hit 40 and not necessarily ready to admit I really like the E Class.

If you think E's are for old men, come to TRAX at Silverstone, with Savman and Acid, Alps and Lopez, Sheepy too.

The fastest cars down the 1/4 are E's, two of them being estates.

Old man's car - pah!

If that's a representative price for a Sport, private sale, on a 2007, I'm happy.

I note it doesn't have COMAND 2.5 which is a shame.

 

[st4]

It is an old mans car if they have to ride in the back, laid out flat!!!!

John you should know that by now?

 

[carrotbay]

Many thanks again for your advice last month. I am the proud owner of a 2008 E320 Sport Estate as of yesterday after a careful scour of available cars up and down the country. Flint Grey with all the required extras on it .. happy man

 

[developer]

Great choice, great colour.

Get those photos up pronto Tonto .

 

[isleaiw]

Driving position.
This was the killer for me, if I was just doing loads of short sub 1 hour trips I probably wouldn't have got so annoyed with it, but I do 35-45k miles a year and it annoyed me.

The seat doesn't go low enough.
The base doesn't raise up enough under the knees.
The car is bigger and there is actually a bit too much gap between armrest and driver on the door side, and the window line is so high resting your elbow on that is not comfy at all.
Then we have the steering wheel and cluster, it is all wrong. You should be able to get in your seating position and rest your wrists on the wheel at 10 and 2 o'clock, do that in the 212 and you can't see the cluster, you know you are doing somewhere between 20mph and 160mph but what speed exactly is anyones guess.
So you raise the steering wheel up to see the cluster, and then you definitely can't reach the armrest.
I ended up compromising with not being able to see above 50mph but could see the digital speedo, but had to hold the bottom of the wheel to do this and use the armrest.
As I said, for the first hour this is fine, but at the end of the day when you are tired and still have 100 miles to get home in rush hour it was a real ball ache.

The final straw for me was driving back from South of France, I trip I do all the time, have done it in loads of cars from 3 series, 5 series and the 211, and it has always been fine, it takes a good 11-13 hours usually but stop every 3 hours for an espresso and with my tunes playing not an issue.
I very nearly stopped after 7 hours in the 212 and got a hotel, it was that uncomfy.

I sold the car a couple of weeks later.



Having said all that though, I am now doing 18k miles a year max, so I would consider another one, but do think the F11 5 series is a better all round car.
BMW has got softer, Mercedes has got more dynamic, and I now think the BMW is the better mile muncher of the two, which is not something you could have ever said about the 211 vs the E61 previous generations.

Interesting views as I have just got my first E class - a 212 estate. I regularly drive it 260 miles a day and so it was bought for comfort and motorway mile eating.

I'd agree that the window line isnt ideal to rest your elbow on but i found that an issue with many cars and some have a much higher window line than the E. Unlike you, i find the seat height fine - indeed I have mine quite a way off the lowest setting! I also dont have a problem with seeing the cluster but because i spend so much time driving on the M1 I tend not to hold the wheel where you should and just holding it near the bottom with one hand works for me.

So far I am 1500 miles in and have no complaints about the car - the interior quality is better than the Volvos and BMW 3s I have had before, the seats are comfortable and the driving position is fine. The 4 cylinder diesel will never be as refined as a 6 but I didnt need the performance or worse fuel consumption of the bigger car.

Ian

 

[bpsorrel]

Another for the 211. My E estate was probably the best car I've had in a long time and certainly the best MB.

Very well made, comfortable, fast enough and actually quite good handling and even reasonably stylish for an estate and cavernous. What more could anyone want!

Was a mistake selling it.

 

[mbenz1]

By looking at the posts in this thread, most seem to think that the 211 FL has better quality, in terms of materials, robustness and assembly.

I thought that MB improved the quality of their cars significantly since the last few years? Many people claim the 212 is a 'flashback' of the W124?

I really like the non-glossy material and the filling under the material (very strong when pressed), inside the 212 interior. The doors also have a solid 'thud' when closed. I feel these things are lacking in the 211?? What are your thoughts?

 

[rothbury]

Interesting views as I have just got my first E class - a 212 estate. I regularly drive it 260 miles a day and so it was bought for comfort and motorway mile eating.

I'd agree that the window line isnt ideal to rest your elbow on but i found that an issue with many cars and some have a much higher window line than the E. Unlike you, i find the seat height fine - indeed I have mine quite a way off the lowest setting! I also dont have a problem with seeing the cluster but because i spend so much time driving on the M1 I tend not to hold the wheel where you should and just holding it near the bottom with one hand works for me.

So far I am 1500 miles in and have no complaints about the car - the interior quality is better than the Volvos and BMW 3s I have had before, the seats are comfortable and the driving position is fine. The 4 cylinder diesel will never be as refined as a 6 but I didnt need the performance or worse fuel consumption of the bigger car.

Ian

Very much in agreement and really do people drive around resting their elbows on the window ledge or trying to!!
Anyway I had a s211 2005 and loved it but my new E250 cdi estate is better in most respects . The 7g + box is very smooth the ride is good and the intelligent light system excellent. Economy not bad with cold weather and short journeys but after a few more miles I expect better than my 2009 C estate which had e same engine,. The old 320 Cdi had a completely flat load compartment and residual heating but those were really the only things that were better

 

[gIzzE]

Depends, if I can't get really comfy it annoys, but I did 43,000 miles last year.
Doing Norwich to Glasgow having a meeting and then getting back to Norwich again in a day because you are in Exeter the next morning makes you notice little things like comfort.
I found the 211 far more comfortable than the 212.

 

[st4]

Depends, if I can't get really comfy it annoys, but I did 43,000 miles last year.
Doing Norwich to Glasgow having a meeting and then getting back to Norwich again in a day because you are in Exeter the next morning makes you notice little things like comfort.
I found the 211 far more comfortable than the 212.

Seat design innit.

The 212 seats IMHO are very poor, the 211s are better and the 204s better than the 212 but not like the 211s.

Want decent seats, get an S class. If I was a motorway pilot thats what I would use

 

[gIzzE]

The other niggle on the 212 was the steering, that stupid parametric steering where it gets tighter as it goes round, I get the point of it, means on a motorway you are not fighting with it when trying to keep it straight, I just hated it though, and found it a bit dangerous.

A constant consistent turn is what you and your brain expects, on fast long sweeping bends you can never really judge it, it turns sharper as the bend sharpens, and that is not very clever imho.
I have been assured that this had been raised numerous times at Mercedes AG and has been dropped from the facelift E Class.

 

[st4]

I had a sport 212, steering just seemed really too light, the 204 set up is proper. The 211 seemed to steer better and feedback better than the 212 and 204, but the 212s was more accurate.

 

[steve333]

I had a sport 212, steering just seemed really too light, the 204 set up is proper. The 211 seemed to steer better and feedback better than the 212 and 204, but the 212s was more accurate.

Seen a few comments on here recently re the 212's steering,got to say although mine is lighter than my 219 i find it a very good/accurate & parking is a doddle-AMG steering wheel the best i've had for comfort/grip.

 

[isleaiw]

Seen a few comments on here recently re the 212's steering,got to say although mine is lighter than my 219 i find it a very good/accurate & parking is a doddle-AMG steering wheel the best i've had for comfort/grip.

Cant say I ahve noticed anything odd about the steering in mine either! Maybe its because most of my driving is done in a straight line though!

 

[rothbury]

The other niggle on the 212 was the steering, that stupid parametric steering where it gets tighter as it goes round, I get the point of it, means on a motorway you are not fighting with it when trying to keep it straight, I just hated it though, and found it a bit dangerous.

A constant consistent turn is what you and your brain expects, on fast long sweeping bends you can never really judge it, it turns sharper as the bend sharpens, and that is not very clever imho.
I have been assured that this had been raised numerous times at Mercedes AG and has been dropped from the facelift E Class.

After just under three months I am very happy with the E250 cdi estate. I agree with you that it was not possible to instantly find the best wheel/seat position but now I find it really comfortable. I am happy with the steering and handling as well. Maybe the 2013 build was an improvement. Also it is surprising how much more refined the engine is in the E compared with the 2009 C class. MPG so far is showing 38 ave which given my trip to work is only 4 miles and up hill on the way back is pretty good especially as the mway stuff is usually done fairly fast . Only 3400 miles so far so I am expecting better as the mileage increases.