C350e owners club

[Deleted member 126969]

This isn't clear to me, when the article says

'Mercedes currently has no plug-in hybrids available to order but will start selling them again within the next two months, starting with the S-class and E-class models. The C class is not due until next year, a spokesman said. All will record under 50g/km of CO2, he said.'​

is the C200 1.5L mild hybrid a plug-in or just a non-plug in hybrid?
Also, what is the CO2 of the C350e? A quick look at the carbuyer website says 48g/km. All of which makes no sense to me.

The C350e was assessed under NEDC, and only just squeaked in at 48g/km as long as you stuck with the smaller wheels. No way it would pass under WLTP and I fully understand why they don't want to release cars that wouldn't qualify under the new rules.

I'd have been much happier if ours had a bigger battery range, so it's good for future buyers I guess.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Yes, agreed Chris. This gap is probably a good time to sell our current models, because there is no new equivalent. When the new ones do come out, our current cars might look a bit "Betamax"...

 

[Jeddy]

I know what you mean, but selling any time soon is going to result in a big loss over a short time for me.
However, I suspect the gap could be useful for another reason. If there was no gap, then there would be a big drop between old and newer models second hand as no-one would really want the slightly older but old tech model unless at a big discount, while if there is a big time gap, then the only people looking at the old model would be those who couldn't afford a much more expensive and quite a bit newer new tech model - a different market.
I think that makes sense.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I don’t plan on selling ours for the foreseeable. It was always intended as a long term purchase and our typical driving pattern means that even with the small better it has, it does the job pretty well most of the time. The odd longer trip we do wouldn’t really benefit all that much from double the battery range anyway I don’t think.

I’m one of the two or three people that bought one outright for cash, rather than it being a company car or on some sort of PCP deal Or perhaps that should be Doh!

 

[Jeddy]

I’m one of the two or three people that bought one outright for cash, rather than it being a company car or on some sort of PCP deal Or perhaps that should be Doh!

Me too, a private cash purchase, although I bought it used at 11months old for maybe 25% off new price, but still rather alarmed that if I were to sell now I'd probably loose 25% of what I paid after only 7 months.
Although as you say, given my driving... On this tank, fuel at 56%, distance travelled 300 miles - range 311 miles. That feels better.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I was daft enough to buy ours new. I try not to think about how much that decision has cost. Up until buying this, I always bought used cars that were expensive new and depreciated like, well Merc hybrids.

We usually see around 80mpg or so, although a 300 mile round trip last weekend with no destination charge was low 40s. Not sure why that was so poor actually, as it usually does low 50s on that sort of trip. Hard to calculate the electricity cost as we have solar PV and usually try to arrange charging on good solar days when we can.

 

[Jeddy]

I'm sad enough to charge mine via a 3 pin plug with a power meter in it so I can keep track of leccy usage - well, at least I could if I remembered to make a note of the usage each time I filled it up! Still, I get a rough picture over the longer term. I think with solar PV and FITs you'd need a degree in maths to make sense of that. Smart move though! A mate has a Leaf and as best I understand it (hmmm) he can charge it on sunny days and gets a FIT based on how much leccy he generates regardless of whether he uses it or not - cake and eat it!
I'm hoping the depreciation isn't as bad as it looks. While Parkers etc. suggests I've taken a hit, I notice a similar car at MB main dealers is still the same as I paid, I think the hit was buying from a main dealer and now looking at the Parkers trade in - I bet if I'd checked Parkers when I was thinking of buying it I'd have seen the same. The Parkers was also a basic check so didn't take account of the pana roof, low mileage etc. etc.. Not sure who I'm trying to convince here! As you say, long term...

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Not sad at all, I’d thought about ways to monitor actual charge energy but we have a Rolec so that would mean yet another current transformer and monitoring system to add the the existing spaghetti so I wussed out in the end. Ultimately it doesn’t really matter is suppose.

The FIT thing isn’t the cash cow it used to be. We’ve only had the solar just over a year and we got very low tariffs as a result. We also have a Tesla Powerwall, so we tend to use or store rather more of what we generate than most, but still get paid for 100% of what we generate at one rate, and 50% at another, even though we only actually export a small fraction.

Good to hear used prices are reasonable, but I’d rather not look

 

[TheCorm]

Non-plugin Hybrids are last decades revolution, they're old school no matter how much Toyota list it is a benefit that you don't have to plug in.

The the c400e we read about isn't going to happen then.....

Unrelated.....does anyone (particularly those with estates) ever find that they've accidentally opened the boot from in the house. Mine was left with the boot wide open all night with temps down to 3c last night, I can only assume I accidentally pressed the boot release button when moving my keys....it's happened a few times recently never in the first 2 years of ownership so either it's a shorter button press or i'm getting older. and clumsier....suspect the latter.

One thing I am shocked about is that it doesn't link to the parking sensors when opening the boot on the estate, the other week I accidentally activated it when I was reversed up to the wall (as I always am as we have charge points at work) and it tried to open it into the wall a ran and held it from opening more, the electric motor trying to strain against my hand "let me crunch into the wall!"

 

[C350ezoom]

...
does anyone (particularly those with estates) ever find that they've accidentally opened the boot from in the house. Mine was left with the boot wide open all night with temps down to 3c last night, I can only assume I accidentally pressed the boot release button when moving my keys....it's happened a few times recently never in the first 2 years of ownership so either it's a shorter button press or i'm getting older. and clumsier....suspect the latter....
...

I have found the tailgate open sufficiently often that I've wondered whether there is a fault with the car. I was going to temporarily knobble the button on the keypad to see whether it still happens but I haven't worked-out how to get to the switch without destroying the key

 

[LeggySilverfox]

I have found the tailgate open sufficiently often that I've wondered whether there is a fault with the car. I was going to temporarily knobble the button on the keypad to see whether it still happens but I haven't worked-out how to get to the switch without destroying the key

This has happened to me a few times. Last week being the most recent at work. I have assumed I must have pressed the button on the key fob by accident. Would be handy if the key fob bleeped to warn you.

 

[LeggySilverfox]

Any one else tried the CarPlay upgrade from Braybrooks? My satnav is just so rubbish that this would low me to use Google maps instead. The other day on a straight road it kept telling me to take the next left , followed by another which effectively was a loop back onto the same road. As I continued to ignore it would update and repeat the instruction. On another occasion wanting to get on to the M5 it ignored the fact I was almost approaching it, instead wanting to send me into part of Birmingham!

 

[TheCorm]

This has happened to me a few times. Last week being the most recent at work. I have assumed I must have pressed the button on the key fob by accident. Would be handy if the key fob bleeped to warn you.

It could at least do a notification on the app like the your vehicle is open ones "Hey you're boot is open!"

 

[Nick Harper]

German automakers stop selling plug-in hybrids after losing incentives

I think the title is misleading and doesn't really apply to Mercedes. It states that Mercedes have no plug in hybrids and will be launching a new one next year. We know about the C400e having twice the electric BHP and twice the range so I guess this will get under 50g for the new standard. I don't think they'd have bothered announcing it the other month if they already new that it would not meet the 50g mark.

 

[Nick Harper]

I have mine on Individual with Steering and Suspension on Comfort, Engine and Climate on ECO, i'd prefer to have the engine on Comfort too but it doesn't do the higher level of automatic regen in that mode.

I use Sport and Sport + for overtaking stuff, I never use the Eco option. It does annoy me how slow it is at changing from D to R in Eco engine mode though, this results in ruining quick turns in the road and/or engine kicking in and trying to ram parked cars.

I'm not sure this is the whole reason. The manual says that you should have the break pressed and the car stationary when switching between D and R. I find that if the car is not stationary and I'm not on the break, the engaging the forward or reverse gear is slow and the car will roll irrespective of driving mode. I suspect that all the driving mode does is make it more or less likely to roll and, thus, delay moving between gears.

What did annoy me is the car complaining that the parking break is engaged as I pull off. Again, waiting half a second fixed that problem.

 

[Nick Harper]

Any one else tried the CarPlay upgrade from Braybrooks? My satnav is just so rubbish that this would low me to use Google maps instead. The other day on a straight road it kept telling me to take the next left , followed by another which effectively was a loop back onto the same road. As I continued to ignore it would update and repeat the instruction. On another occasion wanting to get on to the M5 it ignored the fact I was almost approaching it, instead wanting to send me into part of Birmingham!

Annoying. Clicked their Smartphone integration link and got error 404. The rest of their site appears to work though

 

[Dodgy]

I think the title is misleading and doesn't really apply to Mercedes. It states that Mercedes have no plug in hybrids and will be launching a new one next year. We know about the C400e having twice the electric BHP and twice the range so I guess this will get under 50g for the new standard. I don't think they'd have bothered announcing it the other month if they already new that it would not meet the 50g mark.

I’d be delighted to be proved wrong, but in what way does this not apply to Mercedes? They are German and they don’t currently offer any plug-in hybrids.

Their EQ website is a complete joke: Electric Intelligence. Click on the “view full range” link near the bottom of the page and there are no new Mercedes vehicles available. There’s no mention of the C400e. Everything is either out of stock or not available yet.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Non-plugin Hybrids are last decades revolution, they're old school no matter how much Toyota list it is a benefit that you don't have to plug in.

The the c400e we read about isn't going to happen then.....

Unrelated.....does anyone (particularly those with estates) ever find that they've accidentally opened the boot from in the house. Mine was left with the boot wide open all night with temps down to 3c last night, I can only assume I accidentally pressed the boot release button when moving my keys....it's happened a few times recently never in the first 2 years of ownership so either it's a shorter button press or i'm getting older. and clumsier....suspect the latter.

One thing I am shocked about is that it doesn't link to the parking sensors when opening the boot on the estate, the other week I accidentally activated it when I was reversed up to the wall (as I always am as we have charge points at work) and it tried to open it into the wall a ran and held it from opening more, the electric motor trying to strain against my hand "let me crunch into the wall!"

A saloon, but on ours, you have to hold the button for a long time before the boot opens - a quick dab won't do it.

 

[TheCorm]

A saloon, but on ours, you have to hold the button for a long time before the boot opens - a quick dab won't do it.

Same on the estate, it requires a 2-3 second hold press which is why it seems odd, I think it should send you a notification if the boot is sitting there open for a lengthy period.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Does it not send the unlock message? Are the doors locked when this happens?

Any chance you are opening the boot any other way by accident? Door pocket switch, or swipey foot gadget?