C350e owners club

[CaptainChaos]

I think Charge mode in traffic is not worth it, but if you are on a motorway the charge mode doesn't seem to hit the mpg quite as bad. This is not scientific - just watching the mpg readout and seeing what happened. E-Save will charge to some extent too. If the weather is cold try not to use the electric at the start of the journey. Use it once the car (cabin) is warmed up.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Secondly, your photos of your trip display look different to mine?
View attachment 86358

Mine were of the trip just done screen. Yours looks like the total screen.

 

[raspy]

As I have come to realise, if you expect decent service, don’t buy an MB. Yes indeed, you could reasonably expect that the dealer would actually test the basic functions of the car before delivery....sadly, you aren’t likely to get that sort of service. My brand new car was totally flat when I picked it up. You’d think they could plug it in and charge it before delivery, but nope, no chance. They simply don’t give two hoots.

@Chris-S Sorry to hear you folks have had bad experience. I had exceptional customer service when buying my used C350e through a MB dealer.

 

[raspy]

My MB 12 month used car warranty was about to expire. I was offered a quote of £443 to renew for another year with a one off payment, but I chose the option of £43 a month for a rolling warranty that I could cancel at any time (Tesla Model 3 due in June)

They only offer a single tier of coverage now, and despite my best efforts to haggle over the phone, they insisted the quotes are fixed, and no discounts can be given. I haven't needed the warranty in 12 months of ownership, but I prefer peace of mind as unexpected things can happen.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

@raspy I'm sure the basic experience is very dealer-specific - certainly, the new dealer I took it to to have the maps updated seemed more obliging - will see how they do when the service is due.

I certainly want impressed with MB themselves when I was trying to clarify the warranty situation on the hybrid components.

Good luck with the M3 - rather fancy one myself, but I'm done buying new cars - once was more than enough. Unless we win the lottery of course....

 

[Smartn]

Did 154 miles yesterday starting with only approx 80 % charge and no access to chargers during the day. Drove carefully and achieved 50.4 mpg over that distance so very pleased with that.

I'm confused by the pre-entry climate at the moment as I assumed it would not drain the battery if you were plugged in or at least charge the battery at the same time. I had it set to leave at 6.30 and all it did was pre-heat and drain the battery by a few percentage points. Is there an optimum time to set departure time at so it has a chance to recharge any drain from the pre-heat process?

 

[raspy]

Did 154 miles yesterday starting with only approx 80 % charge and no access to chargers during the day. Drove carefully and achieved 50.4 mpg over that distance so very pleased with that.

I'm confused by the pre-entry climate at the moment as I assumed it would not drain the battery if you were plugged in or at least charge the battery at the same time. I had it set to leave at 6.30 and all it did was pre-heat and drain the battery by a few percentage points. Is there an optimum time to set departure time at so it has a chance to recharge any drain from the pre-heat process?

@Smartn Yes I assumed the same when I first got my car, but then I noticed it would drain the battery a bit with the pre entry climate, which didn't make it a worthwhile option for me. Unless there is an option we are not selecting when setting departure time?

Nice work on the mpg. Impressive. I started this morning with 16% charge and drove about 30 miles to Heathrow airport. Ended up with 42mpg.

BTW, at Heathrow Terminal 2 and 3 short stay car parks they have Podpoint (free) chargers, which is very useful.

 

[Dodgy]

A 3.6kW charger can keep the battery topped up.

When I was using the 3-pin plug, I used to set the departure time earlier than I was leaving. On really cold days, I’d pre-condition again at departure time and be at 95%+ charge.

 

[Smartn]

A 3.6kW charger can keep the battery topped up.

When I was using the 3-pin plug, I used to set the departure time earlier than I was leaving. On really cold days, I’d pre-condition again at departure time and be at 95%+ charge.

Ah, Thanks Dodgy. That makes sense then, I'm charging from the Granny cable until my new wall charger is installed. So once I get 3.6kW charging all I'll need to do is set the departure time actually at when I'm going to leave and it will have the climate set nicely and full battery?

 

[wivenhoe]

Had a bit of luck today. Left the charge flap open and walked into it. The cover shot off and I thought as others have posted
- bumper off job would be required. Don’t know whether they have changed the design (E350e) but the outer body colour had flipped off leaving a black flap as well as the plug flap. The body colour flap just push fitted back on and job done.

In the previous posts it looked like the outer flap was just one piece so if pushed back the entire outer flap broke off, so I wonder if they have changed it, that said my car is a year old

 

[GPT]

Hi,

Has anyone fitted 19inch AMG alloys to thier 350e?

Any issues at all?

Thanks

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Dodgy]

Ah, Thanks Dodgy. That makes sense then, I'm charging from the Granny cable until my new wall charger is installed. So once I get 3.6kW charging all I'll need to do is set the departure time actually at when I'm going to leave and it will have the climate set nicely and full battery?

That’s the way it’s worked for me. Good luck!

I’m enjoying not having to open and shut the garage door every time I plug in.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Very glad we went for a fixed charger with tethered cable.

 

[Smartn]

That’s the way it’s worked for me. Good luck!

I’m enjoying not having to open and shut the garage door every time I plug in.

I'm worse than that at the moment - have a socket in the garage conversion near the window so every time I charge it's a case of plug in and open window with cable trailing through window. Can't wait for the wall charger.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I’d already put an outside 13A socket on the wall of the house by the drive for the block heaters I’d installed on the ICE cars so it was mostly the faff of getting the charger out of the boot, then putting it back afterwards, often when it was wet. I’d always intended on having a proper wall charger.

 

[Smartn]

Got my podpoint installed yesterday - so nice not to have to hang a cable out of the window to charge! From 9% to 100% took about 4.8 kWh. From this I reckon I get about 10 miles range so cost per mile about 8p on Electric so about half what it would be on petrol/diesel. My commute is about 4.5 miles each way so it's covered in the summer by electric but will not manage it in winter.

Very happy with the car, still would have liked a Tesla and to have gone fully electric but for me a used 350e works out a fair bit cheaper to run so will probably wait until used Model 3's hit the market.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Got my podpoint installed yesterday - so nice not to have to hang a cable out of the window to charge! From 9% to 100% took about 4.8 kWh. From this I reckon I get about 10 miles range so cost per mile about 8p on Electric so about half what it would be on petrol/diesel. My commute is about 4.5 miles each way so it's covered in the summer by electric but will not manage it in winter.

Very happy with the car, still would have liked a Tesla and to have gone fully electric but for me a used 350e works out a fair bit cheaper to run so will probably wait until used Model 3's hit the market.

I suspect if I'd gone with a used one I'd be a happier bunny about it. I too really wanted a Tesla rather than a hybrid, which probably doesn't help. Good call!

 

[Smartn]

One thing that has struck me with the 350e is how inefficient it is on electric compared with pure EV's. Tesla M3 almost achieves twice the range per kWh of the 350e as far as I can tell. Fully understand the 350e will be less aerodynamic and heavier but surprised by that significant a difference.

 

[Herder000]

There isn't much talk of electric efficiency, I rarely see range per kWh. I presume that will become more prominent soon. I think at the moment people just see EVs as efficient and take that at face value.

I think my biggest grip is lack of chargers. I can rarely get onto one of the very few public chargers around me.

 

[Smartn]

There isn't much talk of electric efficiency, I rarely see range per kWh. I presume that will become more prominent soon. I think at the moment people just see EVs as efficient and take that at face value.

I think my biggest grip is lack of chargers. I can rarely get onto one of the very few public chargers around me.

I've come to the conclusion with a 350e that public charging isn't worth the hassle or cost unless its free. Efficiency is actually quite an important part of the overall picture when a Tesla model 3 can do about 300 miles on 70 kWh but the Merc only about 10 on 5 kWh (4.3 miles per kWh c/w 2 miles per kWH).