C350e owners club

[dasachmo]

There's plenty out there so don't rush in to it. My preference would be a Premium Plus model with wood trim as the standard high gloss black plastic doesn't do the interior any favours in my opinion. The matt (plastic) wood smartens things up and brings an analogue clock!

If you are buying from a dealer, stress that you want all the software updating to the most recent versions including the sat nav, and would they check that all recalls/updates have been done. Also investigate the service pack pricing which allows you to pay for the servicing monthly and often works out cheaper.

Aah great.
Yup. This one is a 17 plate AMG line. 14k miles with the black Ash, premium only (not plus)... For 21k.
I think it's ex merc employee as it's plate is MD17 and I read they are mostly from head office?
I was tempted to look for the plus but I think the difference may be minimal.
Will definitely see it this weekend and tempted to buy. Salesman seems really pushy though

 

[seekay]

Has anyone tested this?

Please guys, I’m begging you. Can you please try the preheat with both the driver only the entire vehicle settings, even if you believe yours work as it should? Want to understand why some people experience exactly the same symptoms as I do while some others don’t.

 

[DubMerc]

Will have a look tomorrow. Can you briefly outline what you need and what results we should report back on?

I haven't gotten set up on Mercedes Me yet but take it I don't need it for this exercise?

 

[seekay]

Will have a look tomorrow. Can you briefly outline what you need and what results we should report back on?

I haven't gotten set up on Mercedes Me yet but take it I don't need it for this exercise?

Just simply start the pre-heating, you can also do it from the car’s menu, the app isn’t necessary. If you open the cars climate control menu then scroll to the pre-entry settings you will see 3 options:
- entire vehicle
- driver’s only
- off

Just set up a departure time in the instrument cluster under the ‘hybrid settings’ and try both the ‘entire vehicle’ and ‘driver’s only’ settings.
My car turns on both the driver and passenger seat heating as well even on driver’s only setting. Some other users also reported this but also read comments which said theirs work perfectly. Many thanks

 

[DubMerc]

Just simply start the pre-heating, you can also do it from the car’s menu, the app isn’t necessary. If you open the cars climate control menu then scroll to the pre-entry settings you will see 3 options:
- entire vehicle
- driver’s only
- off

Just set up a departure time in the instrument cluster under the ‘hybrid settings’ and try both the ‘entire vehicle’ and ‘driver’s only’ settings.
My car turns on both the driver and passenger seat heating as well even on driver’s only setting. Some other users also reported this but also read comments which said theirs work perfectly. Many thanks

Appear to have the same issue as you. Driver's only setting not working. Going to test again tomorrow as want to be sure. I have audio 20.

 

[seekay]

Appear to have the same issue as you. Driver's only setting not working. Going to test again tomorrow as want to be sure. I have audio 20.

Thank you. I can’t even switch to the ‘entire vehicle’ setting, its flicking back to the ‘drivers only’ straight away. Weird issues...

 

[danik007]

Hello all. I am looking to become more ecological after driving a clk500 lol
I couldn’t seem to find if you have the option of driving only on the battery?

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Hello all. I am looking to become more ecological after driving a clk500 lol
I couldn’t seem to find if you have the option of driving only on the battery?

The C350e will drive on battery only, up to a point. Assuming you have charge, put it in E mode and it won’t run the ICE unless you demand more performance than the battery/electric drive can deliver. In this mode, it ‘grabs’ the throttle pedal when you reach the limit so you know not to press harder...unless you want/need to, at which point it‘ll fire up the ICE. You get about 90bhp of electric urge on a full charge which is enough to drive moderately briskly at up to about 70 or so.

Some caveats, the EV performance is dependant on battery charge level too, you won’t be able to pull much power once the battery gets down to 30% or less. Sometimes the ICE will start no matter what you ask it to do - for ‘reasons’ us owners don’t need to know apparently.

Honestly, if you want to be driving on battery, a C350e probably isn’t the car for you, unless your typical trips are very short.

I find the short EV range a shame really, as it’s really quite nice wafting along in silence.

 

[DubMerc]

Hello all. I am looking to become more ecological after driving a clk500 lol
I couldn’t seem to find if you have the option of driving only on the battery?

Short answer is yes if you do not intend to travel very far. Haven't experienced summer driving in mine yet but EV winter driving delivers about 6-8 miles of range (with heater/wipers on as appropriate).

As Chris said, EV driving is very pleasant.

 

[DubMerc]

I was driving this morning on E Save mode (and Comfort) on a stretch of motorway and the yellow engine warning light came on. Didn't go into limp mode and no noticeable impact on either performance or consumption.

Opened the manual and advice is basically to bring in to MB to look at. Apart from the obvious issues listed in the manual or a sensor failure, one possible explanation from the manual that is puzzling me a little is the:

"The emission limit values may be exceeded and the engine may be running in emergency mode".

Does anybody have an idea what this means? Is this even applicable to the C350e (could be a diesel related issue for example)? This may not be the issue I have but wouldn't mind investigating in case there is a simple reset solution that could save me a trip!

 

[Deleted member 126969]

If you want to avoid the dealers as long as possible, you could do worse than buy an iCarsoft so you can, at the very least, read the codes yourself so you can go in forewarned. You could also reset the error and see if it returns.

I know I'm probably at the extreme end of the DIY spectrum with cars, but I think if you have even a slight interest, having a decent code reader for your car is a good idea and often money well spent. You'll recover the cost in a single trip to the dealer to get the codes read.

 

[DubMerc]

If you want to avoid the dealers as long as possible, you could do worse than buy an iCarsoft so you can, at the very least, read the codes yourself so you can go in forewarned. You could also reset the error and see if it returns.

I know I'm probably at the extreme end of the DIY spectrum with cars, but I think if you have even a slight interest, having a decent code reader for your car is a good idea and often money well spent. You'll recover the cost in a single trip to the dealer to get the codes read.

Thanks Chris. That makes a lot of sense. Even if it doesn't save a trip to the dealer it at very least would allow we to evaluate what they tell me the issue is. Knowledge is power. A good investment. I take it that you have the iCARSOFT Mercedes-Benz/Sprinter/Smart MB V1.0 Diagnostic Code Reader Scanner? I see there is a V2.0 but that is double the price.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

I bought the V2 as it seemed way more capable.

 

[DubMerc]

In that case I will go with the V2. The V1 is from eBay in the UK and by the time VAT is now added and it is delivered I will be thinking I should have just paid a bit extra and went for the V2.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

In that case I will go with the V2. The V1 is from eBay in the UK and by the time VAT is now added and it is delivered I will be thinking I should have just paid a bit extra and went for the V2.

Make sure to get a genuine one - there seem to be endless dodgy copies. Buy direct!

 

[dasachmo]

so just wanted to update everyone, some experienced feedback would be appriciated.
Went to test drive the car today, the salesman said because of covid he couldnt get in the car with me, handed me the keys and left. I didnt even know how to start it! im coming from a 55 plate c320 diesel where you stick the key in!. he came back 15 mins later, showed me how start it (its obviously keyless! ) and i took it for a test drive, came back and was sitting there for 40 mins before he returned.
Asked him about previous owners and he was a bit coy, wouldnt tell me if it had been leased or private use and asked me why i wanted to know
asked about any accidents and he said even if it had they would repair it to a standard you wouldnt notice and because its from mercedes they dont sell dodgy cars (im sure that will go down a treat on this thread)
car looked fine apart from some scuffed alloys which he said he's going to fix.
drivers side tyre is a lot more worn then passenger side, but he said its above the legal limit so they wont change it.
battery was at 11% but said he wouldnt connect it to star just to find out the battery health
At the end, i love the car, its really nice and although expensive, a treat for me, but im appaled at the customer service which is worrying!. if im about to spend 23k on a car, you'd expect a bit of service, to feel excited when you get there, to be shown the actual car and features. He noticed i was underwhelmed and said - you should be excited - if i was going back to a car like yours id be rearing to jump into this
he also told me not to bother with the 7 days free insurance as its too much hassle to set up so just organise my own. Quite upset at the experience but the cars lovely. Bit unsure on how to proceed but hes going to email me tomorow.
Also suprised the road tax is 465? i thought it was meant to be 140 but apparently the list value is over 40k

 

[raspy]

so just wanted to update everyone, some experienced feedback would be appriciated.
Went to test drive the car today, the salesman said because of covid he couldnt get in the car with me, handed me the keys and left. I didnt even know how to start it! im coming from a 55 plate c320 diesel where you stick the key in!. he came back 15 mins later, showed me how start it (its obviously keyless! ) and i took it for a test drive, came back and was sitting there for 40 mins before he returned.
Asked him about previous owners and he was a bit coy, wouldnt tell me if it had been leased or private use and asked me why i wanted to know
asked about any accidents and he said even if it had they would repair it to a standard you wouldnt notice and because its from mercedes they dont sell dodgy cars (im sure that will go down a treat on this thread)
car looked fine apart from some scuffed alloys which he said he's going to fix.
drivers side tyre is a lot more worn then passenger side, but he said its above the legal limit so they wont change it.
battery was at 11% but said he wouldnt connect it to star just to find out the battery health
At the end, i love the car, its really nice and although expensive, a treat for me, but im appaled at the customer service which is worrying!. if im about to spend 23k on a car, you'd expect a bit of service, to feel excited when you get there, to be shown the actual car and features. He noticed i was underwhelmed and said - you should be excited - if i was going back to a car like yours id be rearing to jump into this
he also told me not to bother with the 7 days free insurance as its too much hassle to set up so just organise my own. Quite upset at the experience but the cars lovely. Bit unsure on how to proceed but hes going to email me tomorow.
Also suprised the road tax is 465? i thought it was meant to be 140 but apparently the list value is over 40k

@dasachmo Based upon what you've written, I would walk away. I bought my used C350e from a MB dealer for a similar amount of money, and all my questions were answered, the car had been fully charged before I did the test drive and the entire experience including the lengthy handover made me feel like I was spending £100k on a brand new S class.

Yeah, the 2nd year onwards road tax for C350e registered after on or after 1st April 2017 will be £465 (ouch that's a lot, I'm paying £0 a year for my 2015 C350e) if the car had a list price of more than £40k

Vehicle tax rates

Tables showing the rates for vehicle tax for different types of vehicle.

www.gov.uk

 

[seekay]

so just wanted to update everyone, some experienced feedback would be appriciated.
Went to test drive the car today, the salesman said because of covid he couldnt get in the car with me, handed me the keys and left. I didnt even know how to start it! im coming from a 55 plate c320 diesel where you stick the key in!. he came back 15 mins later, showed me how start it (its obviously keyless! ) and i took it for a test drive, came back and was sitting there for 40 mins before he returned.
Asked him about previous owners and he was a bit coy, wouldnt tell me if it had been leased or private use and asked me why i wanted to know
asked about any accidents and he said even if it had they would repair it to a standard you wouldnt notice and because its from mercedes they dont sell dodgy cars (im sure that will go down a treat on this thread)
car looked fine apart from some scuffed alloys which he said he's going to fix.
drivers side tyre is a lot more worn then passenger side, but he said its above the legal limit so they wont change it.
battery was at 11% but said he wouldnt connect it to star just to find out the battery health
At the end, i love the car, its really nice and although expensive, a treat for me, but im appaled at the customer service which is worrying!. if im about to spend 23k on a car, you'd expect a bit of service, to feel excited when you get there, to be shown the actual car and features. He noticed i was underwhelmed and said - you should be excited - if i was going back to a car like yours id be rearing to jump into this
he also told me not to bother with the 7 days free insurance as its too much hassle to set up so just organise my own. Quite upset at the experience but the cars lovely. Bit unsure on how to proceed but hes going to email me tomorow.
Also suprised the road tax is 465? i thought it was meant to be 140 but apparently the list value is over 40k

I would also walk away. This dealership and salesman is simply beyond a joke. The battery should’ve been fully charged before the test drive and everything should have been explained. The only good point was he didn’t come with you, thanks to COVID there are no more annoying test drives with the salesman on the back seats.
I can’t even justify the road tax...
My 66 reg C350e was £14.999 in last August, 2017 January registration, £0 road tax. The newer models also have the ugly grey brake callipers and basic led headlights, while the models before have blue brake callipers and blue led headlight, look much cooler. Why don’t you get a car before 2017 April? What benefit would you get from a 2017 or 2018 car? You pay more money for the same car and a lot more road tax when it could be zero.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

At the end of the day, you are buying the car, not the dealer, so even if the service is shite, don’t let that sway you if the car is good...but of course, you have to consider how they might deal with any issues that arise that they would be responsible for.

If you are looking for a newer car, you aren’t likely to find one that escaped the luxury car tax unless it is very basic spec, which I guess you won’t want anyway. Avoiding that was a factor when I bought mine, buy from stock and lose the grant because it had big wheels, or wait for a build to order and pay the luxury tax.

All in all....keep looking unless the dealer can give you some assurances and more information about your questions. I wouldn’t read anything into the 11% charge, my brand new one was like that - most dealers have no clue and don’t give a shit anyway, it’s just another sale to them.

 

[DubMerc]

It is amazing how much salespeople can end up shooting themselves in the foot. I do wonder how some of them sell any cars. Had a very similar experience myself where I came fully intending to buy a car and the attitude of the salesman put me right off. Won't go into my experience but like yourself I gently pointed out the rear tyres were fairly worn and he got unnecessarily defensive. Didn't end up buying in the end due to not being able to come to agreement on the price/trade in value (had the experience being more pleasant I probably would have been willing to go a bit higher). He made it too easy for me to walk away!
If it were me I would follow Seekay's advice on saving yourself a significant amount and looking at a pre April 2017 model.
Agree that it is such a pleasure to be left alone to test drive a car without the salesman tagging along and trying to become your new best friend.