C350e owners club

[raspy]

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.

That's really poor advice with regard to the 11% charge. With any USED PHEV or EV (from any brand), it's critical to ensure that prior to purchase you can determine;
a) It charges without problem
b) It charges to 100%

You're excusing the dealer from providing an appropriate service. What's the point in paying a huge premium at a dealer if you're going to get crap service? Might as well pick up cars from auction if it's just the car you're buying.

The fact that the dealer can't be bothered and isn't interested in answering basic questions sets off red flags.

 

[CaptainChaos]

How long does the "envy car tax" last for? Is it five years? a 2017 car will be out of it next year.

Not trying to defend the salesman, but I would imagine trying to sell cars at the minute is a nightmare. I would also agree with Chris that your average dealership will not have thought to charge it up. But as I said before, there are loads about so don't feel obliged to buy this one.

 

[CaptainChaos]

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.

Did you have low petrol and gave it a bootful of throttle?
That causes a sensor to throw a fault. It goes away after a couple of weeks!

 

[DubMerc]

Did you have low petrol and gave it a bootful of throttle?
That causes a sensor to throw a fault. It goes away after a couple of weeks!

I had three bars left in the tank and was going up hill so was giving it extra acceleration but no where near flooring it. Would that be enough to cause it?

 

[Deleted member 126969]

That's really poor advice with regard to the 11% charge. With any USED PHEV or EV (from any brand), it's critical to ensure that prior to purchase you can determine;
a) It charges without problem
b) It charges to 100%

You're excusing the dealer from providing an appropriate service. What's the point in paying a huge premium at a dealer if you're going to get crap service? Might as well pick up cars from auction if it's just the car you're buying.

The fact that the dealer can't be bothered and isn't interested in answering basic questions sets off red flags.

I put it badly, or at least in an incomplete manner. The fact it only had 11% charge wouldn’t concern me as such, but I would of course want to see it charging from mains, regen and in ‘charge’ mode In the case of the C350e (not that I’d ever use that mode).

It’ll always charge to 100%, what matters is what capacity 100% represents, as it displays on a sliding scale determined by the BMS. AKA, it lies, so I’d want to determine how much energy it took to charge from a known level to 100% so I could make a guess at actual battery capacity.

A dealer that didn't give a monkeys was my experience when buying new. I actually do wish I’d walked away as it happens, not just from the dealer, but from MB entirely, but that’s on me.

With only 11% charge they are missing a trick anyway, as performance won’t be as good with that little battery left.

 

[CaptainChaos]

I had three bars left in the tank and was going up hill so was giving it extra acceleration but no where near flooring it. Would that be enough to cause it?

Could be. Mine did it on two bars going uphill, but I gave it proper welly to overtake someone.
I just ignored the light and it went out after two weeks. At the next service they didn't say "you ignored a light and now we will charge you all your money", so all was well.

 

[DubMerc]

Interesting. That could well be my issue. I might hold off on bringing it in this week as won't be doing much driving anyway (outside of local ev driving).

 

[Deleted member 126969]

To add to what I said before, ideally, the dealer would be willing to do the battery capacity test routine using Star and show you the report...now that would be good service. Somehow I suspect you’ll struggle to find a desler willing to do that, certainly for free.

As far as the luxury tax thing, look on it as paying for the battery warranty! As CC says, it’s on the first 5 years, and after that, RFL is £0 (mine is anyway), so not too bad overall.

 

[seekay]

CaptainChaos, Chris_S:

Gents, would you mind to check the pre-heating on yours for me please? I know Captain you said you hadn’t experienced any issues with the drivers only and entire vehicle settings but could you check it please?
Me and DubMerc (and many others on different forums) seem to be having the same issue:

1. Drivers only setting still activates the heating for the passenger seat as well

2. The other issue I noticed is even if you select the entire vehicle option, after you pressed down the dial it’ll flick back into the drivers only mode. Interesting...

I’ve got a feeling this is a major software glitch. Don’t know if only the Audio20s affected or the Commands as well.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

Will have a look next time we use the car, but last time I used it the drivers seat only option works on ours. COMAND on ours.

 

[seekay]

Will have a look next time we use the car, but last time I used it the drivers seat only option works on ours. COMAND on ours.

Thanks in advance. If turns out this is an Audio20 specific software glitch, how should I get this fixed. It’s hard to imagine that the big Mercedes would release a software update for my beautiful pair of eyes if they haven’t done it in the last 5 years since the model was out.
Based on my previous experience with Lookers Mercedes, they would probably tell me off (yes!) and suggest to sell the car if I don’t like it, or would say the problem is with my fingers not with the car...that’s the way they communicate with existing customers. Customer aftercare isn’t their strength....unbelievable how they treated us in the past but not just them, BMW and Nissan as well. The only dealership we had a very positive experience is the local Lexus dealer.

 

[Deleted member 126969]

At first, we had both seats warming on pre-entry but as the car was most often used with just the driver, I switched off passenger warming, and it's been that way since...with occasional complaints when two of us go out in it and the missus doesn’t get a toasty warm seat

Sadly, I suspect it'll be described as a ‘feature’ not a fault. An easy argument to say “you need COMAND for that option Sir”. Not saying it’s right though.

 

[seekay]

CaptainChaos, Chris_S:

Gents, would you mind to check the pre-heating on yours for me please? I know Captain you said you hadn’t experienced any issues with the drivers only and entire vehicle settings but could you check it please?
Me and DubMerc (and many others on different forums) seem to be having the same issue:

1. Drivers only setting still activates the heating for the passenger seat as well

2. The other issue I noticed is even if you select the entire vehicle option, after you pressed down the dial it’ll flick back into the drivers only mode. Interesting...

I’ve got a feeling this is a major software glitch. Don’t know if only the Audio20s affected or the Commands as well.

Just made 2 videos about the problems I mentioned:

Issue 1
Issue 2

 

[DubMerc]

Yeah that's the exact issue with mine seekay. Like yourself, I tried it over and over again fooling myself thinking that my fingers will be quick enough next time and it won't bounce back!

It is something that doesn't bother me hugely but if you do find a solution I would certainly also try to implement it/ have it implemented.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Climate Control needs AC switched on. And you have to be some kind of lunactic not to have Sync switched on, so try it with them all ticked. Here's mine:

 

[Deleted member 126969]

So in practice, does it actually do what it says it will? As in, when you select driver but it flips to 'all', it heats 'all', and when you select 'all' and it reverts to driver, it does just driver?

 

[seekay]

Climate Control needs AC switched on. And you have to be some kind of lunactic not to have Sync switched on, so try it with them all ticked. Here's mine:

View attachment 108688

It was a very rare occasion when the AC and sync were switched off, they’re usually on. There is no difference unfortunately. I’ve noticed your settings layout is slightly different, the ‘heat when unlock’ option is missing. Interesting.

 

[seekay]

So in practice, does it actually do what it says it will? As in, when you select driver but it flips to 'all', it heats 'all', and when you select 'all' and it reverts to driver, it does just driver?

It’s very strange. The icon always reverts back to the drivers only setting, no matter what I do. However the behaviour seems like the ‘entire vehicle’ settings. Both front seat heating turns on and all the air vents blow warm air.

 

[CaptainChaos]

It was a very rare occasion when the AC and sync were switched off, they’re usually on. There is no difference unfortunately. I’ve noticed your settings layout is slightly different, the ‘heat when unlock’ option is missing. Interesting.

Mine's an early car. They changed the screen shape at some point, so that might have some bearing on it. My heat on unlock is on a different screen.

To confirm, mine switches ONLY the driver's heated seat on, but hot air comes out of all the vents.

 

[seekay]

Mine's an early car. They changed the screen shape at some point, so that might have some bearing on it. My heat on unlock is on a different screen.

To confirm, mine switches ONLY the driver's heated seat on, but hot air comes out of all the vents.

Thanks, is it Audio20 or Command?