C350e owners club

[wrighty senior]

I've just RTFM. Unbelievable. It's true. My humble apologies for doubting you @wrighty senior! I'll be engaging sport mode next time I wish to reverse onto my drive.

Shakes head

If you think about it, once the 'battery drive' is exhausted (and we all know that's very quickly) it is not really worth leaving the car in 'Hybrid' mode unless crawling in traffic. So once I have exhausted the battery I generally put the car in sports mode (or my Individual setting which will have the engine mode in Sport or Sport+). This then makes sure you have instantaneous power all of the time (forward or reverse!). It also puts a bit of charge back into the battery which means if you hit traffic or slow roads you can pop it back into Hybrid mode.

I also note a couple of our newer owners complaining about economy. Sorry guys this car was never built as an ECO car. It is a brilliant company car tax dodge. I now have about 13000 miles on the clock. The car averages just over 40mpg which (considering the way I drive it) I think is really good. It is an everyday saloon where you are always hoping you are going to get caught at the front of the queue on red traffic lights - just for the race. I beat an M3 away from the lights last week, the guys face was a picture!

 

[TheCorm]

I hope that doesn't lead to a number of c350e's becoming an extension to peoples front porches

I decided to quickly move mine before heading off to the station, put my foot down too heavy, engine came on and shot backwards up the hill much faster than intended!

 

[TheCorm]

I'm only a week into my c350e experience. Longest journey so far is only about 40miles, so my economy is just fine.

I guess every car is a compromise and long distance economy wasn't a priority for this one. You could get a BMW i3 REX, but it's a bit smaller or go full electric but none of them give me what I need for a price I can afford.

And the Merc is a fantastic bit of kit.


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Leading up to taking delivery I was expecting my everyday economy to be around 40mpg, but because I am a stickler for charging and my commute is 19 miles, I am currently returning 85-90mpg overall.....

For longer journeys I find that switching between E-SAVE and Hybrid based on your knowledge of the route does boost things nicely, did a 60 mile round trip and got 57mpg, 21 miles on electric overall I think.

 

[Dodgy]

I decided to quickly move mine before heading off to the station, put my foot down too heavy, engine came on and shot backwards up the hill much faster than intended!

I was taking a couple of colleagues for a quick test drive when a bus that had quite recently been a long way down the road inexplicably filled my windscreen. Fortunately, it was on a dual carriageway and the car next to me was eating electrons (and a little dust) way back down the road. We took advantage of the space to pull over and my colleagues unpeeled themselves from their seats. [emoji51]


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[Tekky]

I gotta say, the MPG of this car is really starting to p... me off.

It's a good car but unless you're only making 10-15 mile trips with charging at each end the economy is a joke.

The car is a fantastic piece of engineering but weirdly for an eco car the economy is actually one of the worst performing aspects.

and is exactly why some of my friends aren't able to order a 350e, their companies have banned petrol hybrids like the Merc 350e and BMW 330e from their fuel card company car lists - the cost to the company is more than a decent diesel, so they got to stick to high tax diesel polluting cars, whether they like it or not.

 

[quonker]

Did you manage to get the tuning box fitted Yet, If so what difference did it make?

Hi Badgerlewis, I'm having it fitted by TDi themselves tomorrow morning so will let you know.

Previous chips I've had fitted to my last three diesel cars all actually increased MPG as well as performance so I'm keen to see the impact although I'm primarily interested in the go faster side of things of course

 

[quonker]

and is exactly why some of my friends aren't able to order a 350e, their companies have banned petrol hybrids like the Merc 350e and BMW 330e from their fuel card company car lists - the cost to the company is more than a decent diesel, so they got to stick to high tax diesel polluting cars, whether they like it or not.

I have a colleague who has the new BMW X5 hybrid and his experience is a carbon copy of mine.

He's averaging 40 MPH and filling up twice as often as his previous 5 series diesel.

After 17,000 miles I'm getting on average 40 MPG which I'm happy with, albeit that it's a company car and I'm quids in from a BiK perspective.

For me the initial shock of the poor MPG was the only disappointment, my previous A4 would average 15 MPG more but of course I love every other facet of the car.

The effortless quiet performance, the look on colleagues faces when we glide silently away from a standstill, the surprise when I plant my foot and we hurtle away. The 360 degree camera.

Priceless.

 

[Tekky]

I have a colleague who has the new BMW X5 hybrid and his experience is a carbon copy of mine.

He's averaging 40 MPH and filling up twice as often as his previous 5 series diesel.

After 17,000 miles I'm getting on average 40 MPG which I'm happy with, albeit that it's a company car and I'm quids in from a BiK perspective.

For me the initial shock of the poor MPG was the only disappointment, my previous A4 would average 15 MPG more but of course I love every other facet of the car.

The effortless quiet performance, the look on colleagues faces when we glide silently away from a standstill, the surprise when I plant my foot and we hurtle away. The 360 degree camera.

Priceless.

I'm glad to hear the X5 isn't much different to the C350e as I have to admit if I could have got a BMW 330e ( albeit M Sport with lovely 19" wheels ) with a similar tech / toys spec to the C350e I would have gone for it instead as I do have a preference for BMW, especially those with MSport wheels, but the lease cost was was considerably more expensive for less toys so thought i'd give the Merc 350e ( fully loaded ) a go - I think I will be extremely happy with my choice, which arrives next week.

3 years from now should be very interesting in choice, although the reduction in gov't grant is a kicker.

 

[dl2849]

How come it took you nearly 9 hours to cover just 300 miles?

The joys of stop start London traffic at peak times mostly......have a look at the screen shot for the first part of the trip! The motorway bits were pretty average

 

[dl2849]

I'm more than happy - I have a 25 mile journey each way to work, half of it is motorway, half is side or main roads. I charge at home only each night yet I'm averaging 65mpg for these journeys. Longer journeys (i.e. weekends away) of several hundred miles where I can't charge are returning around 48mpg.

It's all about how you drive with this car - use sport / sport plus all the time, heavy acceleration and you get mpg in the 20's..

Additionally, the company car tax saved due to the reported emissions mean its costing me less than my previous car!

Similar experience for me, about 1300 miles done so far, it's like having 3 or 4 cars in one!

 

[jaid2016]

Hi Badgerlewis, I'm having it fitted by TDi themselves tomorrow morning so will let you know.

Previous chips I've had fitted to my last three diesel cars all actually increased MPG as well as performance so I'm keen to see the impact although I'm primarily interested in the go faster side of things of course

I'm excited to hear your results if there not good that's two things wrong this week one being the EU this could bring me back from a mid life crisis please make this chip be good

 

[quonker]

I'm excited to hear your results if there not good that's two things wrong this week one being the EU this could bring me back from a mid life crisis please make this chip be good

I had it fitted, was a lot more prolonged than expected, took 2 hours from start to finish and revolved around moving the charge cooler to access the plug.

Far cry from when I originally rang and they told me I could fit it myself in 15 minutes.

They've fitted an extension lead into the original plug so I can easily remove the unit for servicing etc in the future.

Must say they guys were very helpful and although they told me they'd fitted these chips to hybrids before I am a little sceptical.

Clearly the engine bay is crammed with electrickery and other hybrid paraphernalia which makes access very tricky, certainly would suggest that installation is definitely not a DIY task.

Drove back and all was well, achieved the same MPG roughly, (44), and think I could detect some difference but hard to say as traffic on the M25 and M1 didn't really allow for a play.

Looking forward to going out and having a good full on test later, thing is without putting it on a dyno, (I'm going to investigate this), it can be difficult to really quantify the performance increase.

One gets used the norm really quickly.

With previous chips their existence was most apparent when removed, in the sense that when I took them off you could really feel that something was lacking, that the performance had dulled.

So, so far so good. Will report back after I've taken it down some familiar roads.

And yes Jaid, it's bloody awful!

 

[jaid2016]

I had it fitted, was a lot more prolonged than expected, took 2 hours from start to finish and revolved around moving the charge cooler to access the plug.

Far cry from when I originally rang and they told me I could fit it myself in 15 minutes.

They've fitted an extension lead into the original plug so I can easily remove the unit for servicing etc in the future.

Must say they guys were very helpful and although they told me they'd fitted these chips to hybrids before I am a little sceptical.

Clearly the engine bay is crammed with electrickery and other hybrid paraphernalia which makes access very tricky, certainly would suggest that installation is definitely not a DIY task.

Drove back and all was well, achieved the same MPG roughly, (44), and think I could detect some difference but hard to say as traffic on the M25 and M1 didn't really allow for a play.

Looking forward to going out and having a good full on test later, thing is without putting it on a dyno, (I'm going to investigate this), it can be difficult to really quantify the performance increase.

One gets used the norm really quickly.

With previous chips their existence was most apparent when removed, in the sense that when I took them off you could really feel that something was lacking, that the performance had dulled.

So, so far so good. Will report back after I've taken it down some familiar roads.

And yes Jaid, it's bloody awful!

Thanks for the update bud, I was hoping you were going to climb in the car and be fighting to keep the power under control or preventing the merc from becoming a back to the future vehicle J

 

[jaid2016]

I had it fitted, was a lot more prolonged than expected, took 2 hours from start to finish and revolved around moving the charge cooler to access the plug.

Far cry from when I originally rang and they told me I could fit it myself in 15 minutes.

They've fitted an extension lead into the original plug so I can easily remove the unit for servicing etc in the future.

Must say they guys were very helpful and although they told me they'd fitted these chips to hybrids before I am a little sceptical.

Clearly the engine bay is crammed with electrickery and other hybrid paraphernalia which makes access very tricky, certainly would suggest that installation is definitely not a DIY task.

Drove back and all was well, achieved the same MPG roughly, (44), and think I could detect some difference but hard to say as traffic on the M25 and M1 didn't really allow for a play.

Looking forward to going out and having a good full on test later, thing is without putting it on a dyno, (I'm going to investigate this), it can be difficult to really quantify the performance increase.

One gets used the norm really quickly.

With previous chips their existence was most apparent when removed, in the sense that when I took them off you could really feel that something was lacking, that the performance had dulled.

So, so far so good. Will report back after I've taken it down some familiar roads.

And yes Jaid, it's bloody awful!

Have you had a chance to test out the acceleration this weekend?

 

[quonker]

Have you had a chance to test out the acceleration this weekend?

It definitely feels faster, still not unleashed much as mostly had Mrs Quonker in the car but the few times I planted my right foot the response did feel much stronger, acceleration felt more urgent and pull was much stronger than usual.

Difficult this afternoon as the wet roads meant wheel spin in 2nd and 3rd so will continue to test.

Will also try to get a 0-60 time with a friend in the car to time but as I said before of course it's all very subjective and the car has so many variables, (one of it's many joys).

I'm glad I had it fitted and I'm sure it's faster, will keep it on for a week then disconnect it and see how noticeable the difference is then.

 

[Badgerlewis]

C350e

It definitely feels faster, still not unleashed much as mostly had Mrs Quonker in the car but the few times I planted my right foot the response did feel much stronger, acceleration felt more urgent and pull was much stronger than usual.

Difficult this afternoon as the wet roads meant wheel spin in 2nd and 3rd so will continue to test.

Will also try to get a 0-60 time with a friend in the car to time but as I said before of course it's all very subjective and the car has so many variables, (one of it's many joys).

I'm glad I had it fitted and I'm sure it's faster, will keep it on for a week then disconnect it and see how noticeable the difference is then.

Thanks for keeping us all posted just returned my car had a bmw330d waiting delivery of my c350e in 3weeks so looking forward to compare the 2 different cars. Think I will defo get a box fitted now.

 

[quonker]

Thanks for keeping us all posted just returned my car had a bmw330d waiting delivery of my c350e in 3weeks so looking forward to compare the 2 different cars. Think I will defo get a box fitted now.

I considered a 330d but went for the C350e due to the BiK benefits and the spec is much nicer, on what I could afford anyway.

Thing is with the C350e is it's many different cars in one, drag racing from the lights is entertaining but it's the limo like feel of the air suspension coupled with the spooky silence when you are cruising around on motor power alone.

And little things like today on a trip to a busy shopping mall and to IKEA I could park right at the front and charge whilst others were hunting around searching for spaces.

Priceless.

 

[JAT350e]

Hi Quonker.

I'm based in west mids too. Mines stock so would be good to see them side by side.

 

[quonker]

Hi Quonker.

I'm based in west mids too. Mines stock so would be good to see them side by side.

Hi JAT350e, my office is in Halesowen although not sure how we could test them except by drag racing

Besides which would need to wait for some drier weather to get some decent traction!

 

[JAT350e]

Santa pod it is !!