I've now put 400 or so miles on my new W211 E350 and thought I might jot down my initial impressions, if anyone is interested.
As background, I "upgraded" from a 2002 W208 (C208?) CLK320, which I also had from new. Before that I had a W210 and a W124 (are estates still 'W'?).
There are a few options on the car that are new to me, e.g Parktronic, COMAND, but they're not new to the W211 in general, so I won't mention those (although I do like 'em). Some other points I raise are probably not new to the current W211, but they're new to me coming from the W208 CLK (which I felt was more aligned with the W210 E).
The E350 has the brand-new V6, of course, coupled to the new 7-speed auto gearbox. The car does feel like it has considerably more torque than the CLK320, it's definitely noticeable. The engine is almost inaudible, as is most road noise, at most speeds, which speaks well for the sound-proofing.
The electronic oil level monitoring is gone from the 350 engine (only), replaced with the good old dipstick.
The automatic box is just wonderful. I thought the box in the CLK was good, but this is better. In normal driving, the gear changes are almost always unnoticeable. Very smooth indeed. I found with the CLK that easing off, at town speeds, because of a hazard, and then quickly easing on again, would sometimes confuse it, resulting in a little jerk, but that doesn't happen now. I don't think I've noticed a single gear change, yet.
I do have the box set to Comfort mode; I'd done this in the CLK320 too, but I notice a tendency for the E to be more sluggish in this mode. I think that perhaps there is more intelligence in this box, and it's much more likely to change up earlier, on light throttle, than the CLK was. Of course, I have yet to adjust to it, so it's probably just me.
The "tip-tronic" feature seems much better than in the CLK. I recall the latter being little more than a way to control the upper shift boundary, and often not having much effect on the actual gear selected. The E will immediately really change down, when the lever is moved left, rather than just changing the upper shift boundary. i.e. it changes from D (==7) down to to e.g. 4, with one click left. I don't recall the CLK doing that. Apparently, holding it left will cause it to immediately change to the "best" gear for acceleration, although I've not fiddled with this too much.
Externally, the two main things I've noted as different are the auto-folding mirrors, and the double blade wipers. I had manually folding mirrors as standard on the W210, but not on the W208 (perhaps because it's narrower?). Auto-folding mirrors seem very jolly. I do appreciate that it does protect them a bit, and given the price of replacement, that's a good thing. On the slight down-side, the noise of them folding makes people look, which I hate, and I do wonder whether water can now get into places where it shouldn't. Still, I will leave them enabled, for now.
The twin wiper blades do seem to have excellent coverage but I can't help feeling they look very clunky compared to the elegant - and complicated - single blade eccentric mechanism on the CLK.
The brakes seem excellent, of course; no better or worse than the CLK. The SBC pump system makes some odd noises at unexpected times (even before starting) but I understand this is expected. SBC Hold is a fun thing. I find it a little difficult to apply without jerking my leg about; I doubt I will use it in traffic, but it could come in handy for steep hill-starts. The car does not have SBC Traffic or SBC Stop: these are no longer available, I believe, although they were on the demo car I test drove in October.
Build quality overall does seem good. I'd been a little concerned over reports I'd read, but things are mostly satisfyingly clunky, except perhaps for the boot lid, which on closing feels and sounds like a thin piece of tin. The CLK boot sounds very solid.
I do like the fact that the indicators flash three times when the boot is closed if the car was previously locked/alarmed, just to confirm it still is. Also amused that the Nav DVD cannot be eject from the boot player unless the whole car is unlocked.
I'm very impressed with the external lighting. Automatic lights are great (shame that you can't then turn on the fogs though). I had Xenon lights in the CLK, and again in this E, but they seem considerably brighter in the E, which surprised me. By a long way the best lights I've had on any car. I also have the ALS (active light system), although I've not noticed anything so far. Having not driven the W211 with Xenons but without ALS (which is a possible option) I can't say if there's any improvement. In fact, I did wonder whether I even received the option, so I checked the option list on the MB data card in my service book
The dealer also told me that the side fog lights come on during slow speed manoevuring. I've not noticed this, but then I probably wouldn't, inside the car. There's nothing about this in the manual.
The courtesy *external* lighting, on unlocking and after locking, is very handy. I've had this on cars in the US for years, but it seems a newer thing here.
Also amusing that I can choose to emulate Volvo/Saab drivers and have the headlights on all the time.
Inside, everything seems of good quality, at least comparable to the CLK - which quality impressed me - if not better. The seats seem firmer, too. I previously had the multi-contour backrest, but decided not to this time as I could never get comfortable in it. The standard seats now seem very comfortable.
Some oddities I've noted so far: the glovebox and rear console box tend to open by themselves, unless they're closed very firmly (i.e. slammed). The electrically opening/closing switch panel in front of the CD-changer space is very jolly; I wonder how long it will take to break? Sadly the space revealed behind (I don't have the CD changer) isn't big enough to fit a CD case. The little drawer next to the glovebox is also jolly, and also a bit small to do anything useful with. Having a shelf dividing the glovebox is nice; I believe this wasn't always there.
The centre console boxes I'm also struggling with, size-wise. On the CLK the top section was fairly shallow, with a cavernous section underneath, very useful. On the E, the top section is deeper, resulting in much less space underneath.
The internal ambient lighting strips are interesting. I've never had a car that had interior lights designed to be on all the time (when dark). I've got them set quite low (2/5), but can't decide whether I like it or not.
The 4-zone "luxury" climate control (Thermotronic) works at least as well as in the CLK (which was only 2-zone control). Nice to see face-level vents in the back (routed through the front doors). Especially pleased that I can control the rear-zones from the front panel, to foil the little blighters playing with buttons in the back. I hear that this system used to offer an extra filtering mode of some sort, but that is no longer available, apparently.
The climate control panel looked a little clunky; back to LED technology? Initially I thought the previous LCD panel looked better, although I've now got used to it, however, and perhaps it does look better, especially at night.
The dashboard has taken a lot of getting used to. After the classic design I had in my CLK (which was similar to those even going back to my W124), the new dash design looked very brash and ugly, I thought. I've adjusted to it now, and it looks OK. Those sliders left and right for petrol and coolant temp will never look as nice as proper dials. Take less space though.
I'm now happier with the look of the dash, but there are a number of issues that still annoy me a bit:
o Removing the km/h markings from the main analogue speedometer. This means that the 3rd "status" line in the digital readouts is now locked on km/h, at least in the UK. Apparently this is to conform with EU law that requires km/h to be visible at all times. This leads onto...
o Outside temp not always visible. On the CLK, and the W210 I think, and possibly even the W124, outside temp was always visible, in its dedicated window. Now, the outside temp is only visible when you're viewing the main "standard" display. Select any other display, e.g. the Nav instructions, and you can't see the temp. Outside the UK you can set the 3rd "status" line to show the outside temp (all the time), but in the UK (only) this line is locked on km/h (see above).
o Speed limiter settings: I use the Speed-tronic limiter all the time. In these cars, it's just too easy to waft along way above the speed limit, totally oblivous to how fast you're really going. With the new "blobs around the dash" readout, I find it very hard to tell at a glance what the limiter is set to. Previously it was always visible digitally, i.e. numerically, in its dedicated area. This is perhaps made worse in that I generally set the limit to 5mph above the real limit (naughty me), partly to avoid too much hassle from the ****-head behind trying to go 20mph above the limit.
It's early days, and I have a lot more miles to do, but initial impressions are very favourable. I really like this new car.
As background, I "upgraded" from a 2002 W208 (C208?) CLK320, which I also had from new. Before that I had a W210 and a W124 (are estates still 'W'?).
There are a few options on the car that are new to me, e.g Parktronic, COMAND, but they're not new to the W211 in general, so I won't mention those (although I do like 'em). Some other points I raise are probably not new to the current W211, but they're new to me coming from the W208 CLK (which I felt was more aligned with the W210 E).
The E350 has the brand-new V6, of course, coupled to the new 7-speed auto gearbox. The car does feel like it has considerably more torque than the CLK320, it's definitely noticeable. The engine is almost inaudible, as is most road noise, at most speeds, which speaks well for the sound-proofing.
The electronic oil level monitoring is gone from the 350 engine (only), replaced with the good old dipstick.
The automatic box is just wonderful. I thought the box in the CLK was good, but this is better. In normal driving, the gear changes are almost always unnoticeable. Very smooth indeed. I found with the CLK that easing off, at town speeds, because of a hazard, and then quickly easing on again, would sometimes confuse it, resulting in a little jerk, but that doesn't happen now. I don't think I've noticed a single gear change, yet.
I do have the box set to Comfort mode; I'd done this in the CLK320 too, but I notice a tendency for the E to be more sluggish in this mode. I think that perhaps there is more intelligence in this box, and it's much more likely to change up earlier, on light throttle, than the CLK was. Of course, I have yet to adjust to it, so it's probably just me.
The "tip-tronic" feature seems much better than in the CLK. I recall the latter being little more than a way to control the upper shift boundary, and often not having much effect on the actual gear selected. The E will immediately really change down, when the lever is moved left, rather than just changing the upper shift boundary. i.e. it changes from D (==7) down to to e.g. 4, with one click left. I don't recall the CLK doing that. Apparently, holding it left will cause it to immediately change to the "best" gear for acceleration, although I've not fiddled with this too much.
Externally, the two main things I've noted as different are the auto-folding mirrors, and the double blade wipers. I had manually folding mirrors as standard on the W210, but not on the W208 (perhaps because it's narrower?). Auto-folding mirrors seem very jolly. I do appreciate that it does protect them a bit, and given the price of replacement, that's a good thing. On the slight down-side, the noise of them folding makes people look, which I hate, and I do wonder whether water can now get into places where it shouldn't. Still, I will leave them enabled, for now.
The twin wiper blades do seem to have excellent coverage but I can't help feeling they look very clunky compared to the elegant - and complicated - single blade eccentric mechanism on the CLK.
The brakes seem excellent, of course; no better or worse than the CLK. The SBC pump system makes some odd noises at unexpected times (even before starting) but I understand this is expected. SBC Hold is a fun thing. I find it a little difficult to apply without jerking my leg about; I doubt I will use it in traffic, but it could come in handy for steep hill-starts. The car does not have SBC Traffic or SBC Stop: these are no longer available, I believe, although they were on the demo car I test drove in October.
Build quality overall does seem good. I'd been a little concerned over reports I'd read, but things are mostly satisfyingly clunky, except perhaps for the boot lid, which on closing feels and sounds like a thin piece of tin. The CLK boot sounds very solid.
I do like the fact that the indicators flash three times when the boot is closed if the car was previously locked/alarmed, just to confirm it still is. Also amused that the Nav DVD cannot be eject from the boot player unless the whole car is unlocked.
I'm very impressed with the external lighting. Automatic lights are great (shame that you can't then turn on the fogs though). I had Xenon lights in the CLK, and again in this E, but they seem considerably brighter in the E, which surprised me. By a long way the best lights I've had on any car. I also have the ALS (active light system), although I've not noticed anything so far. Having not driven the W211 with Xenons but without ALS (which is a possible option) I can't say if there's any improvement. In fact, I did wonder whether I even received the option, so I checked the option list on the MB data card in my service book
The dealer also told me that the side fog lights come on during slow speed manoevuring. I've not noticed this, but then I probably wouldn't, inside the car. There's nothing about this in the manual.
The courtesy *external* lighting, on unlocking and after locking, is very handy. I've had this on cars in the US for years, but it seems a newer thing here.
Also amusing that I can choose to emulate Volvo/Saab drivers and have the headlights on all the time.
Inside, everything seems of good quality, at least comparable to the CLK - which quality impressed me - if not better. The seats seem firmer, too. I previously had the multi-contour backrest, but decided not to this time as I could never get comfortable in it. The standard seats now seem very comfortable.
Some oddities I've noted so far: the glovebox and rear console box tend to open by themselves, unless they're closed very firmly (i.e. slammed). The electrically opening/closing switch panel in front of the CD-changer space is very jolly; I wonder how long it will take to break? Sadly the space revealed behind (I don't have the CD changer) isn't big enough to fit a CD case. The little drawer next to the glovebox is also jolly, and also a bit small to do anything useful with. Having a shelf dividing the glovebox is nice; I believe this wasn't always there.
The centre console boxes I'm also struggling with, size-wise. On the CLK the top section was fairly shallow, with a cavernous section underneath, very useful. On the E, the top section is deeper, resulting in much less space underneath.
The internal ambient lighting strips are interesting. I've never had a car that had interior lights designed to be on all the time (when dark). I've got them set quite low (2/5), but can't decide whether I like it or not.
The 4-zone "luxury" climate control (Thermotronic) works at least as well as in the CLK (which was only 2-zone control). Nice to see face-level vents in the back (routed through the front doors). Especially pleased that I can control the rear-zones from the front panel, to foil the little blighters playing with buttons in the back. I hear that this system used to offer an extra filtering mode of some sort, but that is no longer available, apparently.
The climate control panel looked a little clunky; back to LED technology? Initially I thought the previous LCD panel looked better, although I've now got used to it, however, and perhaps it does look better, especially at night.
The dashboard has taken a lot of getting used to. After the classic design I had in my CLK (which was similar to those even going back to my W124), the new dash design looked very brash and ugly, I thought. I've adjusted to it now, and it looks OK. Those sliders left and right for petrol and coolant temp will never look as nice as proper dials. Take less space though.
I'm now happier with the look of the dash, but there are a number of issues that still annoy me a bit:
o Removing the km/h markings from the main analogue speedometer. This means that the 3rd "status" line in the digital readouts is now locked on km/h, at least in the UK. Apparently this is to conform with EU law that requires km/h to be visible at all times. This leads onto...
o Outside temp not always visible. On the CLK, and the W210 I think, and possibly even the W124, outside temp was always visible, in its dedicated window. Now, the outside temp is only visible when you're viewing the main "standard" display. Select any other display, e.g. the Nav instructions, and you can't see the temp. Outside the UK you can set the 3rd "status" line to show the outside temp (all the time), but in the UK (only) this line is locked on km/h (see above).
o Speed limiter settings: I use the Speed-tronic limiter all the time. In these cars, it's just too easy to waft along way above the speed limit, totally oblivous to how fast you're really going. With the new "blobs around the dash" readout, I find it very hard to tell at a glance what the limiter is set to. Previously it was always visible digitally, i.e. numerically, in its dedicated area. This is perhaps made worse in that I generally set the limit to 5mph above the real limit (naughty me), partly to avoid too much hassle from the ****-head behind trying to go 20mph above the limit.
It's early days, and I have a lot more miles to do, but initial impressions are very favourable. I really like this new car.
