Should I? W212 Hybrid Touring

[Rose Chap]

Hello Merc chums,

I'm a long time member here who is currently having a break from the brand via the medium of a Lexus GS450H (3.5 petrol hybrid) and my wife's car and family transport a Toyota Prius (1.8 petrol hybrid).

The Prius has been a fine car over near five years and 100,000 miles in our possession, but next year I'm going to move it on and replace it with something bigger as my family needs have evolved to need something with more space.

On that basis I'm considering an E Class Estate, W212 vintage (around 2012 to 2014, budget dependent) and the E300 hybrid appeals thanks to low tax, good MPG, and useful performance. I'm not overly excited about the principle of a diesel but the hybrid would make this more palatable. My worry is reliability - how good is the tech and am I potentially buying into a world of issues with DPFs, electric motors, etc, bearing in mind I'd be looking at cars with 80,000+ miles.

My alternative to the E Class wagon is something like a 2010/2011 Lexus RX450H, which would cost considerably more in fuel, but I'm ashamed to admit I have more faith in Toyota/Lexus reliability than a modern diesel Mercedes (plus the RX would have the option of a near-watertight Lexus used car warranty - £995 for two years, as long as the car is under 10 years old and 140,000 miles).

Is my paranoia about the diesel hybrid justified? Any thoughts?

 

[Ayeupducks]

I share your thoughts. Toyota and Lexus have a fantastic track record with hybrid and I believe that all others have yet to prove their worth regarding reliability. At present I drive a 2014 E Class 220 Estate which I can not fault, although retired we travel a lot to and from the Midlands to Anglesey via the M6 M56 and A55 fuel wise I never get below 50 mpg and short in town driving I get 40mpg. My thinking is that if we purchase a Hybrid now, we are maybe just jumping to soon and better waiting until things settle down.

 

[Headhurts]

In 2014 I had an E300 Hybrid on lease for two years, during this time I visited France 3 times and the car returned excellent mpg and was a lovely car to drive.

Mine was very reliable during my ownership but others on the forums had problems, I believe these are not made any more.

The Lexus/Toyota technology has been going for a good while and the back up from the manufacturer is second to none.

Funnily enough on my trips to France my friend was with me and he drives a Lexus RX which as you know has a larger petrol engine and more powerful battery, I filled up in Dover and drove to the Champagne region and back to UK on a single tank of fuel whereas the mpg on the Lexus despite driving fairly conservatively was pants I believe he was getting around 35 mpg.

If purchasing one of these I would want a Mercedes Tier 1 warranty.

Robin

 

[Rose Chap]

Thanks for these responses, very insightful. I’d missed that MB are no longer making the hybrid - that fact alone is quite alarming.

Does anyone have any ballpark figures for the cost of a Tier1 warranty on something like a E300 Hybrid? I did a quite google search and the answer is not obvious.

What are people’s views of buying a used diesel these days? By buying something like a E220CDI or E250CDI am I buying something where I’m potentially going to be taxed to death in the next few years and/or banned from driving in cities?

With regard to the economy of the Lexus RX450, the ones I’d be looking at I’d expect about 30 mpg, with potentially more on a gentle motorway cruise. The big Lexus hybrids are not economical in absolute terms, but they are relatively economical for their size and performance (2+ tonnes, circa 300 bhp).


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[CJD]

If you buy an approved used from a Mercedes dealer it will come with a years MB warranty, this should help put your mind at ease.

 

[jdrrco]

If you have the reg no, the MB website will give you the warranty price.

 

[Rose Chap]

If you have the reg no, the MB website will give you the warranty price.

Thanks for this information, very helpful.

Based on this car: 2014 Grey MERCEDES-BENZ E CLASS 2.1 E300 CDI BlueTEC SE 7G-Tronic Plus 5dr for sale for £11899 in Beckenham, Borough Of Bromley

I could buy something called a ‘DriveLine Warranty” from Mercedes for £1632.96 per year.

DriveLine is the most basic level of warranty cover.

I found a similar age but lower mileage (71,000 miles) E300 Hybrid on AutoTrader. 2013 Blue MERCEDES-BENZ E CLASS 2.1 E300 CDI BlueTEC SE 7G-Tronic Plus 5dr for sale for £13750 in Stowmarket, Suffolk

For this car a Tier One warranty is £1944.32 per year.

This is clearly madness, especially when compared against the Lexus warranties.

This exercise has served to essentially rule out the E Class Hybrid as the replacement for my Prius.


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[Daveuk]

I wanted the E300 hybrid but was put off after a lot of research plus people said they were no better mpg wise to an E220. I ended up with an E250 but that’s euro 5 so will be banned from certain cities in the future but then I don’t really go into said cities around me that are planning on the bans anyway and not all are going to charge for cars either seems more to hit hgv’s etc so far just another nail in the coffin of diesels till they decide petrols are bad again


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[Rose Chap]

Out of curiosity I did a warranty quote for a 12 plate E250 CDI with 71,000 miles and tier one cover was nearly £2K per annum.

Another quote for 61 plate E220 CDI with 60,000 miles and the quote for tier one was just over £1K per annum.

My rationale for doing this is not necessarily because I‘m desperate to go out and buy a warranty, but to get a feel for what level of potential risk a used Merc of a certain age and mileage represents in the eyes of the insurance underwriters. The results are not encouraging!

Also, is there any collective wisdom on the way the wind is blowing on diesels? A worry is the bottom could drop out of the diesel car market if tax rates change following a change in government and a new ‘green’ agenda...


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[gIzzE]

Check warranty prices on sub 60k mile cars.

These used to be around 1/3 of the price.

Merc used warranties are quite frankly madness.
3 years of warranty along with depreciation on a used car can make the car far more than buying brand new.

 

[Piff]

I found a similar age but lower mileage (71,000 miles) E300 Hybrid on AutoTrader. 2013 Blue MERCEDES-BENZ E CLASS 2.1 E300 CDI BlueTEC SE 7G-Tronic Plus 5dr for sale for £13750 in Stowmarket, Suffolk

For reference purposes, this dealer is not in Stowmarket, but on the A140 at Brockford

 

[gIzzE]

I thought I better see if that was true what I said about buying a new one vs a 5 year old one.

That 2013 car is £13750, over 2 years I guess it will lose around £5750 and will get £8k come trade in time with 92k mikes on it?
That is £239 a month in depreciation.
Add in the warranty at £83 a a month and you are at £322 a month.

You can be in a brand new E Class E220d Estate for £257 a month including vat, but you need add in £2300 deposit, so that brings it to £352 a month.

£7 a week more to be in a brand new E220d vs a 72k mile 5 year old one with warranty.

You can see why so many chose the 'hiring' route as cars get older.

If I wasn't able to do stuff on my car and have a ramp and all the tools it is definitely be the way I would go.

 

[Rose Chap]

I thought I better see if that was true what I said about buying a new one vs a 5 year old one.

That 2013 car is £13750, over 2 years I guess it will lose around £5750 and will get £8k come trade in time with 92k mikes on it?
That is £239 a month in depreciation.
Add in the warranty at £83 a a month and you are at £322 a month.

You can be in a brand new E Class E220d Estate for £257 a month including vat, but you need add in £2300 deposit, so that brings it to £352 a month.

£7 a week more to be in a brand new E220d vs a 72k mile 5 year old one with warranty.

You can see why so many chose the 'hiring' route as cars get older.

If I wasn't able to do stuff on my car and have a ramp and all the tools it is definitely be the way I would go.

I tend to agree, thanks for taking the time to show the figures. My gut tells me that a S212 E220 CDI is basically a sound car, but the diesel bit is the wildcard.

I'm in no hurry so the Prius can soldier on for another 10,000 miles before I seriously need to think about this.