E-Class (W212/C207/A207) Mercedes W212 E-Class Facelift: Renders, Spyshots, Etc

[ZicZachZo]

Aside from this ugly not ugly subjective design argument that is ensuing, what is even more upsetting to me is that this facelift makes the E look really pedestrian. The distinctive quad lights are gone and have been replaced by something more appropriate for a Honda Accord. There is nothing Mercedes about these headlamps except for their general shape which look like the bastard child of the W220 and a recent concept car. The GLK needed softening. The chisled design was begging for some softening. The E class on the other hand was taut and though not for everyone was a well thought out design. The softening here seriously detracts from the original design.

And finally, that bloody awful sports grille. First of all, the shape of both grills is part of the problem. The bathtub shape is slightly better masked by the traditional grill but my god that snout on the sports model. That's a look only the designer can love.

 

[Wolfgang]

Btw, did anyone notice the little protrusion at the bottom of the classic grille? The one at the very bottom below the distronic cover.

Might be the 360 degree camera, like on the GL.

http://www.germancarforum.com/community/threads/official-2013-mercedes-benz-gl-class.44059/page-7

 

[bmwownage]

Good job if this is a competitor of the Toyota Camry.
Honestly this kind of facelift reminds me of Jap cars, where they just round things off and change things without really thinking too deeply the overall effect. Honestly this facelift is ridiculous. Headlights are from the old S class, grille is...i don't know what the heck is wrong with the dude who thought of this... rear light graphics omfg, the designer pls go kill yourself sorry for the extremeness but this is worse than Hyundai.
I still don't understand why the pontoon lines were removed, that was good, at least much better than this, this is just two lines that were supposed to be joined (appearingly) but they missed each other due to some design error or wrong trajectory or something... i'm very sorry but in terms of design i think this is very sh!t.

 

[bmwownage]

come on that sports grille is not even sporty, it's so soft.. honestly what were they thinking? IMO the current S class is OK but for the later models, imo ONLY and ONLY the CLS really works out OK. They were really able to portray something out of the side profile lines, makes some sense despite still too busy, but at least you can see what they were trying to get at so PLEASE MB don't screw this CLS up, it is your best looking model out there now.
Really embarrassing that they were hyping about these "new headlights" but far out they look so bad.
Thought this would be a friend of the F20 1er, both ugly, but sorry, this doesn't even qualify, it's even worse. Let's be friends with Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, Honda Accord etc.

 

[Zafiro]

We better not create A6 vs 5er vs E-class poll. Its going to be a slaughter based on these posts

 

[Tumbo]

HOLY SHTIT! I just bumped into this thread and saw the pic K-A posted and lost my jaw.
Is that the new E??? Oh my Lord...what have they done...????? Its HORRIBLE!!

To go from this..
'

To this...


This is a JOKE!!

 

[montana]

^ Agreed. To me, the W211 is still the best E-Class design. Love the 212 as well, but that new grill is really just... ahh. Sad to see, really. Also, I miss the pontoon.

 

[SKY]

And regarding the interior, that part where they were supposed to focus the most and they almost made no changes. Different air vents, steering wheel and speedos. WOW, such a huge change.

I don´t know a single person who critisized the E-Class front end, which looked pretty good with the right pack. The rear, on the other hand, was and remains a disaster, and the profile I don´t even know what it looks like.

So basically, they changed for the worse the only nice part of the car. Fantastic.

 

[Gianclaudio]

And regarding the interior, that part where they were supposed to focus the most and they almost made no changes. Different air vents, steering wheel and speedos. WOW, such a huge change.

I don´t know a single person who critisized the E-Class front end, which looked pretty good with the right pack. The rear, on the other hand, was and remains a disaster, and the profile I don´t even know what it looks like.

So basically, they changed for the worse the only nice part of the car. Fantastic.

Just like they did on the C class..... they ruined the front end, making it look like a Skoda, and they barely altered the rear.

 

[Wolfgang]

Somewhat similar to a less pointy E Coupe grille?

http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/gallery/class-E/bodystyle-CPE##/class-E/section-0/tout-0/type-img

 

[KonradK]

The new cabriolet as I see from spy shots will look as good as the 2009-2011 SL, which was the best SL ever.
Change to these new modern looking headlights (2009-2011 SL, CLS) was a great move. Also 1 piece grill will look great on cabriolet body!

 

[lukeswiss]

The new cabriolet as I see from spy shots will look as good as the 2009-2011 SL, which was the best SL ever.
Change to these new modern looking headlights (2009-2011 SL, CLS) was a great move. Also 1 piece grill will look great on cabriolet body!

I wonder how the classic/luxury grille would look on the E Cabrio/coupe. Though the star grill was never an issue before.

Can someone tell me why the new 'Sports' grill looks so much weaker/smaller than the old normal grill ?? It makes the front look a bit puny.

 

[Sunny]

As for the E class facelift - my take - as usual in most cases some stuff to like and some not to -

Like the new headlight graphics - happy they didn't go the way of the "man brows".
Like that they got rid of the pontoon - though not sure why they did it in a facelift.
Don't like the new grill with soft edges.
Don't like the front bumper.

 

[PINHEAD]

I wait the first real life pictures and wait to see the car in reality. I remember when I first saw the leaked pics of the W212 I was afraid of it. But after it it grow on me.

 

[Giannis]

Thread cleaned.

It took me a bit over an hour to read all posts since the middle of the 65th page and only keep those that are above a minimum level of requisite quality. At this point, I would like to ask you the following:

1. Watch your language. I think it's not that hard to express yourself in a polite way.

2. It's ok to dislike a car. Many will agree with you, others will not. But no matter how strongly you dislike it, you still have to express your opinion in a civilized way. Also, keep in mind that we are talking about cars here, not your enemy in a hypothetical war. Relax!

3. Posting photos of irrelevant cars, trying to find a similar detail, that eventually proves nothing, doesn't add anything to the discussion. Please avoid it.

4. Again, watch your language and express yourself politely.

5. Repeating the same thing over and over again, won't make people change their opinion and agree with you. It will annoy them and eventually drive them mad with you. Don't repeat yourself. Post only when you have something new or better to say, instead.

6. As it is not really clear that you need to be polite, I will say it again: Be civilized.

I deleted 42 posts. That's a bit over two pages of posts. It's not ignorable. This means that most of you people, aren't capable of taking part in a healthy discussion. Further off-topic posts will be deleted. But enough is enough already, and after three warnings from Monster and me, any further insulting posts will be infracted.

Now, let's continue this thread, without being mean, rude or off-topic.

Thank you.

 

[Yaz]

I hate when designers respond to questions stating the obvious. No shit the lights are new and the ponton fenders gone. We want to know WHY! Why has Mercedes felt the need to banish these cues mid lifecyle? Why did the ponton fenders only have a lifespan of 4 years on the sedan? Why has the four eyed face been banished after close to 2 decade? What the hell is going on at Mercedes design?

Well said. Why can't MB go back to their old ways of facelifting a car without going bananas on it?? If this was done on a new generation E-Class, I'd understand, but this a facelift! You had four years of feedback from customers and I'm pretty sure they got everything wrong. And it seemed like yesterday Wagener was flaunting the quad headlights and the Ponton arch in the press release back in '08. What was wrong with giving it a those Concept Fascination LED headlights, improve the interior and call it a facelift?

BTW, look at the headlights shape, it's like the W220 with nu-LED's that look so warped and cluttered they just distract. Talk about recycling! I'm seeing M-B trying to turn back to the late 90's idioms of round and soft.... not good for an M-B.

And I'm pretty sure MB will offer those LED units as an expen$ive option, so most will drive around with those 90's clear lense headlights like they are offering on the FL C and GLK. I've seen a couple FL C's with a clear lenses and aftermarket xenon, and you don't want to be in front of them when their headlights are on.

 

[deity]

Woah. That Pre-FL W212 wagon looks killer.

 

[thatsmrsnyder]

To post an obviously unpopular opinion, I hold to the belief that the new headlights do a wonderful job of modernizing the car while still paying tribute to the classic double headlight motif with the LED splits. I really like them. Ponton fender? Good riddance. General softening? Much obliged- now please do that to the GLK as well. I was hoping for a bit more of an interior re-work though; I find it to be much too squared-off and block-like, but I suppose I will have to wait for the next model. As for the grills... Seriously folks, there really isn't much of a departure from the grills Mercedes has been using for years. I much prefer the classic over the sport, but customers want options and Mercedes will give them just that.

 

[ramsterca]

This is my first post on this forum. I had to post after seeing that travesty that is the W212 facelift.

I've been a Benz fan since I was a boy. Forced my parents to buy the first one that was in the family (a W123 200 model). We then owned a W126 380SEL and W201 190 2.0 in the 80s. I bought my first Benz 7 years ago. A W124 E320. I also have since purchased a W126 300SE and a W201 190E 2.6 (all low mileage pristined examples and still going strong).

You'll note that the 3 cars I presently own are all 80's designed (by Saaco) classics. The 80's were the pinnacle of modern Mercedes design in my opinion and to varying degrees it's been downhill from there.

I think Saaco himself lost some of his clarity of design in the early 90's (the W140 S-Class was not a patch on the W126 design wise in my opinion, and the W210 and W202 were both a disgrace - no offense to anyone who owns them - compared to the previous generations. To be fair, I think the cost cutting that took over Mercedes at this time impacted the designs as well).

The late 90's cars were reasonably well designed but a bit soft. I'm referring to the W220 S-Class, W211 E-Class and W203 C-Class. All very well proportioned designs but I was personally not a fan of the soft mould or the peanut lights.

Of the current line-up the only balanced design is the W204 C-Class. It's the best thing to come out of Stuttgart in decades (pre-facelift), and its sales numbers reflect that fact. The W221 is bulbous (although superbly well built and still far better than any of its competitors) and the W212 is unbalanced and gimmicky (I know some of you like the double headlights but I don't - that nonsense started with the aforementioned W210 and has carried on ever since - the last classic E-Class was the W124 and it had one piece headlights, as did the W123 before it). There are some decent elements in the W212 design and I liked the fact that they returned to a little boxier look, but it is still unbalanced and not harmonious. It's not a patch on the W204 that blows it away in terms of proportion and aesthetic purity. I'm not surprised that they've had to go radical with the facelift, as there's always been something off about the W212 design.

Having got through all that, let me get to the crux of my point. This W212 facelift is an embarrassment. They're obviously desperate (someone mentioned that sales numbers are terrible compared to the 5 series and the A6) and so are trying to inject some of the youth factor from the C-Class - hence the stupid idea of putting the sport grill on it. I agree with the other comments that the front is too busy and that the second line under the main one is silly.

Bottom line: I've had my doubts about Wagoner from the beginning. He does seem egotistical (I've never seen other Mercedes designers posing in a show offy way next to their designs) and seems a bit young to have such an important design job at one of the most revered brands. He is modernising the design, yes, but he's also taking away some of the design class that a Mercedes must always have.

I still have hope for the next generation though. From what I've seen both the W222 and the W205 look to be superbly proportioned, although with some fussy detailing like the front lights and the drooping line. Let's hope they are a success and that the W213 makes up for the shameful facelift of the W212.

 

[Merc1]

Its getting late, no official pics release yet?? No press release???


M