cawimmer430
Piston Pioneer
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- 14,808
- Name
- Christian Alexander Wimmer
Hey guys! Here’s that review I promised regarding my family’s new Mercedes E350 CGI. It’s amazing that I’ve not had many opportunities to drive it! I live in Munich now and my parents are farther east in a town called Mühldorf am Inn and we rarely meet up these days. But this week, with my BMW in the shop, this is my daily driver.
So I took this baby out for a long spin today. The areas around Munich totally suck in terms of locations for a quick photoshoot. There’s way to much private property here and hardly any abandoned buildings or factories which one could use in the background and way to many nosy people...so don’t be alarmed when I present to you here some really crappy pictures taken with my D90 + lights and Nokia C7 smart phone!
Ok, quick recap. This is a second-hand 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 CGI that's virtually fully loaded. It belonged to a big shot at MB Munich. The car has an AMG body kit and a sportier suspension. Under the hood is the direct-injection version of the standard 272-hp 3.5-l V6 which in this guise makes 292-horsepower. 7Gtronic transmission is standard.
Interior Impressions
The interior is very spacious and the cabin is quite ergonomical to. If you're an experienced Mercedes' driver then the layout isn't a problem (signal and cruise control stalks in particular always annoy first-time drivers).
On the downside, I find the W212 to be one of those cars where it takes you forever to find the right driving position, particularly when more than one person drives the car. I had this problem every time the four times I've driven the car. It took me ages to find the right seating position. I even had to adjust the seating position while driving to get a feel for the correct position. The lack of memory seats in this car is a big downside.
The cabin is well-made and appears high quality. It's still got that typical Mercedes conservativeness written all over it in design and feel, but if does feel like a nice place to be. The plastics are much improved over the W211.
Initial Driving Impressions
Although this car has a sportier suspension than the standard Avantgarde model, it's clearly geared towards comfort and not so much sport. The car handles well and can be driven in a sporty fashion, but you can feel that it doesn't like being thrown around tight corners at higher speeds and in fact felt difficult to control in such situations. Perhaps the winter tires are also at fault here. I am keen to try the car out in such situations with the summer tires (and proper AMG rims)! Strangely, I thought our ex-W211 E320 felt a little "more nimble" than the new W212 - or maybe I am just so used to the W211 for now.
The steering feedback is generally light but the Parameterlenkung tightens the feel when you're driving around tighter corners. This isn't enough to compensate for the comfort-biased suspension, however, and drivers wanting more handling and control will not feel at home here.
I love the seats. Although I am not a fan of leather, they do look great in the car. But the cool thing about the seats is that they're comfortable and also offer excellent side support for those times when you want to 'drive'.
Transmission
I have always loved the 7Gtronic transmission. You don't even know it's there as it works in the background and is always in the correct gear.
This car has three transmissions modes: Comfort / Sport and Manual. The difference between sport and comfort can clearly be felt. In comfort the transmission is lazy in terms of shifts - which you still don't feel - and in sport it downshifts earlier and shifts up much later. For this drive I left it in sport mode the whole time.
The manual feature is also neat. This car has paddle shifters on the steering wheel for just that. You can operate them in sport and comfort mode to, but in manual mode you have full control over what gear you want the transmission to hold for the moment and use. To be honest, I'm not much of a fan of this mode. I feel that the transmission is already doing a good job in comfort/sport mode and I can down- or upshift in those modes to, so manual mode is something for the "boy racer". By the way, the shifts are really quick in manual mode.
Autobahn Driving Impressions
I knew from the start that the car would shine here. The E-Class is by heart a cruiser and mile eater and I thought the car was at its best behavior here. The suspension really shines here providing a cushy and quiet ride. You can drive for hours in such a car and not feel tired. This was already the case with our beloved ex-2002 MB E320 Avantgarde.
High-speed stability is very good. I'm coming from a small BMW 118i, which is susceptible to side wind and the slipstream left behind by bigger cars passing you, the E-Class feels like a tank. SOLID. This is a car where you can drive fast and not know you're driving fast. I had the car up to 200 km/h today and it felt great. I wanted to drive faster but traffic conditions didn't permit higher speeds.
The engine is very powerful. 292-horsepower and gobs of torque make this car really fun. The acceleration is quick and the engine never feels tired or underpowered. On the downside, it does sound a little rough when you punch it: not sporty, but rough. I guess the old 3.5-l V6 can only be modified up to a certain point. In regular driving however and in the city, the engine is still very smooth and refined. Only when you drive sporty does the engine audio turn a little rougher.
The Parameterlenkung lightens the steering feedback at higher speeds which is perfect for relaxed control but when you need "handling" the Parameterlenkung gives you more feedback as to what the front wheels are up to. I've always liked this system on the newer Benzes as it combines the best qualities of a sport/luxury car.
Headlights
The lights offer great visibility at night. Turn on the high-beam Xenons and you'll be fooled into thinking it's daylight outside - literally.
Comfort Features
The A/C is relatively quiet and efficient. Seat heating works instantly (takes awhile in the BMW 118i).
COMAND is a gem and without reading the instruction manual, I instantly got the hang of it. I love it. A far cry from the simplistic (yet equally effective) APS-50 we had in our E320.
The Harman Kardon sound system is good. I'm not much into sound systems so I can't really give the system a fair evaluation. For me, as long as I can hear the song or news, "any" sound system is great.
Fuel Economy
When I drove up to Munich from Mühldorf, I average 6.9 L / 100 km (!!!) which is damn good for such a car. The distance between these two cities is 79 km. 33 of those 79 km take place on an Autobahn (where I was driving 130-150 km/h) while the other kilometers were Bundesstraße. Monday's are horrible to drive because of trucks. The roads are filled with them since they can't drive on Sunday and have to catch up on Monday. I was doing a lot of overtaking (kickdowns) but also cruising at 70-80 km/h when I was behind a truck and couldn't overtake for many kilometers.
My dad has been reporting excellent fuel economy with this car.
Overall
A very nice car. It's fun to drive, especially on the highway but also on normal roads. Like most MBs, it's a car with many great qualities and no real weaknesses. A few things that are annoying are mainly option-related. No memory seats are a big minus and the engine could be a little more sporty sounding (and not rough) when you're doing a kickdown or driving it a bit sporty. Oh, and I'd rather have MB-Tex or cloth seats than leather for durability reasons.
If you have questions, just ask! I feel like I left out so many things.
More pictures. Quickly taken...
Smartphone photos:
Speedometers and gauges...
COMAND in action...
Driver's view...
And here's a crappy video I took. Didn't know why I took so it naturally sucks!
Free File Hosting, Free Video Hosting, Online File Hosting. Large Files and Images up to 5GB - YourFileLink.com
You need to download it to watch it.
So I took this baby out for a long spin today. The areas around Munich totally suck in terms of locations for a quick photoshoot. There’s way to much private property here and hardly any abandoned buildings or factories which one could use in the background and way to many nosy people...so don’t be alarmed when I present to you here some really crappy pictures taken with my D90 + lights and Nokia C7 smart phone!
Ok, quick recap. This is a second-hand 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 CGI that's virtually fully loaded. It belonged to a big shot at MB Munich. The car has an AMG body kit and a sportier suspension. Under the hood is the direct-injection version of the standard 272-hp 3.5-l V6 which in this guise makes 292-horsepower. 7Gtronic transmission is standard.
Interior Impressions
The interior is very spacious and the cabin is quite ergonomical to. If you're an experienced Mercedes' driver then the layout isn't a problem (signal and cruise control stalks in particular always annoy first-time drivers).
On the downside, I find the W212 to be one of those cars where it takes you forever to find the right driving position, particularly when more than one person drives the car. I had this problem every time the four times I've driven the car. It took me ages to find the right seating position. I even had to adjust the seating position while driving to get a feel for the correct position. The lack of memory seats in this car is a big downside.
The cabin is well-made and appears high quality. It's still got that typical Mercedes conservativeness written all over it in design and feel, but if does feel like a nice place to be. The plastics are much improved over the W211.
Initial Driving Impressions
Although this car has a sportier suspension than the standard Avantgarde model, it's clearly geared towards comfort and not so much sport. The car handles well and can be driven in a sporty fashion, but you can feel that it doesn't like being thrown around tight corners at higher speeds and in fact felt difficult to control in such situations. Perhaps the winter tires are also at fault here. I am keen to try the car out in such situations with the summer tires (and proper AMG rims)! Strangely, I thought our ex-W211 E320 felt a little "more nimble" than the new W212 - or maybe I am just so used to the W211 for now.
The steering feedback is generally light but the Parameterlenkung tightens the feel when you're driving around tighter corners. This isn't enough to compensate for the comfort-biased suspension, however, and drivers wanting more handling and control will not feel at home here.
I love the seats. Although I am not a fan of leather, they do look great in the car. But the cool thing about the seats is that they're comfortable and also offer excellent side support for those times when you want to 'drive'.
Transmission
I have always loved the 7Gtronic transmission. You don't even know it's there as it works in the background and is always in the correct gear.
This car has three transmissions modes: Comfort / Sport and Manual. The difference between sport and comfort can clearly be felt. In comfort the transmission is lazy in terms of shifts - which you still don't feel - and in sport it downshifts earlier and shifts up much later. For this drive I left it in sport mode the whole time.
The manual feature is also neat. This car has paddle shifters on the steering wheel for just that. You can operate them in sport and comfort mode to, but in manual mode you have full control over what gear you want the transmission to hold for the moment and use. To be honest, I'm not much of a fan of this mode. I feel that the transmission is already doing a good job in comfort/sport mode and I can down- or upshift in those modes to, so manual mode is something for the "boy racer". By the way, the shifts are really quick in manual mode.
Autobahn Driving Impressions
I knew from the start that the car would shine here. The E-Class is by heart a cruiser and mile eater and I thought the car was at its best behavior here. The suspension really shines here providing a cushy and quiet ride. You can drive for hours in such a car and not feel tired. This was already the case with our beloved ex-2002 MB E320 Avantgarde.
High-speed stability is very good. I'm coming from a small BMW 118i, which is susceptible to side wind and the slipstream left behind by bigger cars passing you, the E-Class feels like a tank. SOLID. This is a car where you can drive fast and not know you're driving fast. I had the car up to 200 km/h today and it felt great. I wanted to drive faster but traffic conditions didn't permit higher speeds.
The engine is very powerful. 292-horsepower and gobs of torque make this car really fun. The acceleration is quick and the engine never feels tired or underpowered. On the downside, it does sound a little rough when you punch it: not sporty, but rough. I guess the old 3.5-l V6 can only be modified up to a certain point. In regular driving however and in the city, the engine is still very smooth and refined. Only when you drive sporty does the engine audio turn a little rougher.
The Parameterlenkung lightens the steering feedback at higher speeds which is perfect for relaxed control but when you need "handling" the Parameterlenkung gives you more feedback as to what the front wheels are up to. I've always liked this system on the newer Benzes as it combines the best qualities of a sport/luxury car.
Headlights
The lights offer great visibility at night. Turn on the high-beam Xenons and you'll be fooled into thinking it's daylight outside - literally.
Comfort Features
The A/C is relatively quiet and efficient. Seat heating works instantly (takes awhile in the BMW 118i).
COMAND is a gem and without reading the instruction manual, I instantly got the hang of it. I love it. A far cry from the simplistic (yet equally effective) APS-50 we had in our E320.
The Harman Kardon sound system is good. I'm not much into sound systems so I can't really give the system a fair evaluation. For me, as long as I can hear the song or news, "any" sound system is great.
Fuel Economy
When I drove up to Munich from Mühldorf, I average 6.9 L / 100 km (!!!) which is damn good for such a car. The distance between these two cities is 79 km. 33 of those 79 km take place on an Autobahn (where I was driving 130-150 km/h) while the other kilometers were Bundesstraße. Monday's are horrible to drive because of trucks. The roads are filled with them since they can't drive on Sunday and have to catch up on Monday. I was doing a lot of overtaking (kickdowns) but also cruising at 70-80 km/h when I was behind a truck and couldn't overtake for many kilometers.
My dad has been reporting excellent fuel economy with this car.
Overall
A very nice car. It's fun to drive, especially on the highway but also on normal roads. Like most MBs, it's a car with many great qualities and no real weaknesses. A few things that are annoying are mainly option-related. No memory seats are a big minus and the engine could be a little more sporty sounding (and not rough) when you're doing a kickdown or driving it a bit sporty. Oh, and I'd rather have MB-Tex or cloth seats than leather for durability reasons.
If you have questions, just ask! I feel like I left out so many things.
More pictures. Quickly taken...
Smartphone photos:
Speedometers and gauges...
COMAND in action...
Driver's view...
And here's a crappy video I took. Didn't know why I took so it naturally sucks!
Free File Hosting, Free Video Hosting, Online File Hosting. Large Files and Images up to 5GB - YourFileLink.com
You need to download it to watch it.
