neues auto - 3-month update

[AutobahnSHO]

I live in the city and work in the suburb. Reverse of traffic.
I drive west in the morning, and east in the evening. No sun in my face.
Versa. Mpjeeze.
I am the mastercommuter.

I roll 7min down 2 streets.

[CALL_911]

Congrats man. These things are awesome cruisers, and those MB V6s sound fantastic.

[Vinsanity]

Congrats man. These things are awesome cruisers, and those MB V6s sound fantastic.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed that engine note; that car's really got a nice set of pipes

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[cawimmer430]

Nice review, great photos.

Yes, this is my first German car, as well as my first car since my old '84 Volvo posted in "Your first car" that isn't Japanese or American. Many of you may have noticed I have somewhat of a reservation on owning a European car, so it's good to know your parents' car is holding up well. The COMAND system is probably my least favorite thing about the car right now. Using the rotary knob reminds me of this old Onion video and the voice recognition doesn't seem to recognize many street names. I probably just have to keep brushing up on how to use it.

I agree with you on the transmission. I never noticed it having to hunt for gears; it holds gears just as well as the old 5-speed in the CTS in spite of having more ratios to choose from. Trip computer indicates 19.6 mpg since I took possession of the car, which isn't great, but most of that has been through the stop-and-go traffic going across 3 SoCal counties. Still better than the CTS would have fared, and it definitely feels faster in spite of the supposedly similar acceleration times (though having nearly 120k miles doesn't really help the Caddy's case)

COMAND was outdated then, and is now. I don't know how user-friendly and effective the newer Mercedes' navigation systems work, but they seem much improved. However, touch-screen is a must in my opinion; easier and quicker to use. The knob slows things down, IMO. 

Regarding the fuel economy, in mixed driving you should hopefully be getting better ratings. My dad regularly gets better gas mileage in mixed driving than what Mercedes' claims the car delivers. In most European nations there's a 130 km/h speed limit and at that speed the E350 CGI will average something in the low 8s or mid-/high 7s (L / 100 km). Impressive for such a heavy car.

Good luck and happy motoring with this car! 

[MexicoCityM3]

Excellent decision IMO. I really like the E-Class. We rented a very similar but diesel one in Europe for our honeymoon and loved it.

[Gotta-Qik-C7]

I roll 7min down 2 streets.

I have no commute! 

[Vinsanity]

so I just found out that I have the choice of 3 ambient lighting options...


Neutral


Solar


Polar

I'm torn between Neutral and Solar right now...opinions please?


I'm really gonna have to set aside the good part of an afternoon in order to explore all the customizations and such...

[CaminoRacer]

Neutral during the week, solar on the weekend!

[CALL_911]

Solar

[2o6]

Yusss. No more Cadillac.

[giant_mtb]

I like the warmth of solar.

[cawimmer430]

Solar looks best, IMO.

I am not even sure if our E350 CGI has this feature! Probably not. I think it debuted on the W222 S-Class and trickled down to the W212 E-Class facelift model only.

[Vinsanity]

I'm starting to "warm up" more to Solar, but I like the idea of switching it up. Thinking I'll do Neutral during spring/summer and Solar during fall/winter.



So I took the car for a spin around the block for a quick photoshoot and just because...




Those tire marks aren't mine, I promise




Interior shot with proper lighting


I also just found out today that the interior is actually MB-Tex and not leather. I'm not even mad. Actually I'm quite impressed. The stuff doesn't feel cheap at all, and actually seems quite durable.

[CJ]

MB-Tex is the world's best seat upholstery. Also, solar all the way. It's the best and most traditional MB interior lighting color.

[Eye of the Tiger]

Polar Polar Polar

[Vinsanity]

Polar Polar Polar

I have to say, Polar would look pretty nifty in the Versa

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

[cawimmer430]

Great shots! 

MB-Tex is really great in both quality/feel and durability. It certainly fooled me too as I thought your car had leather seats! Rest assured that unlike leather, MB-Tex will be more durable (and easier to clean). 

[veeman]

I dim the inside lighting so that the dash gauges don't glare at night. 

The lights on the center stack, steering wheel, and inside door handle are not adjustable and look "solar" colored. 

I would keep the adjustable lights neutral by default (or turn them off if that was an option) and turn them to solar if I was going someplace fun and/or if I had passengers in the car. 

[cawimmer430]

Hey Vinsanity,

Just curious what camera you used for those shots? And don't tell me it's the new iPhone 10,000s! 

[Vinsanity]

Hey Vinsanity,

Just curious what camera you used for those shots? And don't tell me it's the new iPhone 10,000s! 

Believe it or not, I shot those with my Samsung Galaxy S6

[MX793]

It's really a shame that on all of these cars with configurable ambient interior lighting, the illumination for the buttons on the center stack don't also change.  That was one of my gripes with my last Mustang.  I could set the footwell and cup holder lighting to a million different colors, but the illuminated buttons were always ice blue.  Looked great if I happened to also set the ambient lighting to that color, but kind of clashed if I set the ambient to red or orange.

[Vinsanity]

It's really a shame that on all of these cars with configurable ambient interior lighting, the illumination for the buttons on the center stack don't also change.  That was one of my gripes with my last Mustang.  I could set the footwell and cup holder lighting to a million different colors, but the illuminated buttons were always ice blue.  Looked great if I happened to also set the ambient lighting to that color, but kind of clashed if I set the ambient to red or orange.

Yeah, the door handle illumination and lighting for the center stack buttons do look good in the "solar" color, but they clash pretty heavily if you happen to choose the "polar" ambient lighting. I personally would have chosen to use the "neutral" color for those if they had to stay one color.

[cawimmer430]

Believe it or not, I shot those with my Samsung Galaxy S6

Incredible quality and decent exposure for a smartphone camera. Impressive!!! 

[12,000 RPM]

Wow, those night time interior shots are impressive for a smart phone. Camera makers are weeping.

[Vinsanity]

It's decent enough, I suppose, but you still wouldn't use it for professional or even hobby photographing

[12,000 RPM]

Most people aren't looking at photos all blown up.... for viewing on a phone or at web resolution it's really solid. And I think that's how 99% of people look at pictures

[CaminoRacer]

Most people aren't looking at photos all blown up.... for viewing on a phone or at web resolution it's really solid. And I think that's how 99% of people look at pictures

+1

I imagine Polaroid cameras filled a similar role in the evolution of photography and modern culture. It's not the highest quality type of camera, but it turns photography from a profession into a hobby for the masses. Easy to shoot, easy to share.

[Vinsanity]

So it's been 3 months since I brought home the car, and it now has about 25k miles in it, almost 3k of which were put on myself. I'm about at the point where the car finally feels like "my car" and not a car I'm borrowing from a rich friend. Some additional thoughts and nitpicks so far:

• The suspension is tuned/sprung quite firmly for a luxury car. Checking the window sticker, sure enough, it's equipped with the AMG sport suspension. You can definitely feel every texture on the road, but it never transmits through the body in a harsh way.
• The car turns in with surprising sharpness for a big girl when you toss it into a corner. You even get a tiny, tiny hint of rear-end rotation if you're especially ham-fisted, so maybe the staggered 245 front/265 rear setup isn't really overkill, after all.
• The steering I believe is a variable-ratio unit. Maneuvering around a parking lot, the steering feels light and overboosted, but coming around fast, sweeping turns, it's heavy and precise as you would find a typical German car, with loads of information sent to your fingertips.
• The power builds up linear, in a typical DOHC V6 kind of way. You're never left wanting for power, but you'll have to wait just a split-second for it compared to say, a modern turbo car.
• Throttle response is much improved when switched to sport mode, as is the transmission's shift logic; in eco mode, the transmission rushes to 7th gear asap.
• The difference between the two drive modes, sport and eco, is night-and-day, to the point where you'd have to get used to the throttle inputs all over again. The car definitely feels more at home in sport mode, but unfortunately, this is one of those cars that automatically resets to eco mode when you shut off the car and restart it again. Boo.
• Auto stop-start is another thing that automatically turns on when you restart the car. I've come to accept it at this point, but it makes accelerating smoothly from a stoplight a tricky affair, which something that takes getting used to.
• Brakes are strong, but the pedal is quite soft.
• Seats are supportive for a luxury car, and generously wide, if the padding a bit firm. I'm really liking the MB-tex upholstery more and more. it looks classy, but durable. Wipe it down with a damp cloth every now and then, and it's pretty much as good as new. I'm quite confident that it'll look just as good in 100k more miles as it does today.
• Though it may look dated compared to the latest models, the interior looks very elegant in person, and all the contact surfaces have a solid feel to the touch. However...
• ...I did quickly discover a few nitpicks inside. A faint, mysterious rattle coming from behind the rear seats announces itself on occasion, and the sunvisor makes an unrefined snap when folding it up. It's worth noting the neither of these things ever occurred in the Caddy.
• Now for the main reason I admittedly chose this car over all the others: the drive assists. The adaptive cruise control is a blessing from heaven in rush hour and long road trips. However, it does get tripped up in certain situations, i.e. 0-25-0 mph traffic: When the car in front of you accelerates to say, 25 mph, the car will wait to allow a safe gap to build before it accelerates. Understandable, but by the time your car gets up to speed, the car in front of you is already slowing to a stop. Your car will now have to apply a slightly uncomfortable amount of braking force to stop in time. It technically works, but sometimes it doesn't feel quite as smooth as a human driver. At the end of the day, I'd still rather have the car do the driving while in stop-and-go traffic.
• I recently discovered the car has auto brake hold, which is very nice at long stoplights.
• The bluetooth audio is great and automatically connects, as long as your music app is still running in the background on your phone. Otherwise, you'll have to take a few seconds to re-connect. Surprisingly, the audio quality of the Harman Kardon system is not quite as good as the Bose in the Caddy.
• In addition to audio and phone calls, you can also read texts on the infotainment screen via bluetooth. Which would be great if it were compatible with group texts. Since it's not, this feature is of little use to me personally, unfortunately. In addition, I recently discovered that the system automatically exits the text message screen once the car starts moving. Which, whether due to legal or liability issues, makes me question its usefulness nonetheless.
• The nav system is nowhere near as good as Waze or Google maps, but still serviceable. Voice commands are hit-and-miss, as is the POI search, and the manual address entry takes a little patience. Nonetheless, I still use it when driving somewhere new, to avoid my phone overheating (which it tends to do when using music and nav simultaneously for >1 hour).
• I've averaged 22.6 mpg on premium fuel in mixed driving since I took home the car 3 months ago. Somewhat better than the 17-18 mpg I was getting on regular fuel with the Caddy, I reckon.

Now, time for pics:

[MexicoCityM3]

Thanks for the report. Again, fantastic choice. I am glad you are happy with it. Totally with you on the indispensability of ACC these days.

[Vinsanity]

Thanks for the report. Again, fantastic choice. I am glad you are happy with it. Totally with you on the indispensability of ACC these days.

Thanks

How's the search coming along for your commuter?