Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast!

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Tue 3 Nov 2015 20:49
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Was searching on Autotrader and came across a very nice E350CDi estate. Four years old, 20,000 miles, in a nice light gold colour with a light tan leather upholstery. A reasonable price and not too far away. It was delivered today with a full MB service history as confirmed by my local dealer.

Its exactly what I expected; very smooth, quiet, comfortable, spacious, large(!) and I expect to keep it for a few years.

The most impressive aspect is the performance. I have a short motorway journey to work of about four or five miles which requires me to get to the bottom of slip road and across two lanes of traffic trying to filter off left, whereas I want to go right. I usually take it easy and eventually I get across. Today though I would try the power play approach and accelerate to get in front of those coming up too fast on the outside but who want to pull in. WOW! 40mph - 70mph in the blink of an eye. In fact just with a slight flex of my big toe I was doing almost 90mph up an incline before I realised how fast I was going. Ooops! Sound like a big kid rather than a 51 year old....Also remarkably economical for such a large and fast car. I'll take 41mpg anytime. That's as good as the 899cc turbo triple in the Captur currently waiting patiently in the drive for its next ride.

Anyway, Happy Blue! is happy (and Man City are up 3-1 at half time against Sevilla which makes me doubly Happy.)

Edited by Happy Blue! on 03/11/2015 at 20:51

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Tue 3 Nov 2015 22:02
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Trilogy

Sounds a lovely car. Good to see you didn't go for black leather.

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Tue 3 Nov 2015 22:19
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Yup. Don't fancy driving a coal mine.

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Tue 3 Nov 2015 22:56
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Wackyracer

Glad to see your happy with your new toy, it sounds very nice. I look forward to the update in 1000miles or so.

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Wed 4 Nov 2015 06:19
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Won't be long. Two long trips planned for the next ten days.

1. Manchester, Melton Mowbray, Warwick, Birmingham and back to Manchester.

2. Manchester, Cardiff, Bournemouth, Blandford Forum, Yeovil and back to Manchester. (Two days)

I'll rack up 1,000 miles easily.

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Wed 4 Nov 2015 07:18
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - RobJP

Well, it's the perfect type of car for racking up those sorts of mileages.

Enjoy !

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Wed 4 Nov 2015 16:13
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - craig-pd130

Sounds lovely - hope you continue to enjoy it.

I've driven Audi's 3 litre V6 turbo and that was pretty epic in terms of performance. Can't whack 400+lb-ft of torque :-)

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Wed 4 Nov 2015 22:20
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Ran up 300 miles today. Mixture of mainly fast roads, interspersed with long traffic hold ups, and Birmingham City centre!

I cannot think of a better car to do the journey in. Effortless power, so quiet and smooth. My only complaint is the steering is a bit light or not so much light as lacking in precision, something I am used to after the Subaru, S-Max and Capture.

Got out the car after a difficult journey home on the crowded M6 and felt as though I could do it all over again. And the best thing is 43.5mpg.

Spending longer in the car reveals various idiocyncrasies; some good some curious. Electric tailgate with rear tonneau cover is superb; heated seats that turn off after 15 minutes is odd. All my other cars simply stayed on all winter. Adaptive headlights means no main beam unless held on with the stalk; conversely the dipped beams are excellent. Great radio but despite a special MB cable my son's iPhone would not connect for music. Bluetooth connection is crystal clear (unlike the Captur); but cannot find the external temperature gauge.

So need to spend some time with the handbook, but so far I am very happy.

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Thu 5 Nov 2015 09:58
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - RobJP

Yes, have a read of the handbook. My BMW has adaptive headlights, but you choose whether to use that or to use the stalk 'as normal' to go from full beam to dipped.

Then again, as a BMW driver, I'm expected to be on full beam all the time, I think !

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Thu 5 Nov 2015 10:33
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Trilogy

HB, regarding the steering, have you checked the tyre pressure? I believe there was a 'direct steering'option?

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Thu 5 Nov 2015 19:04
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Ah...Adaptive headlights, I have seen those on a menu somewhere. Tyre pressures I will check, even though the was just serviced by MB dealership.

A more normal day today but still got 31.5 mpg which is pretty impressive given the amount of urban stop start I had to do.

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Thu 5 Nov 2015 19:49
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - dimdip

Sounds great, HB! Can I ask what gearbox it has?

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Thu 5 Nov 2015 22:07
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Ed V

Real MPG section suggests you'll get a little more than that (34mpg), maybe lots more if you're mostly cruising.

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Fri 6 Nov 2015 07:06
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Yes. I reckon I will get about 34mpg overall.

It has a seven speed auto gearbox with 'flappy paddles'. The gearstick is actually a stalk on the steering column which you flick up or down for reverse or drive.

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Sun 8 Nov 2015 10:52
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Alby Back
Fab choice HB ! Enjoy.
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Sun 8 Nov 2015 11:56
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Alby Back
Interested to know why you offer that tip HJ? I have a 4 year old E250 CDi Sport estate. I've had it from new and covered nearly 145,000 miles in it in all weathers and seasons both here and in continental Europe. I've experimented with the tyre pressures and found that running them ever so slightly hard ( more so at the back ) gives the best handling and fuel consumption. No detrimental effects on tyre wear are apparent with both fronts and rears lasting about 45,000 before needing to be replaced.

Great cars anyway, mine has been fabulously reliable and neither the bodywork or the interior show any signs of wear yet. Still gets upwards of 50 mpg on a run and 43 pottering about. The 350 must be gloriously quick as the 200bhp 4 cylinder I have certainly doesn't feel underpowered in any environment subject to speed limits. The alleged limitations of RWD have proven unfounded and it copes admirably well even in the trickiest weather. The upside of that of course is the extra pleasing handling of RWD on the 350 odd days a year when conditions are not so challenging.

I should have changed it by now but frankly I wouldn't know what to have except another one the same. Best and most competent all rounder I've ever had in truth.
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Mon 16 Nov 2015 20:17
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Have just racked up about 1,100 miles since 3rd November. Basically two very long trips and a bit of my usual commute and driving around Manchester.

First trip was a 300 miles day long trip from Manchester; Melton Mowbray, Warwick, Birmingham City Centre and back to Manchester. Mostly open road with a couple of stop start roadwork type blockages and the usual clogged motorway drive back up the M6.

The scond trip was over 600 miles. Manchester to Cardiff, then onto Bournemouth yesterday (about 320 miles) for an overnight stay and today it was Christchurch; Blandford Forum; Yeovil and back to Manchester.

I have filled up twice and although the car says I am averaging about 40mpg, I think it is more like 38mpg (keeping an accurate record using an Excel spreadsheet on my phone). Still very impressive for a large heavy car with the turn of speed it has.

There is little I do not like about the car - as mentioned previously there are a few idiosyncrasies but I have found out how to work around them or even now I understand how and why they work, I like them. I do find it odd that the front seats are electric for the height and recline but not for front and back movement??penny pinching or what. The driver 'drowsiness' system has worked well (it sets off an alarm if it thinks the driver is nodding off) and the effectiveness of the speed control/cruise control is good. The biggest annoyance is the Satnav not accepting seven digit post codes, but I use Waze most of the time which is far more up to date and more effective at combatting traffic jams.

The adaptive headlights are clever and make a real difference to driving on dark roads. Unlike my S-Max the sport setting on the gearbox makes a difference when driving on fast country roads so the flappy paddles are almost an unecessary extravagance. Being RWD it has a very small turning circle given its length.

This car is not for everyone. Clearly large and expensive it really suits long drives, and excels away from the motorway. Wafting around suburban Manchester it is very nice, but I can imagine wanting to drive a much smaller and nippier car (handy I still have the Captur around for a short while and can also use my father's Sirion). However I remain very happy with my purchase. This is a keeper.....

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Tue 17 Nov 2015 16:27
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Trilogy

The best E-class since the W124.

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 10:11
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

I am a Very Happy Blue following the Wembley result yesterday. In a motoring context, I drove down from Manchester to Stanmore in three hours and 15 minutes and the same time back. Total of 410 miles and the car returned about 44mpg with an average speed of over 60mph (which includes long periods of 50mph and 60mph traffic flow limits).

Still very happy with the car which is just so effortless. I can see why people buy small German cars with large engines (like the BMW 435 x-Drive I saw yesterday). They must be the perfect car if you don't need the space.

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 12:12
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - craig-pd130

You've got to go some to achieve a point-to-point average of over 60mph, so 44mpg is excellent for a giant estate with a big V6.

Glad you're continuing to enjoy the drive :)

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Mon 29 Feb 2016 13:06
Mercedes-Benz E350 CDi - Gosh it's fast! - Happy Blue!

Indeed, I was surprised by the average speed as I wasn't 'pushing it' that much. Yes, the occasional spurt over say 85mph for a couple of miles, but generally had the car sitting at a true 75mph. The traffic last night once away from Luton was actually OK (so much so I used the M6 and not the M6 Toll) so it was easy to keep up a good average without going crazy.

These short stretches of camera controlled speed limits seem to work quite well at keeping the traffic moving at a reasonable pace given the amount of congestion there could be. In fact I love the M62/M60 with its 50mph limit through the 17 miles of roadworks. Traffic is calm, economy is great and there are no idiots trying to stuff you up the chuff because you aren't driving as fast as they would like.

Edited by Happy Blue! on 29/02/2016 at 13:08

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