E220d 2.0 194 AMG Line Ned Premium Plus Auto 2dr

Lovely cruising convertible but be ready to endure roof issues and electronic glitches

Everything you’ve read about the Mercedes-Benz E220D Cabriolet is true. It’s a great looking thing both inside and out. It’s no sports car, nor did I want that. It’s comfortable, quiet, relaxing to drive and encourages you to cruise along with the roof down on a warm summers day. Even if it’s not that warm, the heating system including air scarf makes it comfortable even in colder conditions. The interior is a very nice place to be. The driving position, seats and controls are all well laid out and easy to use. Many articles have been written about how good this car is and how well the 2L diesel engine suits this car. However, there are problems with this car particularly the early ones up to 2019 which every buyer should be aware of before falling for its charms. First thing to check thoroughly is the roof mechanism. Open the roof and allow it to stop halfway without putting your fingers anywhere near the mechanism just look around and see if the cords are starting to fray. Don’t touch it with a bargepole if they are. This will eventually lead to the headlining being worn and the roof unable to close properly. This is a common problem, afflicting all four seater cabriolets by Mercedes of this era. It’s a £2k fix at Mercedes, or if you can find a good independent who can deal with this issue around £600 to fix. The next issue was the GPS unit which is in the drivers wing mirror. Eventually fails as the wires become broken from the folding in and out of the wing mirror. Again a problem that affects Cars from 2017 to 2018. The GPS unit in the wing mirror is a cheap part, but the labour to have the door trim removed wing mirror taken apart and gps inserted, coded, and then everything put back together, is about a grand. a job I haven’t bothered doing and instead I’m using the Apple CarPlay satnav. And unfortunately that’s not the end of the problems the next common issue is the reversing camera fail. Again this is a wiring issue. This time caused by the boot opening and closing and the wires seem to break. Again affects cars 2017 to 2018. £450 to fix. It’s an intermittent problem but eventually it will fail altogether. It works 80% of the time. The 20% when it doesn’t work is when I really need it of course. Unfortunately, shoddy build quality, poor quality parts and poor engineering design, seem to be the hallmark of Mercedes these days. Dealers by the way, refuse to treat any of these common problems as a recall. This car had a full Mercedes-Benz service history when I bought it. Not from a Mercedes-Benz dealer unfortunately, but these were £4K more from MB. There are also some annoying rattles and squeaks from the roof. When the roof is closed, these are more apparent at slower speeds and disappear once you’re over 40 miles an hour.. Despite these issues I would have a later one 2019 or 2020, when these issues were resolved. Why?…I don’t like the 8 series BMW which to me feels like a jumped up 4 series (pull over to put up the wind deflector manually? What the hell is that about in an £80K car?) the C class interior feels cheap by comparison with the E…awash with cheap plastics and and infotainment screen that looks like an iPad knock off from 10 years ago. So, I’ve had the issues sorted and am really enjoying the car. Will get the next one with eyes wide open!

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