My one night stand with the new MBZ E550

[AgentTripleX]

OK.. at first glance I thought it was a CLS, but low and behold, upon closer inspection it's the new E class coupe. Whoa! Mercedes is trying to be hip now. I always thought the E class was for old people. Sedans just aren't for me.

So I had the chance to take one out and get some decent seat time. It's fairly impressive. Accelerates nice and smoothly, stays in control, even if I dont, lol, and the brakes seem to work well too. The stereo isn't so bad either. I had some fun through SF's famous Broadway tunnel tonight, 120mph+ while EBTG Five Fathoms was playing in the background. Quite exhilarating. I get it now. Old people have fun too, they just don't want to look like they are.

It was kind of a funny experience. I had no idea I was going to be taking this beast home instead of my lowly Toyota, er, Lotus. It was girls movie night in, and my girls are not into cars. Somehow I was able to rearrange plans and do some driving instead. Aesthetically it got lots of compliments. It's nice not to have a seam/pillar separating the front and rear windows. It looks very clean when you roll the windows down. It also have a very nice sunroof, almost like a targa top. Great for natural light, although I prefer the openness of a really targa or convertible. I did not look at the owner's manual so I just pushed buttons till I figured out how to operate things. (I'm like a guy, I don't like to ask for directions.) I kept pushing the cruise control lever instead of the turn signal as it's location is a bit higher and closer to my reach for some reason. I really enjoyed the audio controls. There are 3 different locations to do so. I didn't realize there was a CD player in the dash until after I already left home, but fortunately one of my girl friends found an iPhone connection that actually works with my first gen so we got the tunes going.

The driving experience was definitely a great one for city driving, but also engaging. I couldn't figure out how to get it into manual mode to try the paddles out, but I pushed it quite a bit in auto mode. All in all I liked the car, but then I remembered it was an E class and all of a sudden I felt like a little girl driving my daddy's "cool" car. Great for cougars, not for pumas in training though.

[BenNU]

I love the way these cars look

[AgentTripleX]

Some more photos... and I forgot to mention how helpful the back up camera was for city parking.

[Matt]

nice. I like it. interior pics?

[pdisme]

I saw one of those the other day, it's really weird to see it with the windows down since there's no partition between the front and rear seat windows, the entire side of the car is open. I liked it after looking at it for a few minutes.

[BenNU]

It's like a not fugly 6 series.

[Minch00]

Made by the competition, so I'm required to hate it.

[pdisme]

Don't hate because Lexus builds mostly boring cars.

[Matt]

I think lexus makes up ground on the interior. Mercedes interiors have always seemed cheap to me.

[Minch00]

Originally Posted by Matt

I think lexus makes up ground on the interior. Mercedes interiors have always seemed cheap to me.

And where do you spend all your time when driving a car? The interior. Mercedes are also extremely overpriced.

[BenNU]

Originally Posted by Minch00

And where do you spend all your time when driving a car? The interior. Mercedes are also extremely overpriced.

Last I checked an LS460h was more than an S550 and a CLS63.

[Minch00]

Originally Posted by BenNU

Last I checked an LS460h was more than an S550 and a CLS63.

2009 Lexus LS460L RWD - MSRP of $74,610

2010 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 - MSRP of $98,825

2009 Mercedes-Benz S550 - MSRP of $90,225



Perhaps the information you had was outdated?

[BenNU]

Nope LS460H is still 106,000 and is more of a competitor, also the s400 hybrid is 80 thousand

[Minch00]

Originally Posted by BenNU

Nope LS460H is still 106,000 and is more of a competitor, also the s400 hybrid is 80 thousand

The LS600hL is the hybrid version of the LS460. It gives the same performance as the V12 versions of the S-class and BMW 7-series. So if you're going to compare it to something, at least compare it correctly.

2009 Lexus LS600hL - $106,000

2009 Mercedes-Benz S600 - $148,000

[BenNU]

Let's agree to disagree. You get what you pay for in these cars and in my opinion the S class dominates the big sedan market. I just think that saying MB as a brand is overpriced is kind of silly because they make some of the best cars in their respective classes.

[Matt]

the S class is always the first car to come out with new technologies. and they look great, but if i were spending that money on a luxury car, i'd probably get the lexus. diggin' the rear reclining seat, maybach style.

[pdisme]

I think the larger issue is that while the Benz has more features, only half of them work correctly. That's why I like my g-wagen, $105k for 5800 pounds of metal and not many features at all. LOL

[BenNU]

Speaking of G-Wagen features... Have you ever used your diff. lock? I am dying to try mine but that big warning sticker scares me away.

[pdisme]

I did one time, I was on grass though, it says to never activate it on dry pavement since the wheels can't slip. It seemed to work lol.

[BenNU]

Lol , to Boston Common!