Mercedes E250 Bluetec

[ssamalin]

Well folks, done is done. I traded in my Jetta for an E250. I suddenly came to the conclusion that the Jetta was obsolete safety wise, eg,. small offset crash. The E250 is a good car. I'm feeling good about that. My thinking is I'm not betting my life I won't have a crash. The Golf is safe too, but that's not what I have in my parking spot and I'm not going to play Freud on myself until the car is paid off.

 

[White Passat]

MB Club

Nice car, systems are complicated and then some. The MB club was worth the money when I owned MB's. Tech sessions were great and discounts paid off. met some nice folks too.

 

[ricardotdi]

I sold my 2006 TDI today to CarCash for $2,000. Had 190,000 miles on it...in good condition, garaged, well maintained. Advertised in Craig's list, local guru put it on his facebook page.. Know how many people want a car, regardless of condition, with 190,000 miles on it? zero.

I bought a 2014 BMW 328d last month with 2900 miles on it. Technology all over.. I can extract the oil, change the oil, air & cabin filters, but that's it. There's nothing else I dare to play with under the hood...great car, killer handling, 44 mpg so far...time to move on.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

What happened to this? http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=442379

 

[soot1]

Ricardotdi: Next time, you may want to try eBay to sell your car. Six years ago, I was still driving my 1993 Dodge Ram pickup and decided to sell it when it had about 195,000 on the clock. Local used truck dealer was reluctant to offer me 3K, VW of Langhorne, where I bought my 2010 Jetta TDI, offered me 2K as a trade-in. I wasn't happy with either of the two offers, as the NADA and KBB both indicated the truck was worth at least 4K. Then it occurred to me to list it on eBay. I washed and waxed the truck, made two dozen hi-res pictures on a sunny day, and put it up for auction with $4,000 as a reserve. I figured that if nobody wanted the truck for 4K, at least I tried, and the attempt cost me all but 20 bucks and a few hours of my time. About two minutes after the posting was accepted by eBay, I had a new e-mail in my in box. It was the eBay message center, which notified me that the $4,000 reserve has just been reached (in two minutes!!!). In the end, two bidders were fighting for the truck, and the winning bid was $ 10,010. Granted, the truck had all the equipment that was highly in demand (12-valve 2nd gen. Cummins, 5-sp. manual, 4WD, extended cab, long bed, etc., etc.), but I never thought it would command such a high price. I guess that one important aspect is that eBay is a bidding site, unlike AutoTrader or similar publication, where you merely let people know your vehicle is for sale. Just my 2 cents.

 

[yatzee]

can't wait for the e250s to be a few years old and affordable

 

[ssamalin]

What happened to my plan to buy an Audi A6:

What happened to this? http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=442379

Caveat: I may be confused about Audi vs BMW, which are similar.

I wacked my Jetta for one white hot reason: safety. I concluded that due to it's obsolete small offset crash test it was like driving 60's car with no seatbelts, airbags or collapsible steering column.

The Audi A6 had two big flaws, understeer due to nose heavy front wheel drive 6 cylinder (and for the big bucks I expect Nascar handling) and you guessed it, obsolete small offset crash tests.

Mercedes E250 Bluetec is rear wheel drive and isn't nose heavy since the engine isn't mounted in front of the wheels. It doesn't suffer from front wheel drive torque steer or understeer. It is sequential turbos 4 cylinder and will truly go 800 to 1000 miles on a tank of diesel. Since it's engine is smaller I figure it will be easier to maintain. Since the shifter is on the steering column, there's a wonderful roominess for my legs. Mercedes has a knee airbag, is over 2 tons with a smaller engine (so the unibody is stronger)?

The car handles and flies like a bird. Why did I fall for that front wheel drive bull for 35 years? (If I had snow I'd get E250 AWD.)

Mercedes financed me with ease. Audi was a struggle. Volkswagen wanted me to pay for a Golf lease that was more than half of what my Mercedes cost to buy (not lease), and they wanted me to lease from Ally, some GMAC mutation with bad yelp that really seemed scary to me.

The deal I got was reasonable without shopping around (except see my tires hassle below). I paid what Truecar said was my average locales price and that includes every option I wanted, prepaid service and an extended warranty. Mercedes option pricing is reasonable I think.

Mercedes has these radar controlled crash avoidance autonomous braking and warnings I think is good. I almost eliminated taking my eyes off the road by using voice commands. The interior is sharp and comfortable, without giving me a squeamish feeling of excess. Ok, I bought a Mercedes, not the Golf, I'm older, I wanted to feel that big car feeling like I did in 1970, and man, did I ever.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Just wondered, as your post indicated you'd bought the Audi. I guess the deal wasn't done.

I like both the Audi and the Mercedes, but, like you, like the Mercedes better. I don't want AWD (even here where it snows), and I love Mercedes small engine/big car approach that they've been making work well for decades. The long range would also be a big plus for me.

However, I don't think either of these cars will be inexpensive to maintain, and, more important, repair. I don't know if I'd be comfortable owning either out of warranty, as some repair costs can be staggering. We have a customer who actually traded an E350 CDI because it had a leaking oil cooler and the M-B wouldn't cover the repair: he didn't want to lay out the cash and got rid of the car. Don't know how much it would have cost, but it must have been a lot to make him trade.

I don't worry about offset crash tests. I try not to hit things, I was in an offset crash in my '99.5 Golf, hit by a Toyota going 50 MPH. No injuries other than a mild concussion. Airbags didn't deploy. But I'm fine. Since my cars are 13, 18, and 22 years old, I don't think any of them meet current crash standards. And this is fine point, but I don't think there is a production car made with a frame anymore. All are unibody construction.

I hope you enjoy the Mercedes. They're beautiful cars. I'm sure I'd love to drive one, but I like to keep a lower profile.

 

[oilhammer]

I sold my 2006 TDI today to CarCash for $2,000. Had 190,000 miles on it...in good condition, garaged, well maintained. Advertised in Craig's list, local guru put it on his facebook page.. Know how many people want a car, regardless of condition, with 190,000 miles on it? zero.

.

We would have had that car sold for triple that amount within 2 or 3 days, tops.

Wow, I wish I would have known I could have scored a 2006 for only $2k.

I just recently sold a nice 140k mile 2006 for $8500.... didn't even GET a chance to advertise it, it was purchased sight unseen from out of state right away just from word of mouth that I "had" one I was reconditioning for resale.

 

[ssamalin]

Just wondered, as your post indicated you'd bought the Audi. I guess the deal wasn't done.

I like both the Audi and the Mercedes, but, like you, like the Mercedes better. I don't want AWD (even here where it snows), and I love Mercedes small engine/big car approach that they've been making work well for decades. The long range would also be a big plus for me.

However, I don't think either of these cars will be inexpensive to maintain, and, more important, repair. I don't know if I'd be comfortable owning either out of warranty, as some repair costs can be staggering. We have a customer who actually traded an E350 CDI because it had a leaking oil cooler and the M-B wouldn't cover the repair: he didn't want to lay out the cash and got rid of the car. Don't know how much it would have cost, but it must have been a lot to make him trade.

I don't worry about offset crash tests. I try not to hit things, I was in an offset crash in my '99.5 Golf, hit by a Toyota going 50 MPH. No injuries other than a mild concussion. Airbags didn't deploy. But I'm fine. Since my cars are 13, 18, and 22 years old, I don't think any of them meet current crash standards. And this is fine point, but I don't think there is a production car made with a frame anymore. All are unibody construction.

I hope you enjoy the Mercedes. They're beautiful cars. I'm sure I'd love to drive one, but I like to keep a lower profile.

Thanks for the thumbs up IndigoBlueWagon.

 

[Andrewh]

J We have a customer who actually traded an E350 CDI because it had a leaking oil cooler and the M-B wouldn't cover the repair: he didn't want to lay out the cash and got rid of the car. Don't know how much it would have cost, but it must have been a lot to make him trade.

it is about 3k depending on the dealer.
not that much considering the overall price of the car. just hard to swallow because of the overall price of the car and that mb won't take care of you for it.

the problem is it is under the intake, and that they know the seals will go bad on the older models. they have new and improved seals out for them.

 

[ssamalin]

I have the 2015 E250 Bluetec which is 4 cylinder not the older model E350 CDI six cylinder. I hope to improve the reliability and maintenance expense by that. I also have an extended warranty. I will be quite torqued if something called "leaking oil cooler" isn't under warranty.

One complaint I have so far is the tires. I take back what I said about getting a reasonable deal. The E250 Bluetec comes with run flats. I think some run flats are usable tires such as Bridgestone DriveGuards, but my car came with Goodyear Eagle LS2 MOE (Mercedes only Extended) which are unacceptable. If I was buying this car today I would try to make the dealer throw in the cost of replacing the run flats with Michelin Primacy mxm4 MO and a spare wheel and tire and jack. I put the full size Tirerack spare in the trunk wedged in the back with a chock which fits nicely but takes up room and had to get a Mercedes only jack and tire iron. Tire switch by next weekend.

Car otherwise heartily meets my expectations. The 2015 LED package is I think obsoleted for 2016. The keyless feature may be insecure (see security thread here.) I didn't get those two options and don't regret them too much in light of learning the aforementioned about them.

I had to have a manual trans when I was considering the Golf, I don't need it here, twin turbo solves the lag and the auto is otherwise shifting well. If I was in fast heavy traffic I may engage in paddle shifting, so far haven't felt the need. One test said 0-30 was as fast as the 6 cyl, but 30-60 slower than the six. I don't feel slow yet 30-60. Higher speed highway cruising any diesel is great at.


I have to park in bigger, non compact spots. I'm still feeling out the differences re turn radius and tight space maneuvering and visibility. More on that later.

 

[ricardotdi]

Patience has a value

We would have had that car sold for triple that amount within 2 or 3 days, tops.

Wow, I wish I would have known I could have scored a 2006 for only $2k.

I just recently sold a nice 140k mile 2006 for $8500.... didn't even GET a chance to advertise it, it was purchased sight unseen from out of state right away just from word of mouth that I "had" one I was reconditioning for resale.

I just ran out of patience --I wanted it off of my driveway and off my insurance--and that probably cost me $4500. The car has probably gone to some auction lot where CarCash will sell it for $3,500 to a used car dealer who will display it on his lot for "$7995.00" Somebody will get a good car. And that's good "carma".

 

[ssamalin]

Call this what you want (arrogant, class warfare, chicken, etc.) but I didn't want to try to sell my Jetta myself for more because I see it as unfit due to obsolete safety. In other words, I think all cars with less than good rated IIHS crash scores as scrap only. I know that means about 99% of cars on the road, but that is what's going on if you ask me. Otherwise, a small offset collision means you get crushed. If you survive, I doubt you'd have legs. i think driving has become unsafe now due to idiots staring at smart phones and now even TVs in the dashboard connected to Facebook and MTV or whatever. I keep seeing people veering over the lanes and just barely swerving in time in traffic. Crash statistics will emerge that show the road is fundamentally more dangerous. I also think it is mandatory to master voice control over phones and navigation etc. to keep your eyes on the road, the capability of which needs to be incorporated into a car's safety ratings. I live in arguably the worst traffic in the US. To me this is every time I pull out into it.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I guess that's one way to justify what you did. Seems odd that since the NHSTA just invented a new measure for crash safety you feel all cars that don't meet it should be thrown out. What if they come up with another one next year that your Mercedes won't meet? Will you throw that away?

I think choosing a car that provides some current measure of safety is prudent. But I also think any VW built after 1992 provides a reasonable level of passive safety. Perfect? No. But you could also take a trip in an obsolete airplane. Or stay in a hotel with no anti-skid in the bathtub. Or a faulty sprinkler system.

I was in a small offset crash in my '99.5 Golf. I was nearly stopped, other driver was going over 40 MPH. Her Corolla was destroyed and she had back injuries. I got a mild concussion. That (now 15 year old) VW protected me fine. I'd bet on it again.

 

[ssamalin]

You don't need a Mercedes to have good crash scores, the new Golf has them too.

 

[Wankel7]

Somebody will get a good car. And that's good "carma".

Being shorted a few thousand dollars isn't good karma

 

[ssamalin]

The Mercedes has a 4 cyl diesel, just like the Golf. It also has two sequential turbos, so it has a smaller turbo which works for 0-30. That I can say so far is the difference in performance. Whereas in the Golf (manual) 0-30 meant initial hesitation and then laborious plowing through 3 or 4 gears, the Mercedes is ready to fly creeping along in traffic or pulling into too fast urban traffic. For now all I can say that 30-80 Mercedes performs like the Golf, in fact, the Golf may be the clear winner due it's so much leaner and nimbler. So if like me you drive primarily in heavy rather psychotically speeding urban streets, you'll like that second turbo. The Mercedes also does fine with the automatic for the same reason.

I feel like I bought a time machine. I'm back in the car Detroit should have made in 1980 instead of the K car and front wheel drive me toos when faced with the Datsun F-10. It is my 73 Catalina in it's spaciousness and road feel, except it's safe and gets the mpgs. I spent 35 years in a K car and snapped out of a very long bum trip.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I'd think if you survived 35 years in a K car you need something safe now. You used up all your good luck.

 

[ssamalin]

I guess that's one way to justify what you did. Seems odd that since the NHSTA just invented a new measure for crash safety you feel all cars that don't meet it should be thrown out. What if they come up with another one next year that your Mercedes won't meet? Will you throw that away?

I think choosing a car that provides some current measure of safety is prudent. But I also think any VW built after 1992 provides a reasonable level of passive safety. Perfect? No. But you could also take a trip in an obsolete airplane. Or stay in a hotel with no anti-skid in the bathtub. Or a faulty sprinkler system.

I was in a small offset crash in my '99.5 Golf. I was nearly stopped, other driver was going over 40 MPH. Her Corolla was destroyed and she had back injuries. I got a mild concussion. That (now 15 year old) VW protected me fine. I'd bet on it again.

A third of death in front end collision is small offset crash. That's not inventing some silly test, that's a major stride of making tests meaningful. Small offset crashes are disproportionately lethal since they miss the older car's structural barriers and push the wheel into the cabin crushing the driver. Southern California cities are nearly dead last on accident rate, nearly triple the accidents of safer cities. Dead last is Boston. I think the next tallies will show the smart phone/dashboard screen impact on impacts, who's willing to bet against double the rate? I'm not saying only Mercedes are safe, the new Golf is, as well as I'm sure most of the newer cars. And for all I know older cars too.

 

[Jeta Life]

Congratulations on the new Mercedes E250 Bluetec diesel.

I've always admired MB for their diesels over hybrids and Electric cars. Nice combination of safety and fuel economy. You've worked hard and you deserve a reward for surviving that long in a K car, that was the funniest thing I've read here in a while. My cousin had the Dodge Aries in the mid 80s.

Good luck with your new car. My brother in law laughs at me because he bought an early 2000s S430 v8 for around $10000 about 5 years ago and it's still worth that so they hold their value. That MB feels like a limo. You only live once. Nice car.

 

[ezshift5]

I live in arguably the worst traffic in the US. To me this is every time I pull out into it.

Is Truckee really that bad?

I narrate on the California Zepher SAC - RNO and return.........stopping at Truckee both directions...............always seem so colorful (but I don't live there).



ez

 

[ssamalin]

Is Truckee really that bad?
I narrate on the California Zepher SAC - RNO and return.........stopping at Truckee both directions...............always seem so colorful (but I don't live there).
ez

I live in Southern California now. Truckee is a beautiful town.

 

[ssamalin]

Congratulations on the new Mercedes E250 Bluetec diesel.
I've always admired MB for their diesels over hybrids and Electric cars. Nice combination of safety and fuel economy. You've worked hard and you deserve a reward for surviving that long in a K car, that was the funniest thing I've read here in a while. My cousin had the Dodge Aries in the mid 80s.
Good luck with your new car. My brother in law laughs at me because he bought an early 2000s S430 v8 for around $10000 about 5 years ago and it's still worth that so they hold their value. That MB feels like a limo. You only live once. Nice car.

Thanks Jeta

 

[ezshift5]

I live in Southern California now. Truckee is a beautiful town.

SoCal and your former Sierra Nevada mountain location are (both literally AND figuratively) miles apart, aren't they?



ez

 

[ssamalin]

Dealers in Fort Lauderdale are quoting me over the phone a thousand over the autonation price for a 2015 E250, about 49000 loaded. I thnk they would come down if I tried to buy.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

Didn't you already buy one?

I stopped at our local M-B dealer yesterday, mostly to look at the new C-Class since it's supposed to be available with the 2.1L diesel in 2016. What a disappointment. I hadn't seen a C-Class up close: tiny windows, small interior, overly flashy dash and cluster, lots of shiny silver plastic. I felt like I was sitting in a hole. And the E-Class is just too big for my taste.

My 13 year-old Jetta looked a little dated and plain in the parking lot, but I was happy to get in it to drive home.

 

[Jeta Life]

I felt the same way when I test drove a Honda CRV, my Jetta felt like a sports car compared to that piece of blank.

It handled so sloppy and the fit and finish was so boring. My Jetta looked like a Benz compared to that.

I really don't get this crossover craze, I think people are crazy.

 

[ssamalin]

Didn't you already buy one?

I stopped at our local M-B dealer yesterday, mostly to look at the new C-Class since it's supposed to be available with the 2.1L diesel in 2016. What a disappointment. I hadn't seen a C-Class up close: tiny windows, small interior, overly flashy dash and cluster, lots of shiny silver plastic. I felt like I was sitting in a hole. And the E-Class is just too big for my taste.

My 13 year-old Jetta looked a little dated and plain in the parking lot, but I was happy to get in it to drive home.

I already bought an E250 bluetec correct. I'm curious about prices still though. I wanted the bigger car. I didn't like the C class either.

 

[ssamalin]

I felt the same way when I test drove a Honda CRV, my Jetta felt like a sports car compared to that piece of blank.
It handled so sloppy and the fit and finish was so boring. My Jetta looked like a Benz compared to that.
I really don't get this crossover craze, I think people are crazy.

Most "crossovers" are SUV which are flip over catapults.