C350E ordered

Author
Discussion

Ruxpin

324 posts

244 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
That's a bit weird isn't it?
rolleyes
It wouldn't be a lease, but I would still need to make sure it's activated so thanks for the advice.

Still torn between this and a 330E. The BMW has lower BIK, but I would prefer an estate and I like the idea of the air suspension for my speed humped commute.
My previous car was an E91 335D M-sport - the C350e rides night and day better. It can be very smooth and comfy (maybe a little too soft for quicker b-road driving) but the sport and sport+ settings are very good if you want it firmer. Sport+ is still probably more compliant than the E91 m-sport!

We have 2 estates and 1 saloon at work (mine). Make sure you do not specify 18" wheels otherwise BIK goes up and CO2 rises above 50g/km. This means you cannot specify a premium plus estate without increased BIK - a real shame. Also you cannot legally fit a towbar on the estate with 17" wheels, you need to specify the 18". Oddly this does not affect the saloon though. I am very please with be premium plus saloon and do not regret the change from the E91. The C350e boot is very deep (if shallow due to the battery) so actually seems a big as the E91 without the height for larger objects.

The C350e is a more expensive car on paper than the 330e but the equipment list is very extensive. My car with premium plus is very very nice.

I was looking at the 330e but in Sept/Oct last year the dealers didn't seem to know anything about them and couldn't take an order/deposit. Now you hear of 12month waiting lists and still they haven't got back to me about buying 3 cars...The c350e's we bought came within about 3 months.

I have no regrets swapping to merc.

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
Thanks. Good to hear about the ride.
I've got an E90 now, but on small wheels with non runflats. The ride is OK, but I'm edging more to comfort than sportiness these days!
cry

Ex-demo cars are available now on both C350E and 330E so I'd go for one of those rather than waiting. If I go for a C350E it will be an estate with Premium Plus as a sunroof is my main must have option, so I would be in for the extra BIK anyway. It's still cheaper than what I am paying now, and into the future. It's just not as cheap as it could be.

One minor source of frustration. The C350E is available from the factory with a towbar, which I would like for a bike rack. The dealer says it isn't possible to retro fit it aftermarket due to the wavey foot thing for the boot opening. If you order it from the factory they delete this bit. However I have found a thread where someone has retro fitted a towbar and still retained the wavey foot gadget. A 330E can't take a towbar full stop.

So...
330E: cheaper BIK, but saloon only and no towbar. More expensive to buy (as I've only found one with a sunroof so far).
350E: more expensive BIK, but I can have an estate and possibly a towbar.

The Beaver King

6,095 posts

194 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
The question is fairly simple really; are you willing to pay a bit more tax in the long run to have the car that you want?

It might be worth running both options through the HMRC tax calculator. If the BMW is a few grand more, you might find that the extra tax for the C350e is balanced out against BMW.

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
Sadly the CO2 always wins over list price, but there you go.

Very dull question - does the rear armrest have cup holders?
My current car doesn't, and it's a pest!

Ruxpin

324 posts

244 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
Sadly the CO2 always wins over list price, but there you go.

Very dull question - does the rear armrest have cup holders?
My current car doesn't, and it's a pest!
yes

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
Just had a quick look on comcar. Looks like the BMW is £12 / month cheaper (BIK) than my 350e. I guess it depends how much that matters.

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Friday 20th May 2016
quotequote all
My preference is a C350E Estate with Premium Plus.
A 330E brought up to this level of equipment is £800 a year cheaper than the C350E estate, so £66 a month, but it will be a saloon.

However, using Man Maths, the C350E Estate is £784 a year cheaper than my current car, therefore it's a good deal.
biggrin

Could be academic as the only 330E I could find with a sunroof has gone from the dealer's website anyway.


robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Major issues...

I have been stuck at Winchester service since 9:30am as the charging plug will not disconnect.
I have been waiting for a Mercedes tech to show up for over 2 hours as I write this.
My wife has told me I am not allowed to plug the car in again if she and the kids are with me.
Great start to the holiday not..

I have looked online and it seems this is a relatively common

I will probably be having a conversation with the fleet company on Monday regarding rejecting the car.
I have had it 5 weeks any ideas on if this is possible?

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
All fixed.

Mercedes Benz breakdown call centre were useless. Luckily when the tech arrived he knew exactly what he was doing and took about 10 minutes to get us going. Turns out the issue is very common and mainly happens at motorway chargers. When I get back I will do a quick guide on what to do if it happens to you.

Glad we didn't have a plane or ferry to catch though.

s111dpc

1,339 posts

228 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Glad to hear you got it sorted. Be interested to hear the fix 👍

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Saturday 28th May 2016
quotequote all
Apparently the issue is when the plug itself isn't in the best condition. I will do a little write up wh I get home, but the fix is basically this.

Open the boot and on the righthand side (same as the charger flap) there is a black plastic cover. On the saloon this can just be carefully removed. On the estate there is a bump stop secured by a torx fastner that needs to be removed first. Once the cover is removed there is a fine wire pull string. You just have to pull this whilst wiggling the plug.

The fix took less time to complete than the paperwork.

Like I say I'll do a proper write up next week, but if you've got an estate make sure you have a t30 torx driver with you.

s111dpc

1,339 posts

228 months

Sunday 29th May 2016
quotequote all
Thanks Rob, really helpful smile

The Beaver King

6,095 posts

194 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
Sorry to hear you got stuck mate, sounds like a right pain in the arse.

I've started to notice a few little niggles with my car now I'm a month in; sometimes the car will lock itself in petrol mode, even with 8-10 miles of range available. I'll start the car and the engine immediately wakes up and drives the car; when I try to change it to E-mode, it is greyed out and non-selectable...

It seems to cure itself after 10 minutes or so, but very annoying. Yesterday I had a fault come up on the dash for 'mirror indicator failure' whilst indicating back into my lane; not happy as these are LEDs but, again, started working again by the time I got home and checked them.

Also, has anyone else noticed how bad the sat-nav is? Mine seems to take ages to 'calculate' and occasionally crashes out, requiring me to switch the car off and back on.

All very strange; I'll be taking it into the dealer this week for a check I think....

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Tuesday 31st May 2016
quotequote all
So the comment about rejecting the car was a bit ott, but not being able to trust motorway chargers would be a game changer.
I too have suffered with the sat nav. It's very slow and has failed once requiring a restart.
A bit of a shame because in all other ways it's a cracking car.

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Thursday 2nd June 2016
quotequote all
Sorry to hear about the niggles people are having.
I've managed to find a demo model which was spot on spec wise for me, so I'm hoping it will be with me next week.
bounce

Ruxpin

324 posts

244 months

Thursday 2nd June 2016
quotequote all
An update on our C350e's.

Not aware of any faults on the 2 estates and 1 saloon we have at work aside from on day 1, one of the estates had a check engine light and went back to the dealer for a day but it hasn't returned.

In 3 months:
C350e estate 6982miles 49.05mpg charging twice per day
C350e saloon 3676miles 42.03mpg charging once per day
I don't have data on the 3rd.

I'm still very impressed. The command system possibly isn't as slick as BMWs idrive but i have got used to it pretty quickly. The ride on the air suspension is brilliant. I'm impressed with the economy and performance is very good.

supermono

7,368 posts

247 months

Friday 3rd June 2016
quotequote all
An update on mine... Just came back after a month in the shop getting the common waterlogged electrics fixed. There's a revised socket for the car which supposedly doesn't let water in....

Now showing "low" for the 12v battery from Mercedes Me webapp something the dealer needs it back to look into. Apart from that on the webapp no practical problems with the car, however I'm concerned there may be a problem starting the engine during one of the many start operations it performs on a trip if that 12v battery is faulty.


robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Sunday 5th June 2016
quotequote all
OK as promised here's the low down.

This is the piece of trim you need to remove.


As in my previous post you need a T30 torx driver to remove the bump stop (not on the saloon apparently)


You can then remove the panel. Ease the top out first as that's where the push fit fastner is.


Here's the little wire you ar looking for.


I've pulled it up so you can get a better look.

Then just put it all back together.

If you don't already have a spare Torx driver to leave in the car you can pick up a full set for just a tenner in halfords. Very colourful too.


supermono

7,368 posts

247 months

Tuesday 7th June 2016
quotequote all
That's a good instructional thanks, but I think I've had this problem. Those service station plugs are very heavy and abused and I think that the weight of them pulling at an angle will prevent the lock from disengaging. If you lock/unlock the car a couple of times while taking the strain of the wire by holding the plug it'll unlock fine.

Well worth trying that before taking the car to bits. I've not had one yet properly stuck in as you describe.

Also well worth not telling the wife now she's given you permission to take the kids away and leave her behind wink

robemcdonald

Original Poster:

8,716 posts

195 months

Tuesday 7th June 2016
quotequote all
If you had had the problem you would know rather than suspect.

Believe me I tried everything to get the plug out before calling support out. I was there for 2 1/2 hours.

The advice is only to get someone out of a similar fix, not trying to be clever and certainly not to advise people to dismantle their car.

Personally I wish someone else had posted similar before I got stuck.

Feel free to ignore it.