Mercedes hybrid - anyone got one?
Discussion
Hi Loonytunes, How's it running?
I have now ordered mine. E300 Hybrid AMG Sport Obs Balck with Porc Leather and a Pan roof plus a few other options. With the fuel BIK plus the Car BIK I will be saving over £220 a month while driving a car with a list price £8k more than my current E250.
I have now ordered mine. E300 Hybrid AMG Sport Obs Balck with Porc Leather and a Pan roof plus a few other options. With the fuel BIK plus the Car BIK I will be saving over £220 a month while driving a car with a list price £8k more than my current E250.
Not really a great more deal to report: the car's been absolutely faultless so far (probably up to about 7500/8000 miles or so by now).
Fuel consumption is pretty much unchanged from previous update, but could be improved by focussing more on the hybrid system (fortunately now that the novelty of all of the displays showing power use, charge status, etc has worn off we're spared from the kids demanding to see those on a daily basis).
Overall, it's quite a nice place to be - fit and finish are fine, with no squeaks/rattles inside.
iPod/iPhone integration is quite good on this but we're going to have a play with the USB port to see if we can get it to talk to a laptop HDD (logic being that it will give us access to media, but stop wife forgetting to take her phone out of the car).
Voice recognition on COMAND is outstanding compared to other VR systems I've used in the past, but doesn't seem to be a quick way of getting nav to route to home address by voice instructions (there may be if I could be bothered to RTFM?).
I don't really like the parking sensors - I feel the LED displays are a bit low rent compared to the on-screen displays other cars tend to use (and the rear one is positioned in a place where it's out of my natural eyeline when reversing, rendering it pretty much useless).
Handling's not quite as sharp as I'd like but, as it's the wife's car/sensible family transport, is perfectly acceptable. Very good for motorway cruising though.
Earlier comments about the hybrid system etc still stand - acceptable, and fairly unobtrusive, but a slightly more powerful electric drive might be handy on the Estate, just to prevent the engine cutting back in at the sign of a slight incline.
Only other things I'd change would be down to personal preferences (e.g. would be useful if it auto-locked x minutes after parking up/key out, and if you could have multiple mobiles hooked up simultaneously).
There's no buyer's remorse, and I think we'd buy another one... if the Business Edition was available in the UK (not a fan of the new Merc front end on anything other than the SLS). Of course, that may or may not change when we see what the dealer service is like now they've sold us the car.
Fuel consumption is pretty much unchanged from previous update, but could be improved by focussing more on the hybrid system (fortunately now that the novelty of all of the displays showing power use, charge status, etc has worn off we're spared from the kids demanding to see those on a daily basis).
Overall, it's quite a nice place to be - fit and finish are fine, with no squeaks/rattles inside.
iPod/iPhone integration is quite good on this but we're going to have a play with the USB port to see if we can get it to talk to a laptop HDD (logic being that it will give us access to media, but stop wife forgetting to take her phone out of the car).
Voice recognition on COMAND is outstanding compared to other VR systems I've used in the past, but doesn't seem to be a quick way of getting nav to route to home address by voice instructions (there may be if I could be bothered to RTFM?).
I don't really like the parking sensors - I feel the LED displays are a bit low rent compared to the on-screen displays other cars tend to use (and the rear one is positioned in a place where it's out of my natural eyeline when reversing, rendering it pretty much useless).
Handling's not quite as sharp as I'd like but, as it's the wife's car/sensible family transport, is perfectly acceptable. Very good for motorway cruising though.
Earlier comments about the hybrid system etc still stand - acceptable, and fairly unobtrusive, but a slightly more powerful electric drive might be handy on the Estate, just to prevent the engine cutting back in at the sign of a slight incline.
Only other things I'd change would be down to personal preferences (e.g. would be useful if it auto-locked x minutes after parking up/key out, and if you could have multiple mobiles hooked up simultaneously).
There's no buyer's remorse, and I think we'd buy another one... if the Business Edition was available in the UK (not a fan of the new Merc front end on anything other than the SLS). Of course, that may or may not change when we see what the dealer service is like now they've sold us the car.
T1CHS said:
I was thinking the other night, that there has got be a way of getting the electric motor to run simultaneously with the diesel engine!
It does that already, under certain circumstances... seems to make the delivery, bearing in mind it's a turbo, a bit less laggy. Agree that it might be interesting to have it user selectable though. Possibly a something we'll see linked to a "sport" button in the future?What sort of driving are you doing to get those MPG?
I am always in the low 50's but mostly motorway speeds.
Also, MB have changed the MO tyre choice to Pirelli P7's which I think are a step backwards. The Continental Contact Sport's I've used for six years were perfect (460k remember) and wore well and were silent
Not impressed by the Pirreli's as they wear in the centre even at MB recommended pressures.
I am always in the low 50's but mostly motorway speeds.
Also, MB have changed the MO tyre choice to Pirelli P7's which I think are a step backwards. The Continental Contact Sport's I've used for six years were perfect (460k remember) and wore well and were silent
Not impressed by the Pirreli's as they wear in the centre even at MB recommended pressures.
Now at ~46mpg (from OBC) over 20k miles. Mostly urban and A/B road at peak times (less than 25% motorway), driven as a normal car would be.
17k miles before the winters went on and it looks like new rears are on the cards when I swap them back.
Only slight downer was a bit of hassle when the iPhone interface stopped working and the dealer didn't realise for a while that the car has the new model COMAND instead of the previous version... which was why none of their fixes worked.
Other than that, comments on the car and drivetrain are unchanged from previous updates.
£30 VED...
17k miles before the winters went on and it looks like new rears are on the cards when I swap them back.
Only slight downer was a bit of hassle when the iPhone interface stopped working and the dealer didn't realise for a while that the car has the new model COMAND instead of the previous version... which was why none of their fixes worked.
Other than that, comments on the car and drivetrain are unchanged from previous updates.
£30 VED...
I would be interested in any further updates from owners. These are now below 30k GBP used, for a 1-year old car with less than 20k miles. At that price point they are quite tempting.
How much range do you get on electric only?
If you use the heater or air con, does it stay on electric or does it automatically switch to ICE in order to power the accessories?
The "sailing" thing sounds pretty cool but surely it must deplete the battery quite quickly? At which point I imagine it has to charge up again by scavenging engine power. How well does it work in practice?
Has anything gone wrong? How has the dealer service been?
How much range do you get on electric only?
If you use the heater or air con, does it stay on electric or does it automatically switch to ICE in order to power the accessories?
The "sailing" thing sounds pretty cool but surely it must deplete the battery quite quickly? At which point I imagine it has to charge up again by scavenging engine power. How well does it work in practice?
Has anything gone wrong? How has the dealer service been?
AmitG said:
How much range do you get on electric only?
If you use the heater or air con, does it stay on electric or does it automatically switch to ICE in order to power the accessories?
The "sailing" thing sounds pretty cool but surely it must deplete the battery quite quickly? At which point I imagine it has to charge up again by scavenging engine power. How well does it work in practice?
Has anything gone wrong? How has the dealer service been?
Electric only is < 1 mile, but that's not really the point.If you use the heater or air con, does it stay on electric or does it automatically switch to ICE in order to power the accessories?
The "sailing" thing sounds pretty cool but surely it must deplete the battery quite quickly? At which point I imagine it has to charge up again by scavenging engine power. How well does it work in practice?
Has anything gone wrong? How has the dealer service been?
In the stop start into town you end up with long periods of time where the engine isn't running but you can creep forward on battery whilst everyone else needs to keep their engines lit.
Yes, heater/air con seems to work on battery.
"Sailing" is basically just decoupling the drivetrain to get increased coasting BUT without charging the battery: you don't use any battery doing it but you don't get the charging effect you'd normally have when coasting.
Aside from a problem with the iPod lead, no issues apart from it taking a day longer to service it (due to not having worked on one before).
Sorry for the bump, any more feedback from owners on how they are getting on please?
I have the itch to try something new and these are looking quite attractive. My biggest concern is reliability. HonestJohn paints a dark picture for both the diesel engine and the hybrid system. The Prius is nowhere near as refined but it has never broken and likely never will...
Broadspeed has the estate in SE spec from 33K before options. That's pretty good.
I have the itch to try something new and these are looking quite attractive. My biggest concern is reliability. HonestJohn paints a dark picture for both the diesel engine and the hybrid system. The Prius is nowhere near as refined but it has never broken and likely never will...
Broadspeed has the estate in SE spec from 33K before options. That's pretty good.
I've had mine for only 2 weeks and 900 miles. So far, so good. No issues and am really enjoying it.
As I suspected, I would have preferred the 3.0L V6 diesel mated to the Hybrid unit, however it's still a decent enough engine. The Hybrid bit takes a little bit of working out / getting used to, however it really can be used to maximise efficiency; I drove to the Lake District last weekend and averaged 50mpg on the way up there. I came off in the Southern part of the Lakes and drove up through to Keswick via Grizedale Forest, which is lots of twisty turn roads. Using the Hybrid system I maintained the 50mpg average through 40 miles of B-roads.
So it's a thumbs up from me which, seeing as I came from a C63 AMG, can only be praise
As I suspected, I would have preferred the 3.0L V6 diesel mated to the Hybrid unit, however it's still a decent enough engine. The Hybrid bit takes a little bit of working out / getting used to, however it really can be used to maximise efficiency; I drove to the Lake District last weekend and averaged 50mpg on the way up there. I came off in the Southern part of the Lakes and drove up through to Keswick via Grizedale Forest, which is lots of twisty turn roads. Using the Hybrid system I maintained the 50mpg average through 40 miles of B-roads.
So it's a thumbs up from me which, seeing as I came from a C63 AMG, can only be praise
Ours is now somewhere around 35k miles and has never missed a beat.
Major service came in at a little under £700 (680 I think), which was about double the prior service. Only issue is that servicing *always* ends up taking longer than the dealers expect (due to lack of familiarity with them) to the extent that we're going to insist that they plan on having the car across two days.
It's not at all bad to drive, in fact I quite like it as a motorway cruiser or on the occasions I've used it to drag into town in rush hour, but wouldn't be the first I'd make for B road run (unless it was wet, long distance, and/or I knew I'd want something cosseting or quiet for the return leg) - but, to be fair to the car, aside from anything ending "63 AMG" I don't think MB make anything that I'd pick over my toys.
Winter's coming... so you'll be pleased to hear that it was very tractable in the (non) winter we had last year. I think an identical set of alloys + Nokians came in at around £1500.
Just one consideration: I don't expect depreciation to be especially kind when trade in time comes (due to the fact that there aren't many out there and you're pretty much trapped with dealer servicing right now).
That said, we were chatting the other day and not sure what we'd change it for so will be keeping it for the foreseeable future and would put another at the top of the list if this one was stolen/crashed.
Major service came in at a little under £700 (680 I think), which was about double the prior service. Only issue is that servicing *always* ends up taking longer than the dealers expect (due to lack of familiarity with them) to the extent that we're going to insist that they plan on having the car across two days.
It's not at all bad to drive, in fact I quite like it as a motorway cruiser or on the occasions I've used it to drag into town in rush hour, but wouldn't be the first I'd make for B road run (unless it was wet, long distance, and/or I knew I'd want something cosseting or quiet for the return leg) - but, to be fair to the car, aside from anything ending "63 AMG" I don't think MB make anything that I'd pick over my toys.
Winter's coming... so you'll be pleased to hear that it was very tractable in the (non) winter we had last year. I think an identical set of alloys + Nokians came in at around £1500.
Just one consideration: I don't expect depreciation to be especially kind when trade in time comes (due to the fact that there aren't many out there and you're pretty much trapped with dealer servicing right now).
That said, we were chatting the other day and not sure what we'd change it for so will be keeping it for the foreseeable future and would put another at the top of the list if this one was stolen/crashed.
AmitG said:
Would you say that it is enjoyable to drive on B-roads? Obviously it is no C63 but how does the driving experience compare?
Yes it's enjoyable to drive on a B-road, primarily down to the steering which I think is very good, however it ain't no C63 by a long way. In my C63 I'm far more in touch with the chassis and therefore the road, with it responding much more acutely to inputs. But that's to be expected. You wouldn't want to hustle the E-class along a B-road, but there is enjoyment from making decent progress at, say, 7/10ths. Personally I enjoy the anticipation required to maximise efficiency of the Hybrid system (planning lift-off points to maximise running with the engine off and battery charging etc).However I also have a Caterham Supersport in my garage. Without that, there'd be a definite petrolhead hole in my life.
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