E300 Hybrid or E350 Bluetech?
Discussion
Hi All,
The C63 goes back in Sept (
) and I'm looking at a new E-estate. Specifically I'm looking at either an E350 Bluetech or E300 Hybrid. I know the E350 is a big V6 diesel, which I love the sound of, but am concerned it's only going to be a high 30's mpg car.
On the other hand I like the idea of the E300 being a hybrid and the 50mpg economy, but not so enamoured about the 4 cylinder diesel motor.
Has anyone driven or owned either (or both!) of these cars?
The C63 goes back in Sept (
) and I'm looking at a new E-estate. Specifically I'm looking at either an E350 Bluetech or E300 Hybrid. I know the E350 is a big V6 diesel, which I love the sound of, but am concerned it's only going to be a high 30's mpg car.On the other hand I like the idea of the E300 being a hybrid and the 50mpg economy, but not so enamoured about the 4 cylinder diesel motor.
Has anyone driven or owned either (or both!) of these cars?
I have a 2012 E350 Blue Efficiency estate. Over last 10k miles it averaged 40.4 in a mix of country roads and motorway driving, with only a small amount of town work. On a run at motorway sppeds it averages about 44-45. On gentle A road runs of some distance it will do up to 47-48, all from the OBC and not checked against actual consumption. It is not great on short runs, like nost diesels and takes 8 miles or so to get right up to temp on country roads. Good car though, not had a single fault so far - now on 21k.
I have an E300 hybrid estate - thread here: http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?h=0&a...
Not really. The car's been pretty much faultless over 20-25k miles.
The only two niggles have been:
1) A glitch with COMAND that the dealer struggled to diagnose (hadn't realise we have the latest version of COMAND in a pre-facelift car); and
2) Servicing seems to take longer than for a regular car (few MB techs have worked on them before).
It's putting in good service and by all rational standards is a good car but, in spite of that, it's the vehicle we're least attached to. I guess that's the price paid for just getting on with the job (and I doubt a 350 would be any different in this regard).
The only two niggles have been:
1) A glitch with COMAND that the dealer struggled to diagnose (hadn't realise we have the latest version of COMAND in a pre-facelift car); and
2) Servicing seems to take longer than for a regular car (few MB techs have worked on them before).
It's putting in good service and by all rational standards is a good car but, in spite of that, it's the vehicle we're least attached to. I guess that's the price paid for just getting on with the job (and I doubt a 350 would be any different in this regard).
Thanks for that.
Yes totally agree; my impression from test driving them both was that the 350 Bluetech, whilst a smoother engine, was just a similarly boring way of getting less economy that the E300 Hybrid. All I'm looking for is comfort, reliability and decent economy. The fact the E300 is a new technology with facets to learn and gadgets to play with only strengthens it's appeal.
And when I want fun, I get my Caterham out of the garage
Yes totally agree; my impression from test driving them both was that the 350 Bluetech, whilst a smoother engine, was just a similarly boring way of getting less economy that the E300 Hybrid. All I'm looking for is comfort, reliability and decent economy. The fact the E300 is a new technology with facets to learn and gadgets to play with only strengthens it's appeal.
And when I want fun, I get my Caterham out of the garage
So over the weekend I managed to test drive both an E350 Bluetech and an E300 Bluetech Hybrid. The E350 was a dealer demonstrator with 35,000 miles on it whereas the E300 was a brand new car showing 12 miles.
Having the E300 to test drive was an unexpected bonus, however as it was a brand new car we could only take it 'around the block', thus I couldn't replicate the route I did in the E350.
E350 Bluetech
The route I had planned out was actually pretty boring, but replicated a shorter version of a typical commute. It consitied of about 80% dual carriageway with the remainder being A-roads interspersed with traffic lights and roundabouts. As Gizze has recommended, I got into the car, started it, reset the OBC, then flicked back to the digital speed screen and got on with driving the car.
Just under 40 miles later when I returned, I checked the OBC to find it stating 39.2mpg. I'd been using cruise control at between 75-80mph, along with a few spirited acceleration runs to see how she performed. Overall I thought this wasn't too bad.
E300 Bluetech Hybrid
Just having a car there to drive was an unexpected bonus, so I wasn't worried that the test drives routes were different. Even it they'd been the same, the E300 was a brand new car and the engine felt very tight. However the 'round the block' route was still a good 12 miles and gave me ample opportunity to get a feel for the car. The route was a mix of back-lane B-road and fast A-roads, so not much opportunity to take advantage of the hybrid facility other than when sailing up to a junction. Overall the car averaged 42mpg according to the OBC.
Preconceptions
So before I drove these cars, and from reading various posts & reviews, I had a few preconceptions about both vehicles; I thought the 350 would be extremely refined with monster torque and would really show the lack of the refinement in the E300. I also expected there to be a sizeable performance difference. I expected the E300 to be nice, but far more unrefined and just that bit lacking compared with the E300. Basically I thought there'd be a gulf between the 2 cars in terms of refinement, performance and desirability.
I'm very pleased to say that this wasn't the case.
Refinement
This is the E350's trump card. The engine is incredibly smooth, and not just for a diesel. Yes you can (just) hear it's a diesel, but the engine spins very sweetly, there are no vibrations through the seat/wheel/pedals at idle, and it wafts along beautifully.
The E300 was actually pretty damn good! Far better than I was expecting in fact. Yes it's a 4 cylinder diesel, but at low speeds and at idle the engine switches off to use the batteries. Pulling away in electric, along with sailing up towards junctions was just magic (). When the engine switches off in sail mode, I only knew this from looking at the rev counter. The engine kicks back in smoothly, but there is a very slight delay as it does so. Certainly it's not as refined as the E350, but the difference between the two was less that I'd thought.
Performance
I found the E350 rather underwhelming here. All this talk of C63 rivaling torque had me thinking it would be some form of tyre shredding monster. It absolutely is not! It may have a similar amount of torque as a C63, but there is no comparison. However in fairness, it does hide its acceleration well. What the E350 is is a very smooth diesel with okay-ish grunt.
And the E300? Well it was a new car, no doubt with a tight engine, but I still gave it some welly. It actually surprised me by feeling almost as quick as the E350. I reckon there'd not much between them in a straight line.
So overall my preconceived gulf between the two cars was more a small gap. I think my ideal combination would be an E350 Hybrid, however between the two tested I would plonk for the E300. I just loved the Hybrid technology.
Having the E300 to test drive was an unexpected bonus, however as it was a brand new car we could only take it 'around the block', thus I couldn't replicate the route I did in the E350.
E350 Bluetech
The route I had planned out was actually pretty boring, but replicated a shorter version of a typical commute. It consitied of about 80% dual carriageway with the remainder being A-roads interspersed with traffic lights and roundabouts. As Gizze has recommended, I got into the car, started it, reset the OBC, then flicked back to the digital speed screen and got on with driving the car.
Just under 40 miles later when I returned, I checked the OBC to find it stating 39.2mpg. I'd been using cruise control at between 75-80mph, along with a few spirited acceleration runs to see how she performed. Overall I thought this wasn't too bad.
E300 Bluetech Hybrid
Just having a car there to drive was an unexpected bonus, so I wasn't worried that the test drives routes were different. Even it they'd been the same, the E300 was a brand new car and the engine felt very tight. However the 'round the block' route was still a good 12 miles and gave me ample opportunity to get a feel for the car. The route was a mix of back-lane B-road and fast A-roads, so not much opportunity to take advantage of the hybrid facility other than when sailing up to a junction. Overall the car averaged 42mpg according to the OBC.
Preconceptions
So before I drove these cars, and from reading various posts & reviews, I had a few preconceptions about both vehicles; I thought the 350 would be extremely refined with monster torque and would really show the lack of the refinement in the E300. I also expected there to be a sizeable performance difference. I expected the E300 to be nice, but far more unrefined and just that bit lacking compared with the E300. Basically I thought there'd be a gulf between the 2 cars in terms of refinement, performance and desirability.
I'm very pleased to say that this wasn't the case.
Refinement
This is the E350's trump card. The engine is incredibly smooth, and not just for a diesel. Yes you can (just) hear it's a diesel, but the engine spins very sweetly, there are no vibrations through the seat/wheel/pedals at idle, and it wafts along beautifully.
The E300 was actually pretty damn good! Far better than I was expecting in fact. Yes it's a 4 cylinder diesel, but at low speeds and at idle the engine switches off to use the batteries. Pulling away in electric, along with sailing up towards junctions was just magic (). When the engine switches off in sail mode, I only knew this from looking at the rev counter. The engine kicks back in smoothly, but there is a very slight delay as it does so. Certainly it's not as refined as the E350, but the difference between the two was less that I'd thought.
Performance
I found the E350 rather underwhelming here. All this talk of C63 rivaling torque had me thinking it would be some form of tyre shredding monster. It absolutely is not! It may have a similar amount of torque as a C63, but there is no comparison. However in fairness, it does hide its acceleration well. What the E350 is is a very smooth diesel with okay-ish grunt.
And the E300? Well it was a new car, no doubt with a tight engine, but I still gave it some welly. It actually surprised me by feeling almost as quick as the E350. I reckon there'd not much between them in a straight line.
So overall my preconceived gulf between the two cars was more a small gap. I think my ideal combination would be an E350 Hybrid, however between the two tested I would plonk for the E300. I just loved the Hybrid technology.
Yep, seen those 
I actually prefer the idea of the E300 over the E350. Yes the E350 is more refined, however it's still just a boring diesel. At least with the E300 there is plenty of playing around to be had with the hybrid tech.
Edited to add: Now if they made an E350 Bluetech Hybrid...!
I actually prefer the idea of the E300 over the E350. Yes the E350 is more refined, however it's still just a boring diesel. At least with the E300 there is plenty of playing around to be had with the hybrid tech.
Edited to add: Now if they made an E350 Bluetech Hybrid...!
ghibbett said:
So my order is in for...a E300 Bluetech Hybrid. September delivery
Would you mind if I ask the dirty details on what deal you were offered?I similarly love the idea of a MB hybrid, even more so with the current F1 tie in
The lease deals seem pretty stunning, Im curious what the dealers are offering
Cheers
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