Congrats! Man what a great first car, and what a deal!

I have a client that has one of these and he swears he will never part with it.

 

Thanks!

A couple of things I noticed

1. the remote has a trunk opener and if you press it for a few seconds the trunk opens fully just like a powered trunk opener, but I don't think it's actually powered. It's the force in the springs or struts that forces it open. Very cool nonetheless to have it fully open.
2. I had to search online quite a bit to figure out how to enable BT audio. That seems very basic, but you have to go through multiple menus just to be able to listen to audio from your phone (music, GPS etc). It does however allow to to hear audio when on a call but not for music etc. It's very strange. Anyway, after figuring that out it works by default now for any other phone that is paired with the car.
3. the ultrasonic parking sensors are very cool in the sense that there is a visual warning at the base of the windshield on the dash that has warning lights on it that go from green, to yellow and red the closer you get to a stationary object (wall or whatever).
4. The only con - a major con as far as I'm concerned considering that this car cost about $60K USD back in 2010 is that it does not have HID headlights.... it's damn halogen bulbs in a projector housing for the low beams. And they suck royally. I had to drive with the high beams on otherwise I can't see anything after getting spoiled with decent LED headlights on my Model S.

What surprises me even more about this is that on my previous car - the 1999 Lexus GS400 - a car that probably cost the same as the E350 but came out 11 years earlier had HID headlights! Such a glaring omission on a car that has so much in terms of safety technology - the multiple air bags, driver assist etc

I know there are aftermarket solutions to solve this "safety" issue however my son is not going to start modding the car. He has zero interest in that, plus he has to pay it off first.

 

The Germans make you pay for anything and everything, Lexus doesn't and that's a major edge they have over them. The cars are more complete even at base spec, whereas in German cars you sometimes don't even get all the seat adjustments unless you option up.

 

This car is fully loaded - upgraded Harman Kardon sound system with the sub and amp in the trunk, powered seats, safety assist, Navigation etc.

 

This car is definitely missing an upgraded lighting package, which is why it doesn't have HIDs like you mentioned.

The E-Class of this time, if it didn't have the lighting package, it got the 4 fog lights at the lower air intakes and I think halogen front turn signals:



The E-Class with the lighting package replaced the 4 fog lights at the bottom with the zig-zag-y LED strips (and I think this also got you front LED turn signals as well)

 

Here's a screenshot from the order guide. You can see what this car has and what it's missing

 

As was said you could definitely get HID headlights…German cars can LOOK loaded but surprisingly not be because the packages don’t build on each other the way they do for Lexus.

Remember too your GS400 was the higher trim, all E550s came with HID headlights I believe, or at least it was way more common to see them with them. Previous gen E Class also had available HIDs

 

Congrats! That's personally the last E-Class I liked, the styling has realllllly aged well. And as you say, that car was solid. Mercedes made a concerted effort to really step up that gen E-Class and they did. This car got all kinds of press about feeling solid like a proper Mercedes should after some less than great E-Class designs. I'd love an E550 but that engine is a time bomb, so I'm told, unfortunately.

 

It's actually not loaded, they go well beyond what most people think is possible. You are missing the advanced lighting package

Loaded is an E63 with full carbon and all interior packages plus some other stuff, any other car will be "missing" stuff

 

Oh and about the trunk, Mercedes trunks are known to just "spring up" like that. At least the older, non-power ones.

 

Welp, I can't pretend my RX330 is a mercedes anymore.

I don't have anything on that list except HID's. Lol

Bubble bursted... haha

 

Looks great. Lucky kid.

 

Right or Wrong: Went with German
Wrong or Right: Went with ICE

 

Thats a great car - especially for 1st car.
Def better than the Tesla lol

That generation W212 - was the last good Eclass design. The W213 was very rounded droopy / cheap styling.

BTW HID / LED kit is a few hundred bucks if that and should be plug and play. If that’s too much - get some high quality bulbs that are brighter.

The v6 in these cars dates back to the W211 and should be pretty bulletproof, i still see many of the W211 gen cars around.

 

I also much prefer that version of the W212, the refresh doesn't look as good IMO.