Mercedes-Benz E-Class E250 CDI W212 (2009-2016)

Safety issue with E250 W212 – I had a rear tyre explosion while driving my E250 to the snow fields. When fitting the spare wheel I noticed excessive inner shoulder wear on both tyres. I replaced both and took pictures of damaged tyres. I showed the pictures to Berwick (Vic) Mercedes dealer and requested wheel alignment. To my shock, at the next service interval, it was reported rear tyres wearing badly on inside edges. I pointed to the dealer that last wheel alignment was done by their workshop and it was supposed to correct the wearing problem but instead made it worse. They simply refused to check if negative camber was out of specification but instead explained that Mercedes designed the car in such way and it was nothing they could have done better. Recommendation was to replace tyres every 25,000km which for me was every service interval. A set of Pirelli rear tyres costs $1,000.

I wrote to Mercedes head office asking to confirm the story but no reply was ever received which made me worried. The wear can not be easily detected, car sits very low, tyres are wide and from outside they look pretty healthy while inside is worn down to canvas. This makes the car unsafe.

Note that I get a minimum of 45,000 km of my front tyres. Unfortunately front and rear sizes are different and tyres cannot be rotated.

Ovidiu Marin

GREAT CAR BUT COULD BE BETTER – I have the current model E Class E250 CDI built November/December,2013. Bought interstate as a demonstrator with 5,000 km. Paid $90,000 unregistered including an unregistered permit to bring it back to NSW. Cost less than $5,000 for rego. luxury car tax etc. Would cost approx. $115,000 if you ordered it brand new with all the options, sunroof etc etc. Demonstrator appears to way to go. Leather seats are great - for "Artico Leather" read vinyl

Car is fitted with 19" wheels that give a very hard ride, somewhat like driving a go-cart but it feels very safe. I am blown away by some of the safety features - the intelligent lighting is fascinating how it automatically drops from high beam for oncoming cars and does not blind cars you are following. The brakes are fantastic. The lane keeping assist is great, you may have it set on 110 km and if going around a tight corner, it will automatically drop to a safe speed and even apply brakes on one side to pull it around the bend.

The feature that allows it to automatically brake when coming up behind a slower vehicle is excellent especially on long trips - I set it at the maximum and "idiots" taking advantage of the "safe distance" are an ongoing problem.

The seats are firm but no back problems after driving for 10 hours.

I thought that the Attention Assist feature was just a glorified egg timer that went off every 2 hours but recently I was driving tired and I got the warning at about one hour 45 minutes - frightening what it knows about you.

The car has very good acceleration and picks up very well for safe overtaking - (sorry Mobile Taxation Dept)

The average consumption over the last 40,000 km is 6.1 litres/100 km but most of this is long distance driving.

Driven carefully at 110 km/h on a trip and avoiding overtaking, consumption can drop to 5.5 litres/100 km.

Tyres have very little profile and it is very easy to damage the tyres and rims on pot holes, roundabouts, driveways etc. Eventually, I will change to 18" wheels and it is a pity that MB do not make 18" standard.

It only has a space saver spare, not really suitable for long distances - if your boot is full, someone has to nurse the really huge flat tyre. Tyres can be expensive - MB dealer quoted $770/ tyre but much cheaper via Tyresales.

Very difficult to get new tyres, recently a tyre was not available in Bourke, Moree, Goondiwindi, Toowoomba and I found a dealer via Ebay in Brisbane. MB Roadside Assist is very poor, I have used them twice and next time they are getting excommunicated - I expected to speak to someone who cared. Rear vision mirrors and those distorted ones so you cannot judge distance. One one occasion trying to pull onto motor way near Brisbane at night, raining, tinted windows, idiot behind honking and I had to wind the window down and put my head out to safely enter the motorway. I bought an after market roof rack for about similar MB branded one.

The GPS is crappy. I have a portable Tom Tom which I rate as 6/10 but the Tom Tom in the car is about half as good as the portable 3/10. The portable when it gets you lost will suggest a safe way of getting back on track the MB version tells you to do a "U" turn in the middle of express ways. The Tom Tom maps are very outdated, even if you pay for updates.

A beautiful car to drive, you know you are going to be ripped off by dealers for an oil change (sorry "a service"), I would definitely buy another MB but safety comes at a cost.