S212
- Thread starter c107
- Start date
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- #3
Its a 2012 E350 Wagon, with the 276 engine, not the 272 engine.
It wasn't easy to find a car.
I wanted a seven seater car, not SUV. Nobody makes this anymore due to profit margins on SUVs. Even most companies push you into their fattest and most bloated offering. For example, Mercedes don't offer 7 seats even on the GLE (ML), they push you to the gargantuan GLS.
A people carrier would have been a better alternative to an SUV, but these are also the size of city blocks now.
The benz estate is the only car that fits these requirements. Now which one.
My wife does 80% short trips, less than 5km. The diesels are excellent if you do long trips, whcih she does 1-2 per year, but mostly very short runs. The emissions systems can't really handle this, so had to rule out the diesel.
Did more research. The four cylinder engines apparently have timing chain issues. The 272 engine has the dreaded balancer shaft, which still impacts engines past the serial numbers indicated by MB. The 276 engine is better, but some people have issues with the turbo engines, so I wanted an NA. That put me into only a couple of model years to choose from.
It wasn't easy to find a car.
I wanted a seven seater car, not SUV. Nobody makes this anymore due to profit margins on SUVs. Even most companies push you into their fattest and most bloated offering. For example, Mercedes don't offer 7 seats even on the GLE (ML), they push you to the gargantuan GLS.
A people carrier would have been a better alternative to an SUV, but these are also the size of city blocks now.
The benz estate is the only car that fits these requirements. Now which one.
My wife does 80% short trips, less than 5km. The diesels are excellent if you do long trips, whcih she does 1-2 per year, but mostly very short runs. The emissions systems can't really handle this, so had to rule out the diesel.
Did more research. The four cylinder engines apparently have timing chain issues. The 272 engine has the dreaded balancer shaft, which still impacts engines past the serial numbers indicated by MB. The 276 engine is better, but some people have issues with the turbo engines, so I wanted an NA. That put me into only a couple of model years to choose from.