MERCEDES-BENZ E CLASS E350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Sport 2dr Tip Auto (2009)

Merc E350 Review - Silly problems but huge fun

I'm not sure what's more fun really, getting up to 60 in about 7 seconds, or knowing that I'm getting about the same fuel economy as our old Yaris (which was frugal indeed). The Mercedes E350 CDi Sport for us was a bit of a step up for us and it's been a dream come true really.

I love all the gadgets. The wipers that come on automatically when it's raining, that still makes me smile. The clever hand free phone setup, love that. Cruise control is just awesome. With the auto gearbox I hardly need to do anything on long drives. I almost feel like a pilot setting the plane to auto pilot, I just sit back and steer occasionally.

The space inside is fantastic too, the boot is BIG and the back seats fold down separately so you can always get the right combination of storage and people space. The Mercedes E350 CDi Sport is big overall but we got ours with a parking camera at the back which is just another massive step forward for us, and it's brilliant. The only problem was in the winter when it got a bit fogged up sometimes, so I suppose it's always important to actually know how to park so you don't need to rely on them so much.

There are some bad design features. The rear head rests are fixed in place and can't be moved up or down. That's bad for visibility and also for some of the taller passengers I've had in terms of safety. And I'm really not sure why there's no middle seat. There could be plenty of space for one.

So it's a great car, but that is, apart from when it's not. There was some problem with the engine after a few months, which took the best part of three weeks back with the dealer to sort out (and they were hardly eager to return my calls about it). The windscreen also seems prone to chips, which isn't good. And there's a really unexpected level of road noise at speed. Sad really as the Mercedes E350 Sport is otherwise so good. These things do make me think twice about Mercs.