1. I couldn't believe how much better the mileage was than the Accord hybrid...I was averaging 34MPG cruising along at 80-90 on the interstates! We recommend you obey all speed laws but thank goodness we had our new Passport X50 blue stuck to the front windshield. It saved us numerous times!
2. It was extremely quiet...only a little chatter at stoplights and on startup in the morning.
3. We got socked in Boulder when it pulled the 65 degrees today, 8 inches of snow tomorrow move. That gave us a chance to try try the CDI in the snow. And it's performance was outstanding going throught the mountains. We never felt slippage once during the early morning snowstorm drive.
4. Our car was equipped with the premium package that includes cool things like the drive dynamic seats (They really work well!), massagers (they turn off too fast), nav (new DVD MB nav still light years behind the Acura's and Lexi's), etc. It's much cheaper in the package than ordering the stuff individually.
5. It's always good to be back in a Benz after not owning one in a while. The suspension is amazingly sophisticated and one of the highlights of the car and the brand. They do suspension right!
6. We especially like the little drawer that pops out of the dash. It's a great spot to put you iPod. By the way, we were using the iTrip from Griffin technolgy to get our iPod mini to play through the sound system. We like their ad-ons for the iPod best. They're the coolest and have the nicest design. More info here: www.griffintechnology.com
7. There was no lack of power at any speed. In fact, if you check the stats, the CDI is only a tenth of a second slower than the new E350!
8. As much as we tried to overlook it, the heating ac controls are cheap looking and look they came stright out of the Chrysler parts bin. We expect more from MB here. Hopefully the new R-class interior signals a return to the higher quality bits inside a a Benz.
9. In 17 degree weather when we picked it up it only took two seconds for the glow plug to warm up! Amazing! In warm weather, you hardly see it go on and off! What a difference from the old days! I remember having a VW diesel in Buffalo back in the 70's that took about 20 seconds to warm up in those kind of temperatures.
AutoSpies picks the Mercedes E320CDI as the most underrated car on the market today.
With gas prices being rumored to be in the $3.00 per gallon range come summer, we suggest scooping up every one you can get your hands on.
There is NO better daily driver.
The only downside is the CDI is not available in 5 states but our spies tell us that MB, Audi and VW will has diesel engine cars in the 2007 model year that will be certifiable in all 50 states.
We sure hope BMW brings in a diesel 3 and 5 series to the US as well.
We are told by our European drivers that the 3-series diesels are the best diesels on the market.
