[Suraj25]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

Congrats! Must be annoying to have to hold off because of the lockdown. Does yours come with Airmatic, rear seat entertainment and the new MBUX twin screen dashboard? Must say the wheels look as bland as the previous 350d's 17"s.

Thank you! The E350d is basically an E220d exclusive with the bigger engine, Airmatic, 360 degree camera and front memory seats.
Unfortunately it does not come with MBUX, but does have the fully digital Speedo + Infotainment display. No rear seat entertainment.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Congrats. I can understand your situations. Mine is even worse.

Tell us what was the reason of choosing this variant? Here in North, there are some crazy offers on S Class & finally did you got any Discounts

Thanks!

This car is replacing our old C250 CDI and we wanted something that would be an upgrade in all aspects. Though the E220d has more than enough oomph to be chauffeured in, the predominant use for us would be highway drives. Spending upwards of 65 lacs on a car only to have my Skoda run circles around it did not make sense to me

Coming to the discounts... the on road price of the E350d in Karnataka is ~94 lacs, which is ridiculous! We managed to get around 15% off, which sweetened the deal vs. the E220d.

I am aware of the facelift coming out late this year/early next year and that is why we weren't in a hurry to take delivery.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by Suraj25

Thank you! The E350d is basically an E220d exclusive with the bigger engine, Airmatic, 360 degree camera and front memory seats.
Unfortunately it does not come with MBUX, but does have the fully digital Speedo + Infotainment display. No rear seat entertainment.

Coming to the discounts... the on road price of the E350d in Karnataka is ~94 lacs, which is ridiculous! We managed to get around 15% off, which sweetened the deal vs. the E220d.

Ah awesome, so you do get the widescreens. I have the V6 E350d, with the analogue dials (which I quite like). Other than that, it seems to be the same, 18"s apart.

Looks like you got a good deal! Totally agree on the need for a bigger engine - spending that much to get an Octavia TDi engine just doesn't seem...right?

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Suraj25

This car is replacing our old C250 CDI and we wanted something that would be an upgrade in all aspects. We managed to get around 15% off, which sweetened the deal vs. the E220d

Wow! that’s nice on a brand new variant. I wonder, why do manufacturers List the cars at Higher rates and than pass Rebates. Ordinarily, this would not have mattered but in Cars, where RTO is calculated on MRP, whats the logic of pricing higher and paying higher RTO?

Had they kept List Price near to market operating price, you would have saved few lacs, perhaps dealer could have kept little higher margin as well. Any thoughts?

Originally Posted by v1p3r

so you do get the widescreens.

These are now standard even on the smaller Euro 6 engines, have a look here -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ml#post4743896 (BS6-compliant Mercedes E-Class launched in India)

[Vid6639]

15% discount which is more than 10 lakhs on a car that you bought before it's actual launch.

What's the point in ex-showroom price and doing press release saying launched at 75.29L when you're actually going to sell it at 65L from day1?

65L would get more buyers into the showroom rather than this silly practice.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

What's the point in ex-showroom price and doing press release saying launched at 75.29L when you're actually going to sell it at 65L from day1?

Agree, hoping the Big 5 use the COVID-19 as an excuse and get together in some shady den (to escape the CCI cartel allegations), swallow their pride and bring out a substantial 15% reduction in their D2+ segment MRPs.

Doing this kind of ridiculous discounting ironically hurts their brand more than their effort to 'protect' it by quoting high prices.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

More than anything else, this appears to be just a variant to counter BMW. This is exactly what happens when the competitor puts up a good fight, you do silly mistakes (just like in the game of cricket). This variant was totally rejected previously and whatever sales they had were on the discounted Euro 4 pieces.

I can think of 3 good use cases for the E350:

- A CEO who is going to sit on the backseat from Mon-Fri, and drive himself on weekends or holiday trips. If I was in the corporate world and my company was buying me a car, I would certainly keep this as the top choice.

- Many corporates & individuals have the habit of buying 'only the top model'. At one time, there were so many 1st-gen City Vtecs roaming around, which had never seen 7000 rpm.

- A CEO who doesn't care, but has an enthusiast son .

Originally Posted by Turbanator

That can happen in India only, company launching a product and people at launch asking, Ok, that’s the MRP but what are discounts.

[v1p3r]

Originally Posted by GTO

- A CEO who is going to sit on the backseat from Mon-Fri, and drive himself on weekends or holiday trips. If I was in the corporate world and my company was buying me a car, I would certainly keep this as the top choice.

Less than 1 out of 10 sold are 350s, according to the sales guys. But in keeping with your above theory, RNT has one. He certainly fit the profile you've described.

[Suraj25]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Had they kept List Price near to market operating price, you would have saved few lacs, perhaps dealer could have kept little higher margin as well. Any thoughts?

The dealerships probably know that 350s aren't going to fly off the shelves, so they might be pushing whatever they have in their inventory with aggressive discounts. AFAIK, dealerships are 'forced' to buy a minimum number of a certain model from the manufacturer. Somebody who knows for sure can confirm.
Plus the fact that the W/V213 is almost at the end of its lifecycle means nobody is going to pay full price for it.

Why price it at 75L in the first place? As per my understanding, MB must keep in mind that the pricing of one product will have a ripple effect on the other products as well. They might be better off providing discounts at the dealership level over pricing a particular model so low that it makes the other models look unreasonable in comparison. If I hadn't mentioned the discount here, 75L ex-showroom for a LWB E-class with 6 cylinders and Airmatic wouldn't have raised any alarms

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Suraj25

AFAIK, dealerships are 'forced' to buy a minimum number of a certain model from the manufacturer. Somebody who knows for sure can confirm.

That is absolutely true with all brands! E.g. if you are a Renault dealer, you can't exclusively place an order for hot-selling Kwids & Tribers only. The "package" will have to include a handful of Capturs.

[Ash_vtec]

They should offer the non LWB version too, with a lower price. I'm sure there will be takers for a discreet fast diesel sedan without this stretched look. Maybe sell the shorter wheelbase with some discreet AMG cosmetics and stand toe to toe with 530d "///M" .

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by Suraj25

The dealerships probably know that 350s aren't going to fly off the shelves, so they might be pushing whatever they have in their inventory with aggressive discounts. dealerships are 'forced' to buy a minimum number of a certain model from the manufacturer.

Yes, to an extent. I know for sure, BMW Dealers get a higher bonus if they can sell a particular category - like - CBU's.

Why price it at 75L in the first place? MB must keep in mind that the pricing of one product will have a ripple effect on the other products as well.

You mean product Cannibalization? Do you price products artificially higher? No, it's not as if only 350 gets discounts. Smaller 4 cylinder gets similar if not higher discounts and so does most other models. In this process, customer/ dealership losses as RTO calculates on List price.

If I hadn't mentioned the discount here, 75L ex-showroom for a LWB E-class with 6 cylinders and Airmatic wouldn't have raised any alarms

No, it's good that you mentioned, else most of the guys here would have felt bad for a fellow member paying such high prices to MB

Without Discounts, it makes absolutely no- sense to buy. I drove the 4 cylinder briefly and to me, the car though similar to 7 series, size-vise, doesn’t shrink like BMW, you are always looking at the rear. Don’t know if this gets better with time, but E-Class handles nothing like a 7 or 5. I haven’t driven 6 cylinder model, so I may be mistaken.

[np23]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

It has to be straight 6 that they use on other cars.




That can happen in India only, company launching a product and people at launch asking, Ok, that’s the MRP but what are discounts.

Fair, I am not aware of any German model being sold at Full MRP in recent past. Maybe X7?

There was a time, when most people will actually think twice to enter into a BMW showroom, forgot negotiations. I remember, it was 2007 when BMW had just setup its dealership, I paid full for that 320-D and now the first Question one asks even before asking MRP Is about offers

Remember those times so fondly, we picked up the 325i (CBU) around the same time from the Chandigarh dealership. Cars and discounts were just unheard of then, similar to other goods like mobiles, etc, you paid the MRP and back.

Absolutely correct of the X7, other cars with minimal discounts only seem to the CBUs. On a lighter note while checking out BMWs online portal yesterday, they’ve listed “Speedometer with KM readings” as a feature / free option

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Without Discounts, it makes absolutely no- sense to buy. I drove the 4 cylinder briefly and to me, the car though similar to 7 series, size-vise, doesn’t shrink like BMW, you are always looking at the rear. Don’t know if this gets better with time, but E-Class handles nothing like a 7 or 5. I haven’t driven 6 cylinder model, so I may be mistaken.

You are correct, when I tried the E during the official test over a set of curves on a hillock on Goa, one needed to plan ahead and turn in early due to the wheelbase. It was at its best on the highway leading up to the airport

[Fury]

Frankly, I cannot see the point of this variant.

E class has anyways become the go-to option for buyers seeking the ultimate rear seat comfort in this segment. All the associating mechanicals of the car are tuned towards being a comfortable cruiser rather than a sharp handler and for such purposes, do we need a 6 cylinder Diesel, especially in todays day and age? MB should have rather considered a hybrid variant that would suite the current environmental regulations better, on top of being an excellent NVH package with the higher Fuel efficiency being an added benefit.

For all the enthusiasts out there, the 530D will be the top choice any day with that sweet 6 cylinder and the famed BMW dynamics combo.

Trying to be good at multiple areas just results in excelling nowhere and MB seems to be falling in that direction.

[vredesbyrd]

Oh well. I'll look at it in 2030 when it becomes an expensive beater. The old W212 350 was incredible but they stopped selling it really quick because everyone wants a diesel in that price bracket.