[lamborghini]

I think it is to do with some bacterial growth in the AC unit. Nothing to worry about.
IIRC it is something to do with the heat, or some such issue, which is why it goes away when it cools.
Not too aware of it, given that I haven't had too much experience with it - however, it is nothing major, and the A.S.S. should be able to take care of it the next time you go. It sounds pretty common to many cars.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

I think it is to do with some bacterial growth in the AC unit. Nothing to worry about.
IIRC it is something to do with the heat, or some such issue, which is why it goes away when it cools.
Not too aware of it, given that I haven't had too much experience with it - however, it is nothing major, and the A.S.S. should be able to take care of it the next time you go. It sounds pretty common to many cars.

Switch on the heating to full for 5 min to destroy the bacteria

[Ayedongivadam]

Originally Posted by crux

At home, we park the car in a covered garage and have most definitely not parked the car under trees too often. More over the thing is that while there is strong odour after starting the car, the odour is not present after driving the car for a while. If there were leaves and stuff accumulated in the air intake, the smell would have been present throughout the drive, wouldn't it?

Yeah, that happens after a little while the nose tends to adjust to the odour and you don't smell it any longer. What I'm saying is just have that area checked and your pollen filters cleaned. It worked for me.

[Aurum]

Originally Posted by Ayedongivadam

Yeah, that happens after a little while the nose tends to adjust to the odour and you don't smell it any longer. What I'm saying is just have that area checked and your pollen filters cleaned. It worked for me.

I had a similar problem with my jetta. The smell was becoming progressively worse. I left the car at the workshop for nearly a week. Having cleaned everything, they still couldn't figure it out. So i pulled the car out. I read somewhere that you should let the blower on for some time after the ac is switched off, and tried that every time I parked the car. In a week of discipline, it reduced and then went away. My unscientific conclusion is the same as mentioned by some others. There is some bacteria which thrives in humidity and is in the air intake or vents. Let it heat up and dry out. Should take care of it.

[crux]

Sorry for not updating for a long time....
Tried ajmat's solution and it worked! The odour has disappeared. Guess this was a very common problem, but since this was happening in the merc, I got a little panicky. Other than this, there is nothing negative to report, really ( hopefully nothing in the future too, touch wood).

[crux]

Posting after a long time....
Anyways, our car has just been through a Goa - Mumbai round trip. Apparently the car had hit something underneath on the way back to Goa. After reaching home, we found a piece of velcro-like material dangling down. Took it to the service centre and the SA told us it was nothing to worry about. The material was part of some insulation of the under body. But the fact of the matter was that it would cost around 10 k to replace it!

Another thing was that the front number plate along with the number plate fairing had a mysterious dent. This costs around Rs 6k.

Well all this was avoidable and other than this the car has really done a stellar job so far, touch wood!

[crux]

An update
The car has just undergone its second service ie. the 30000 km service. All they did during this service was change the brake pads and refill the engine oil. The brake pads did cost a hefty 20k rupees though!

A little OT:
I had test driven the C 63 AMG a little while back. The TD was just brilliant! The noise was epic and the drive was really good fun. A feather touch on the throttle was enough to send it spiralling towards unmentionable speeds. I had test driven the car on an absolutely straight highway, due to which I could not gauge the roll but the fact was evident that the steering weighed up really well at high speeds.
One thing I lamented on was that the TD car's electric seats was not functioning properly and that was really a bummer.

At the same time I was checking up the prices, equipment list and specs of the E Class and the C Class models. One thing I noticed was that the Elegance was deleted from the E 250 CDI and introduced in the E 350 CDI. Thus you get the E 250 CDI in Avantgarde trim and Classic trim( According to me the Classic trim should be avoided). Also there has been a significant rise in prices by around 5 -7 lacs, depending on the variant.

But as of now, the C Class really looks to be more of a VFM package than the E Class, what with the added equipment to the 2012 C Class. How times change, and one can really see the effect of competion on these cars!

[V.Narayan]

Dear Crux, would you be sharing a further update on how your E-class is behaving 2 years after purchase. I for one would be keen to know how she is running (for me a car,like a ship, is always a she with apologies to Wren & Martin), what problems (hopefully none) that you have faced and above all else what has been Mercedes' after sales service. - best wishes, Narayan

[crux]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

Dear Crux, would you be sharing a further update on how your E-class is behaving 2 years after purchase. I for one would be keen to know how she is running (for me a car,like a ship, is always a she with apologies to Wren & Martin), what problems (hopefully none) that you have faced and above all else what has been Mercedes' after sales service. - best wishes, Narayan

Personifying cars is a given here
Our car will be completing her 4th year in October and has run close to 60 k kms. All in all, nothing major to report here as she has been largely trouble free.( Yeah even am pleasantly surprised! *TOUCHWOOD*). That being said, I am a little worried about the wood trim losing its sheen. It has sort of really dulled. Would be really grateful if anyone has any suggestions regarding this!

As far as the after sales service is concerned, the staff at Mercedes' Goa service station has been courteous and has solved our complaints more or less satisfactorily. However the scary part is most definitely the spare parts price basket! And with Mercedes not having provided any service plans when we bought the car, we were literally terrified whenever the car was due for servicing, just because of these costs!

In a nutshell, the Merc has been a solid companion and notwithstanding the service costs and the price of the spares, it has been more or less quite a digestible experience!

[pamiboy]

Nice time lapse review of the E class. Did you mention the wood grain losing its sheen or fading. If it's fading it may be fixable under warranty ( you mentioned until October). Report it ASAP to the dealer.
For particular information and help regarding Mercedes cars you may also access speciality forums such as MBworld.org or Benzworld.org. These are obviously western / US based forums but will give you an insight into the problems and solutions.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by crux

That being said, I am a little worried about the wood trim losing its sheen. It has sort of really dulled.

This is a known issue and I have seen it on a few other Es' as well. Take it to the dealer and demand a replacement of all the faded trim parts and they will do it.

Further, at 4 years, it is best to get the car serviced outside at a competent garage and bid goodbye to the dealer (unless you have a maintenance plan in place). You will end up saving at least 50% of the cost.

[pamiboy]

Yes that's true. The E class of this time period are know to have these problems. I believe they have been rectified in the subsequent versions.
When you ask for replacement, please make sure "all" the wood paneling in the car are changed as well (regardless of whether they are faded or not). As far as I know all the wood panels in a single car come from a "single tree" (to account for the minor variations in design, color and texture over time) and if reported during the warranty period they should be replaced for free. Obviously you have to get your dealer into confidence.
One way to check for fading is to open your front door and look at the wood trim where it meets the dash. That area usually remains protected and will show a difference if there is fading in the other exposed parts.
In case you are out of warranty, I suspect the cost for replacement of wood trim may well be over $2500. Don't sit on it too long. And good luck.

[crux]

Originally Posted by n.devdath

This is a known issue and I have seen it on a few other Es' as well. Take it to the dealer and demand a replacement of all the faded trim parts and they will do it.

Further, at 4 years, it is best to get the car serviced outside at a competent garage and bid goodbye to the dealer (unless you have a maintenance plan in place). You will end up saving at least 50% of the cost.

Originally Posted by pamiboy

Yes that's true. The E class of this time period are know to have these problems. I believe they have been rectified in the subsequent versions.
When you ask for replacement, please make sure "all" the wood paneling in the car are changed as well (regardless of whether they are faded or not). As far as I know all the wood panels in a single car come from a "single tree" (to account for the minor variations in design, color and texture over time) and if reported during the warranty period they should be replaced for free. Obviously you have to get your dealer into confidence.
One way to check for fading is to open your front door and look at the wood trim where it meets the dash. That area usually remains protected and will show a difference if there is fading in the other exposed parts.
In case you are out of warranty, I suspect the cost for replacement of wood trim may well be over $2500. Don't sit on it too long. And good luck.

Thanks for the response guys! Looks like this situation is legit for a warrantly claim then! Crossing my fingers for this!
Another problem , particularly in Goa, there aren't many independent service stations in Goa who are capable of servicing premium cars. So we are kind of forced and service our cars at the service centres itself. :(

[androdev]

Originally Posted by crux

While starting the car yesterday, the air coming out of the ac vents had an unpleasant odour to it. However it seemed to disappear after 5-10 mins of driving. Stopped the car and started it again, and the same odour came again. Has anyone experienced the same?

Does this problem still exist? It is mostly due to dirty evaporator coil.

It helps to understand how AC works: outside air is blown past the cold surface of evaporator coil (cooling coil) into the cabin. When you switch off the car after a long drive, the evaporator coil is still very cold and as a result moisture gets collected on the coil. This is similar to how moisture gets collected on a glass of chilled beer. And if you don't drive your car for a week or so, the moisture and the dark compartment of the coil allows bacteria, etc to grow on the coil. If your driving pattern involves long drives with AC and parking for many days, then the evaporator coil can quickly get very dirty. If your AC drain is clogged, this can get worse very quickly. Removing the evaporator to clean is unbelievably complex, so prevention is better than cure.

Some suggestions:

1. Mercedes has a procedure to clean the evaporator by spraying some disinfectant. Since removing evaporator coil is not advisable, this is the best that can be done at reasonable cost. May have to get this done frequently, possibly DIY by purchasing the appropriate disinfectant.

2. Change your AC filters regularly as the air quality in the cities is very bad.

3. Ensure AC drain is functioning properly, there should be water dripping through AC drain from a parked car.

4. Use the car regularly to avoid bacteria build up. May not always be possible for luxury cars.

5. Use high-blower, AC-off during the last few minutes of the journey, the idea is to bring the evaporator coil temperature to ambient temperature before parking.

6. Don't be tempted to use heater-mode because the components are arranged in this order: Filter > Blower > Evaporator > Heater. If you want to use heater to normalize the evaporator coil temperature, then you have to use it in "recirculate mode".

7. Mercedes has REST button as part of AC controls. If you press REST and switch off the engine, it will run the AC blower using battery power for few minutes. So you can press REST lock the car and it will do its job of drying up the evaporator. Do this when you can't do 5, 6 due to guests in the car, or you can't be bothered with 5,6.

8. Don't use air-freshener to hide the bad smell :-)

In short, don't park the car for a long period with a cold evaporator coil.

[crux]

UPDATE
Wanted to bump this thread for quite some time and finally found the reason to do so

Have recently completed road trip of Goa-Mahabaleshwar-Lonavla-Pune-Goa .

The Merc performed beautifully. Absolutely a stress free drive. And contrary to popular belief, she actually was pretty much fun to drive along this route, which had a lot of curves.

The only thing about the car that robbed it of a perfect score on the driveability front is that gearbox. It is just too confused as to what gear it has to be at that particular time. So while the engine has more than enough grunt, its the gearbox that takes quite a bit of time to kickdown. Sorely missed the manual gearbox.

Stability on the dual carriageway exceptionally good and she was comfortable cruising at really respectable speeds on the dual carriageway. Had a blast on the Mumbai- Pune Expressway!
And yes she still garners a lot of respect on the road. An instance was when I slowed down for a speed breaker. Now if I was in my city, people would honk incessantly behind me to get a move on. But in the Merc, voila! People would patiently wait for me to cross the speed breaker at a really low speed.

In Pune's bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, I had my apprehensions of taking the Merc through. But it passed this section with full marks. This was the only section of the drive where the lazy auto proved its worth. Lol! The car was pretty easy to manoeuvre and the only cause of concern were those absolutely moronic bikers.


A Comparison with the Honda City on long drives
This is, I admit, a really unusual comparison but actually still warrants a mention.

The Honda City absolutely trumps the Mercedes in the gearbox department. I would at any time of the day prefer the snappy throw of the Honda's manual gearbox over the Merc's insanely lazy auto gearbox.

With regards to the ground clearance though, the Merc totally has the Honda for breakfast. The moment I have more than two passengers in the Honda, the overall speed of the journey reduces drastically due to speedbreakers. The Merc is comparatively a breeze to drive, though I still don't take chances with it.

One thing that deserves special mention is the Air con. The Air con is laughable in the Merc. It takes a ridiculously long time to cool the cabin and the Honda is much better in this regard. The summer heat was making its presence in the Merc


So which will I choose for the highway run for Goa to Mumbai/ Pune?
Tough choice because I would choose the City for the winding Chorla section just because of the gearbox and its lightness and choose the Merc for the dual carriageways.
In the traffic, the Merc absolutely trounces the City.

Put a couple of pics. Forgive me for the quality but the first picture shows the overall journey statistics and the second picture shows the Honda City!