Answering Reader Questions About The 2024 Mercedes-Benz E350 (2024)

I recently spent a few days with a 2024 Mercedes-Benz E350, a nearly fully loaded, base engine version of the eleventh-generation E-Class. More luxurious and comfort-oriented than ever before, the new E-Class is a technological powerhouse and has so many features, specs and noteworthy elements that it’s impossible to cover them all in one review. So I turned to our dear readers and asked what questions you had about the redesigned E-Class.

Y’all wanted to know about the styling, the powertrain, the technology and the build quality. Others wondered about the wagon variants, long-term reliability and ergonomics. And a lot of you didn’t like the color. Read on to see everyone’s questions and comments, and to read my answers.

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2 / 18

$90k for an E-Class with 255 hp and it looks just like a C-class? Huh?

Submitted by Shiftright

I don’t think it looks like a C-Class any more than previous generations have. The light signatures definitely set it apart from other Benzes, specifically the three-pointed star taillights.

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3 / 18

Does it come in colors other than “putty” “terra cotta” or “diaper fill”?

Submitted by Gin and Panic

Yes! There’s the bright Cardinal Red, the deeper Nautical Blue, bronze-ish Sonoran Brown, and my favorite Verde Silver, which is the lovely minty green you see below.

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4 / 18

$83,400 and they forgot to paint it!

Submitted by William

Mercedes even charges $1,750 for this Alpine Grey paint! It’s not what I’d pick, but I actually do like it. It absorbs and reflects a surprising amount of color from the surroundings, especially at sunset.

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5 / 18

Why is it called a 350? Used to be engine displacement, but now seems like random numbers.

Submitted by Smittyatl

Buddy, the numbers haven’t meant anything for a long time.

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6 / 18

is this generation e-class gonna be much more reliable than other previous gens of e-class

Submitted by hayase

I mean we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we? But Consumer Reports’ research has shown the E-Class’ powertrain and chassis reliability has been steadily going up in recent years.

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7 / 18

Seems like a lot for a European taxi cab

Submitted by fluffy_black_dog

There’s a reason that so many taxis in Europe and Africa are Mercedes (and specifically E-Classes)! They’ve historically been super roomy, reliable and comfortable, and definitely better to drive than alternatives. One time when I was in Munich I saw a Mercedes-Maybach S-Class taxi. Yes, it was beige.

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8 / 18

Will they sell me a proper E-class wagon without the idiotic Outback treatment?

Submitted by krhodes1

In America all that we’ll get is the All-Terrain version of the wagon, at least until the E63 AMG comes out.

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9 / 18

Is one of the options that comes with the car endless coffee to keep you awake from the drab paint color and boring design language?

Submitted by Tritip

No, but it does have bass speakers in the seats and ambient lighting that pulses to the music to keep you awake. I think that Mercedes’ design language is the least boring that it’s been in at least a couple decades, too.

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10 / 18

Where tf is the gear selector and does it come in colors other than “Wet bar of clay”?

Submitted by C. Weeks

As with every other new Mercedes and the previous two generations of E-Class, it has a column shifter. I love column shifters, I think every car needs one.

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11 / 18

[The gauge cluster screen] still bothers me. I actually don’t mind the dash too much, but then the on the drivers side in comes the tack on tablet, that throws off the whole design and makes the thing look cheap.

Submitted by darthspartan117

I don’t mind it in person, but then I rarely get annoyed by a tablet-style dashboard screen. The one in the E-Class is nicely positioned to prevent glare, and it doesn’t get obscured by the steering wheel.

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12 / 18

I’m not a fan of MB’s current interiors. Everything feels bendy, the ambient lighting looks like trash, and the screens are ridiculous. At least here, they got rid of the illuminated sphincter air vents. But just so they could fit another screen.

Submitted by Kickplate

I love the sphincter vents! But I actually love the direction that Mercedes is taking with all of its interiors. I’m into the overall design language, I’m into the screens, I’m really into the ambient lighting. I can’t wait for the next-gen CLA, which will have a pillar-to-pillar screen.

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13 / 18

Ambient lighting in general is not just trash, but trashy. Why make your luxury car look like a strip club?

Submitted by FryCookOnVenus, in reply to Kickplate

I don’t think it looks like a strip club, but it does look like the kind of nightclubs I enjoy going to. (Sometimes they have go-go dancers, but that’s different.)

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14 / 18

Why are the Benz plastics so hollow, cheap and rattle-y these days as opposed to 2011 or thereabouts? Clearly cost-cutting and weight saving, but at the price of quality and reputation, why’d they do it? If you want a Benz, it’s better to buy a used loaded W212 and maintain it than buy the cheap new crap Benz is putting out.

Submitted by Faht Foundation

I can’t speak to the W212 so much, but I didn’t have any issue with the plastics in this car or the Euro-spec E450 I drove last summer. It’s certainly less rattly and better built than the current-gen C300 and GLC300 that I’ve driven, and unlike those cars there’s carpet lining on the center tunnel instead of more plastic lower down.

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15 / 18

Why did you spend this much money on a car with plastic upholstered seats? MB doesn’t even offer real leather in this car!

Submitted by Pete shea

I dunno what you were looking at, but on the new E-Class you can get leather instead of MB-Tex for $1,620, while the fancier quilted Nappa leather costs $2,990. This car has the Nappa, which also gets you a stitched MB-Tex dashboard. And hey, MB-Tex is legendary!

Also, I certainly did not spend my own money on this car, it was just a press loan.

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16 / 18

How are the materials? I thought the outgoing W213 E-Class felt depressingly cheap until you spent a lot of money. With the new E-Class comfortably in the $70K range (for a four-cylinder!!!), does it feel worth it, or could I get nicer materials in a Ram 1500, for the same money?

Submitted by Kyree

My test car had pretty much every option that could dress up the interior materials, aside from Mercedes’ natural grain wood trim with aluminum lines that is really nice. This one certainly felt like it was worth the pricetag to me, and though I haven’t been able to sit in a total base E-Class yet, I think even with MB-Tex seats and the standard dash the materials would feel worth the money. I’m not one who typically moans about cheap plastics in areas that I’d never touch anyway, but for instance every bit of the door panels felt nice to me, and I like how the door pockets are lined.

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17 / 18

My wife and I have a 2022 E350 with a number of the old bells and whistles as part of a lease for her job. We do enjoy the car, though we’re looking at the BMW 5-series for the next go-around (can only choose between E-class and 5-series with said lease).

First, would you recommend this over the current 5-series?

Second, with all the infotainment under glass, how fiddly is it compared to the mostly button-and-switch-driven previous model?

Third, does it accelerate as smoothly as that E450 does? We’ve been disappointed with a bit of a jerky start partially due to the on/off engine, but I hear the ISG really helps against that.

Lastly, how does it compare to the now uber-coupe, the CLE?

Submitted by Like the Sauce

Gonna answer all of these at once here! I haven’t had the chance to drive the new 5 Series yet, but I am a huge fan of how it looks and am really loving the driving dynamics and interiors of BMW’s newest cars. (The 7 Series and iX are particularly excellent.) I’d really have to drive them back to back to make a decision, but I would probably go with the E-Class because I prefer its infotainment, and I don’t think the gas-powered 5 Series is available with air suspension, so the E-Class’ ride would probably win.

I don’t find the infotainment system to be fiddly at all, I actually vastly prefer it to the previous-gen’s more button-heavy setup. The updates to MBUX for the E-Class have made the main menus and frequently used functions simpler and easy to use.

While not as silky smooth as the inline-6 in the E450, the turbo four in the E350 isn’t bad at all, especially now that it has the 48-volt hybrid system. The stop-start is seamless and smooth, but it can be a little slow to kick the engine on if you come to a rolling stop.

The CLE is more similar to the C-Class than it is the E-Class, but sadly I haven’t gotten to drive one yet either.

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