Faults:

Front LH wheel bearing had to be replaced at 167,000 miles. ABS/ESP lights came on after this. It was only a broken ABS switch. No other faults.

General Comments:

Comfortable, smooth, quiet ride. Pristine inside and out. Always select Drive position and rarely select lower gears (engine does it by itself when needed). Carefully driven and looked after: no excessive speeds or heavy braking, washed and waxed regularly, towels over windows when frosty, oil and water topped up, tyre pressures kept up. I expect to keep the car for about another 5 years, or until anything major makes it uneconomical to fix (current estimated value is around £600 - 27.01.24). Not a thirsty engine. My dream car.

Faults:

Turbo blew a pipe twice.

Alternator died.

Radio antenna enhancer died (no RDS, no remote locks).

Rear window spray jet died.

Navigator screen worked only intermittently.

Lower control arms had to be changed.

Automatic boot cover (station wagon) died twice.

Interior started to show abnormal wear and tear; for example b-pillar cover fabric wore so thin it ripped. Light beige artificial leather was pretty, but surprisingly prone to tearing. I'd like to point out, that none of my car interiors (2x Merc, Volvo, Ford, BMW, Peugeot etc. etc.) before or since has been so weak.

General Comments:

A very nice car to drive, comfortable, a very nice engine which felt even stronger than it actually was. Mercedes 5 speed automatic gearbox is a legend and for a good reason, it is very smooth. Harman-Kardon sound system is a bliss. Very good seats. All in all, a near-perfect long distance cruiser.

Back seat was surprisingly cramped for a car that size. Boot was not massive either. Both previous and following E-Class models are much roomier.

Build quality was surprisingly low, and we had quite a bit of problems even though I was the second owner and the car was purchased via a Mercedes-owned Nearly New Car center, so the mileage was most likely correct, and the car had been serviced according to the schedule.

The service costs if done by dealer are very high. OEM parts are very expensive. This does not seem to result in an especially high quality product, though.

My third Mercedes, and most likely the last - at least for quite a while. A moderate disappointment.

Faults:

Nothing, except some "clicking" sound coming from back seat. Will ask dealer to fix it during the regular maintenance check.

General Comments:

All my previous cars were petrol, so I was a little bit afraid that diesel will be slow and noisy. This car is extremely quiet and has better acceleration than my previously owned Opel Omega V6 2.5L. Average fuel consumption is 8,6 liters per 100km, and I drive only within the city, with it's traffic jams.

Car is very comfortable, it's Avantgarde version equipped with everything needed to make driving a car a real joy. Seats are comfortable, my first car of more than 10 I owned, where I can drive for hours, and get out of the car without any back pain, as it was with my cars before. Factory sound system has very good sound, and quite good performance - if you are not a hi-Tech sound maniac it will be more than enough.

So far, looks like this is true, that MB made a lot of work with improving their cars quality - nothing went wrong with this car. It gives everything you can expect from this class MB - excellent value for money, and comfortable and quiet ride.