2012 Mercedes E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid

It is now clear that gas-electric hybrids, while constantly being refined, are simply never going to gobble up huge slices of any major car market. They are needed, sure, but consumers are already wanting to see what's next, what's even more efficient and more technologically advanced. All the new regular hybrids coming out these days don't really create much excitement since their technology is essentially identical to all of the other parallel hybrids already on sale. So, what is going to keep the hybrid passenger car fires burning brightly and market percentage numbers climbing?

Diesel hybrids. Maybe not in the United States for some length of time, but they are starting to arrive in Europe. PSA Peugeot-Citroën has, at last, started selling Peugeot models with the company's HYbrid4 diesel hybrid system and I've personally enjoyed driving them. Besides the enjoyment factor, the efficiency gains are real.

Now I've have a chance to drive this new Mercedes-Benz E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid, and my excitement is palpable because a big mainstream statement like this from a normally conservative Mercedes-Benz is something this movement has needed. Besides the smart thinking behind committing to this effort in general, Mercedes is launching its very cleanly engineered Modular Hybrid System that can now be plunked into nearly any of its models, much like Toyota-Lexus has been doing for years with its Hybrid Synergy Drive system.

 

A chief challenge to creating a viable parallel diesel hybrid system has been overcoming the sheer costs to the buyer. The adage goes: "expensive diesel + expensive hybrid = expensive diesel hybrid." This may be true on some levels, but we seem to have arrived at a point where the costs of scale are finally helping now that more and more joint ventures contribute to lower pricing.

The other issue has been refinement. Between the potentially rougher on-off nature of the high-compression diesel in a parallel hybrid luxury car alongside the desired start-stop function to help save even more fuel, refining drivetrain feel was simply a qualitative challenge. But from what I can tell based on my long drive of a pre-production E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid on both the European flatlands and over several mountainous passes, Mercedes seems to have the situation mostly licked.

As all manufacturers are realizing, they cannot just leave their stock V6 or V8 in the engine bay of their bigger cars, slap on a parallel hybrid system, charge a mess of money for it and call it good. When car buyers go hybrid, they are volunteering to change their performance expectations of their daily driver, and therefore must be more than willing to change their driving style to get the most out of the shift.

Accordingly, carmakers are currently looking through their vast array of sophisticated four-cylinders to help dramatically bring down the counterproductive weight of a big hybrid car or SUV. In the case of the well-executed E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid, Mercedes turns to its 201-horsepower 2.2-liter CDI, known internally as OM651, a powerplant currently seen in many European 220/230/250 CDI models. Versus the E 250 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY T-Modell (i.e. station wagon) in Europe at 4,070 pounds, the E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid T-Modell adds just over 200 lbs. With that weight you get the lithium-ion battery pack, electronic management system and a compact electric motor capable of 25 hp/184 pound-feet of torque integrated with the 7G-tronic transmission.

I managed to hit 44.4 miles per U.S. gallon and was impressed that the fuel needle barely moved.

You also get a potential range from the 15.6-gallon fuel tank of 870 miles. Over my 120-mile drive, I managed to hit 44.4 miles per U.S. gallon and was impressed that the fuel needle barely moved. One tester in our group managed 54.7 mpg but also admitted to "attracting the ire of many motorists" who were stuck following him. You know the frustrating style of driving I'm talking about. So, no, never in your wildest dreams could you hit 870 miles on a tank, but you could hit over 700 miles while driving fairly normally and pollute impressively little in the process. Not bad something as large and lux as an E-Class wagon.

Regarding E-Class wagons in general, for me, they are nigh unto paradise – even just so far as their relative sexiness and remarkable packaging are concerned. The cargo area is the epitome of easy flexibility with a completely flat floor and no intrusion into the space that might give away that this is any sort of hybrid with a lithium ion battery pack to accommodate. Space back there goes from 24.5 all the way to 68.9 cubic feet.

Acceleration to 62 mph is estimated at 7.8 seconds.

The 12-volt car battery has been moved to the rear of the car while the compact 55-pound lithium ion pack is placed to the right in the engine bay up against the bulkhead, thus putting all the "business" end of this deal up front. Using the equally compact 2.2-liter inline four-cylinder engine has certainly helped make this simplicity possible.

Thanks to the use of the 7G-Tronic Plus transmission, this little four gets some legs to cruise on, fifth gear being the 1:1 and sixth and seventh gears stretching out long. Our revs while cruising fast on no-limit sections of the Autobahn never exceeded 4,000 rpm. The tires are standard Continental ContiSportContact 5 – 245/45 R17 99Y – and they are not so hard that the typical Euro road sound shoots through the chassis to the base of one's neck. Acceleration to 62 mph for our chosen E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid T-Modell is estimated at 7.8 seconds and at 7.5 seconds for the sedan.

This is a big success for diesel hybrids and the entire system has an even larger future in store.

Given that the lithium ion pack is small and good for just 0.8 kWh of energy, the pure EV part of the equation is held to around 1,000 yards max and the integrated eDrive motor is good by itself up to 22 mph. Meanwhile, the eDrive cuts out totally at any speed beyond 100 mph. The 35-cell battery pack is constantly recharging due to engine deceleration and brake energy recuperation, but all of these actions are barely felt thanks to the added NVH work done to separate passengers from the under-hood goings-on. The software research done to smooth out the frequent off-and-back-on moments of the little four-cylinder has reached its apex in the E 300 BlueTEC Hybrid, so much so that it wasn't even a point of conversation all day.

This is a big success for diesel hybrids, and the entire system has an even larger future in store. With any luck (in a sense), things will get so bad with the cost of fuels that more people in the United States will be clamoring for hybrid diesels and stop whining so much about paying a premium for a luxurious and clean Mercedes that runs predominantly via a petite four-cylinder.

With well-designed diesel hybrid systems like this one from Mercedes, the hybrid market share might not level off quite so soon.

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Reviewing the Mercedes-Benz E550 Cabriolet

For several years my daily driver has been the F train, and it’s been good to me. Indeed, it’s where I met my wife, Sarah, a twist of fate that led us, in a roundabout way, to the San Francisco airport, where we stood outside the terminal one Sunday last September, waiting for the car we’d be driving on our honeymoon.

I’d managed to keep the car a secret, so this was the big reveal. It appeared from nowhere, as if a wand had been waved: a steel-gray Mercedes-Benz E550 Cabriolet, practically glowing among the dusty airport vans and rental-car shuttles. We stood by our suitcases, gaping like two rubes at a state fair.

From the moment I took the wheel, I knew I was out of my depth. How do you assess a thing so far removed from your everyday experience? Our last rental was a Kia Rio, for Pete’s sake. Besides, I’d be test-driving this vehicle on the Pacific Coast Highway, in pharmaceutical-grade sunshine, on my honeymoon. These are not real-world driving conditions.

Still, I felt some obligation to remain objective about the car. So I came up with a methodology: every time something wasn’t perfectly awesome, I wrote it down. What follows is a diary of petty grievances, any of which could be filed under “Problems, First World.”

DAY 1 We acquaint ourselves with the E-Class cabriolet. Introduced for the 2011 model year, it replaced the CLK convertible in the Mercedes lineup. It’s a four-seater that wears its sportiness in a reserved way, like a light sweater thrown over the shoulders of a country-club wife, with a high waistline that helps to maintain an impression of solid respectability. The front windshield, by contrast, is set at a sharp, racy angle, and the driving position is correspondingly low — the window sill came up to my shoulder, meaning I wouldn’t be able to prop my elbow on the door frame. Isn’t that half the point of a convertible?

Mercedes chose a fabric roof rather than a retractable hardtop, and its three-layer construction damps exterior noise effectively. The interior is black leather with walnut trim and, equipped with a premium package, promises all manner of Bluetooth-era technical coddling. I spend the drive from the airport playing with the 14-way power-adjustable front seat while Sarah figures out the sound system.

And already, a complaint! It appears the Sirius XM subscription has expired, so there will be no “70s on 7” satellite radio this week; fortunately my iTunes library basically replicates their playlist. We find the iPod/MP3 connection, and the system recognizes our iPhones immediately. Crisis averted.

Other complaints: The fruit in the Mark Hopkins hotel’s complimentary honeymoon gift basket was Cézanne-quality to gaze upon — we spent 10 minutes trying to photograph it — but a little hard on the teeth.

DAY 2 We make our first try at putting the top down at the Golden Gate Bridge scenic lookout, and something’s not right. Though I can hear the whirring of a motorized contraption behind the rear seat, the top won’t budge. After consulting the owner’s manual and popping the trunk to examine the underpinnings of the retractable-roof mechanism, I’m flummoxed. Sarah stands by patiently, pondering the prospect of several decades of this kind of thing.

Finally she figures it out: there’s a latch in the trunk that must be locked into place. She pulls it into position, and suddenly the roof unhinges from the front pillars and smoothly retracts. It takes about 20 seconds for the top to disappear into its cubby behind the rear seats, and several more minutes for Sarah to stop gloating.

The next morning we realize there’s no way to lower the roof with all of our luggage in the trunk. We spend the rest of the trip with my wife’s large purple suitcase in the back seat. I can’t speak to the comfort level for rear passengers — legroom would appear to be compromised if the driver and front-seat passenger choose to stretch their limbs — but the suitcase never complained

DAY 3 Here are a couple of tips for your next driving tour of San Francisco. First, unless you’re really willing to upset your fellow tourists, twisty Lombard Street, a k a “the crookedest street in the world,” is not the place to test the limits of your car’s handling. Second, it’s tough to roar Bullitt-style over the city’s hills while also trying to follow Google Maps.

And I have a genuine criticism. When the 7-speed automatic transmission is set to its default Economy mode, the E550 takes a moment to acknowledge a firm foot on the gas. I noticed this first on the drive from the airport to the hotel, and the last two days confirmed it. Each time I try to lead-foot, the 382-horsepower engine seems to pause to ask “Are you sure?” After a half-second it acquiesces with a deep, guttural growl from the 5.5 liter V-8, and a corresponding burst of speed.

In Sport mode that burst is instantaneous, and the difference is that much more obvious now that we’re officially on Highway 1, heading south toward Monterey. The solution is to keep it in Sport mode. You’re on your honeymoon, fool.

It’s only fair to note that I was driving the 2011 E550; the 2012 model features, along with a new transmission, a twin-turbocharged 4.6-liter V-8 that makes 402 horsepower. Still, my lame-duck 2011 Cabriolet is plenty quick, especially when it comes to passing power. After rocketing past four cars on a straight stretch of highway somewhere south of Half Moon Bay, I can confidently estimate that the E550 goes from 45 to 80 in about 3 seconds.

Complaints: We get all the way to Pacifica before realizing there’s no In-N-Out Burger there, and make a 10-minute detour back to Daly City for lunch.

DAY 4 The 17-Mile Drive at Pebble Beach is as visually stunning as promised. What the photos don’t tell you is that a good portion of it smells like a Mrs. Paul’s processing plant. It’s the one failing of the Cabriolet’s AirCap system, a spoiler that rises above the windshield at the push of a button, with a corresponding air dam behind the rear seats. AirCap does an excellent job of reducing wind turbulence in the cabin, but alas it’s not a force field. Next time we’ll bring air freshener.

This leg of the trip poses a serious problem: the deep, winding curves north of Big Sur are the ideal performance challenge for the E550, but those same curves offer breathtaking vistas of the jagged cliffs and rocky shore of the Pacific. The thin metal guardrails separating us from the edge of those cliffs, bent crudely back into shape in many places, are a constant reminder that you cannot enjoy both the road and the view at the same time.

I’d say the E550 is dialed in just right for someone like me, a novice who wants to play helldriver now and then but be forgiven for some occasional overexuberance. You can dive into corners and be cradled like a hammock; the wheels hang tight, not sliding a bit as you accelerate perhaps a little too quickly from the apex of a turn. The steering is responsive without being touchy, and the suspension provides a nice combination of comfort and seat-of-the-pants feel.

Complaints: The Caveman Room at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo is kitschy, roadside-America fun until you try to sleep there, at which point the faux-Stone Age walls become claustrophobic and a little creepy.  

DAY 5 The problem with my Nit-Picker’s Guide to the E-Class is that it can’t account for a day like today, when everything is just about perfect. So let’s substitute a few quibbles about the mostly excellent 2012 model, which I drove more recently in New York.

The smaller, more powerful engine of the 2012 sedan seemed overeager in Sport mode, as if the direct-injection V-8 were in a hurry to prove its extra 20 horses were worth the trouble. It’s hard to say whether this was a characteristic of the new powertrain or of the more leisurely mind-set evoked by the longer, wider sedan. Whatever the cause, with the 2012 sedan I actually preferred driving in Economy mode. The car still lagged a bit in the lower gears, but as it approached highway speeds the E-Class seemed to find its ideal rhythm.

The same could be said of the 2011 Cabriolet, actually. Maybe it’s because we’ve reached a flatter, straighter portion of Highway 1, negating the temptation for me to play with the paddle shifters in manual-transmission mode, but the E550 seems best suited for this kind of casual daylong cruise.

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Slide Show

Summer Lovin’

We approach Los Angeles in late afternoon with Katy Perry blasting from the speakers — a husband quickly learns to make compromises — and somehow this becomes the thing I’ll remember most, driving into Malibu with the top down and the wind blowing and my wife singing along to “Teenage Dream.” I’m iffy on the song at first, but Sarah’s winning me over with an impromptu dance routine, acting out the lyrics and throwing her arms up into the wind, and at that moment I am head-over-heels in love, not just with the girl, but with the car, the music, the ocean, the sunshine, California, everything.

Complaints: It is embarrassing to have a half dozen valets at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel tripping over themselves to help us unload the E-Class. How much do you tip a guy for carrying a pair of sandals?

DAY 6 It’s the last full day of our trip, and I’m already nostalgic. Despite the prospect of a long drive back to San Francisco, we spend the early afternoon curling through Topanga Canyon and along Mulholland Drive, squeezing a last few hours of playtime out of the E-Class. After refueling in Studio City, we get to experience an authentic L.A. traffic jam just before sunset.

I haven’t mentioned mileage because, to be honest, I didn’t keep track of it. For the record, the E.P.A. rates the latest E550 Cabriolet at a mediocre 16 miles per gallon in the city, 25 for the highway, which is actually an improvement over the 2011 model, whose larger engine’s thirst was rated at 15/22. But I’m guessing that, with a list price approaching $75,000 with options, fuel economy isn’t a top concern of the E550 customer.

Complaints: Kitchen worker at Jack in the Box on Interstate 5 south of Bakersfield is seen leaving the bathroom without washing his hands.

DAY 7 After saying a wistful goodbye to the E550 at the airport valet stand, we fly back to New York to resume our regular, pedestrian lives. The harsh reality doesn’t truly set in until we’ve landed at La Guardia, where in the taxi line a dispirited Crown Vic waits, like a yellow pumpkin, to carry us home.

It’s amazing how fast one can become a snob about these things.

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Monday Maintenance Tip: Deep Water & Flooding

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In certain  seasons, it is inevitable that You may be encounter some flood water, either as large puddles on the road, or where a river/stream has burst its banks. If there is no way out except driving through, what can you do?

• On encountering deep water, get out and check the depth. Water which comes above the bottom edge of your door can cause problems with the engine. Water can get splashed up into the engine compartment, leading to stalling.
• If some cars have driven through the water, remember the path.
• Keep an eye out for oncoming traffic and vehicles that may approach you from behind too fast.
• If you are driving in water, drive slowly and steady. Put your vehicle in 1st gear or 2nd gear and maintain a slow, steady speed. You should avoid braking and sudden acceleration.
• If you do stall in deep water, do not try starting engine again, or the water will come into engine through the tailpipe. Get someone to tow you out. If you are unsure of the depth of the water, or if it is moving water, stay in the vehicle and await rescue. Use your mobile phone to call for assistance.

What shall we do after fording the water?

• After driving through a flooded section of road or a ford across a river, test your brakes (whilst still driving slowly) and be prepared to drive them off by touching the brake pedal very lightly with your foot.
• Walk around your vehicle looking for any obvious scratches, bumps, cracks or things hanging off.
• Look underneath the vehicle for stuck-on dirt, mud, grass and bits of debris. If you spot any, wash it off as soon as possible to avoid it causing damage to the undercarriage.
• Check your electrics (lights, indicators, wipers) and if any have failed you must not continue.

If you find any problem, have them checked out as soon as possible.