Owner Review: A car with spirited handling and peppy throttle response - My Mercedes W212 E200

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Basic information about my car

Mercedes W212 E200 (manufactured in 2010, registered in 2011), approximate RM290k

Reasons why I bought this car

1. THE 3 POINTED STAR

2. Family car

3. Comfort

4. Not a fan of SUV's

         (^ dad's reasons)

Car Selection Process

• I had a budget of RM300k

• Model(s) that I have considered include: none

Reasons why I chose this car:

While this is not my car per se, I'm currently driving it away from home (with my parent's permission of course!) My dad bought the car after selling his previous car (E200 W211). He wanted a replacement as the only other car at home was a Naza Ria which was too cumbersome to daily drive.

A bit of history prior to this car, my dad has owned the infamous S-Class W220 followed by an E-Class W211 (both bought brand new) with the S-Class suffering from a myriad of problems and the E-Class racking up over 200k km in 3 years during his work. This warranted a new car and when he traded in his w211, the 2nd hand car dealer recommended a recond W212 from the UK. Although initially hesitant to avoid making a hasty decision, after a 2nd viewing and test drive, he was sold. The looks, comfort, and in case you haven't realised, that 3 POINTED STAR.

User Experience

• I have already done 20,000 km

Since the purchase, my thoughts about the car are:

The E200 is powered by a 1.8L turbocharged 4cyl with an output of 184Hp and 270Nm of torque though I'm sure that figure no longer stands as the car is a decade old now. Still, it provides sufficient power for daily city commuting and cruises well on the highway with enough power to overtake at high speeds. I won't lie, I say sufficient but it still eats at my mind that the higher output e250 which produces 204hp still uses the same engine and a simple stage 1 ECU remap could bump the car to around 250hp but I digress.

Since before I was able to drive till driving it now, I still love the looks of this car even though it's already 10 years old (quite a timeless design imo). Interior wise, it's a UK spec car and an early model year so it was quite bare with no full electric and memory seats, no interior mood lighting, and no Bluetooth audio streaming (although Bluetooth calls were available). Maintenance is relatively low cost as well (for a continental car) with no major problems, only the usual wear and tear replacements. 

Things to note/changed on my car include:

• Headlamp low-beam +high beam convert to LED RM8xx

• Android headunit from DMP cardesign RM3xxx

- original 

• Steering wrap from Aliexpress RM1xx

• Floormats from aliexpress RM2xx

• Engine mounts x3 (can't remember price RM1k<)

• Stock speaker to Maestro from Elegance Audio (stock speakers cracked last year)

• Plastidipped rims as they were scuffed and I wanted to try on something new

Pros & Cons

Pros

1. Comfortable

2. Sufficient power for day-to-day driving

3. Reliable

4. Fuel efficient (avg 10-11km/l)

5. The heft of the car when driving and closing doors

6. 5-speed gearbox more reliable than newer 7 speeds

7. Helpful online communities (FB groups etc.)

Cons

1. Some minor wear and tear and failures (it's no Japanese car)

2. Servicing can cost around RM1k

3. UK spec car

4. 5-speed gearbox could be more refined (later models used 7speed but were less reliable)

5. Not the most agile of its competitors (I assume)

6. Interior quality has some squeaks on the dash metal trim when pushed (so I don't)

Ratings

• Total Score: 4

• Performance: 4

• Quality & Features: 3

• Space: 5

• Ride Comfort: 4

• Fuel Economy: 4

• Price & Cost: 4

Summary

Dad bought the car in 2010, I only started driving it recently but it's still one hell of a car to drive. It definitely wouldn't blow your mind if you were looking for a car with spirited handling or peppy throttle response. Call me old (I'm 23 btw), but this car can have me wanting road trips or cruising an empty road at night. You can find lots of w212's on the used market right now for under a 100k but no matter how reliable a car is, a used car is only as good as how it's owner treated it. Otherwise, I wouldn't hesitate to pick one up myself when I'm older.

Interesting events that happened to my car

When the engine mounts were worn, the car would vibrate and give off a really low pitched sound when changing gears from 2-3, we went to check it out at a famous workshop (not our usual place, but I convinced my dad to go) which claimed it was a gearbox issue and required a swap totalling to around 10-15k. Instead, my dad decided to get a 2nd opinion at our usual place and the moment the foreman sat inside and took it for a spin, "engine mounts la, not gearbox this one" he said. So our bill ended up a digit less than initially thought. Always get your 2nd opinion when it's something really significant, be it cars, medical treatments, or life itself, then reflect to see if it makes sense.

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