Mercedes E250 CDi Cabriolet in White. Got to say hat I am not a massive an of Convertibles, it has something to do with the lack of pollen filters and me sneezing constantly… I had a Megane Coupe Convertible, I think I only managed to get the roof down a few times… So the Mercedes E Class Cabriolet, very impressed. From the moment you sit in the car, your greeted by a series of switches and knobs, all designed to make your chair as comfortable as possible. On the left hand side of the seat, there are various lumber adjustments. On the door, there are electric switches to alter the seat position and even save them. It took a while to find the most comfortable position, but once I had adjusted the seat… God was I comfortable. Under the Nav, there were more buttons and switches; Air Scalf to blow hot air on to your neck, I suppose when the roof was down but it was quite cool out and this option was on most of the time. There was another button, which as far as I could gather blew cold air through the leather seats. I had this on for about two minutes, but as I say it was quite cool outside so didn’t want to freeze my butt off. This car was fitted with the full command system, I easily paired it with my iPhone. I was quite disappointed that the online system wouldn’t work with my iPhone, but the Nav was say to use and I could also stream and control the music from my iPhone to play through the cars stereo. This was further more enhanced by me subscribing to iTunes Match, with access to over 10k songs. This Cabriolet was the E250, fitted with the newish 7 speed auto box. After driving my old C Class Mercedes with the horrible 5 speed auto, I didn’t have my hopes set to high. Especially after my everyday car is the Audi S4 with the smooth Double Clutch gearbox. But overall I was impressed. You get the delay, as per normal torque converter automatics but the gearbox overall was responsive and smooth. The engine was great, very nippy, very refine and great on fuel. The gearbox has 3 different modes, Economy, Sport and Manual. I gave up with the Manual, as the flappy paddles just didn’t do as I said, where as my Audi it’s straight away and really up to the driver. The Mercedes has a think about the gear you’ve just selected and then it’s either a yes or no. The one think I did hate and I’ve said this before about the VW Touareg, it’s the Stop/Start. Just doesn’t work on Automatics. It’s annoying! It cuts the engine at the wrong time, and although restarts instantly when you go to lift the brake, it still makes you nervous when your pulling out of a junction. It does let you switch the system off, but this needs to be done each and every time you start the engine. The ethnology in this car is great, I noticed a video mode on the Comand system. didn’t get chance to check this out but I’m sue it won’t be the last time I drive one of these. The car had DAB radio so I could listen to Radio 1 and Absolute Radio, with the system automatically switching to FM when needed. Overall I was very impressed, so much so I think if given the choice I would actually choose one of these. The whole package that the E Class Cabriolet brings to you is excellent, I think I would even choose the soft top over the coupe, even if I didn’t put the roof down. It was quiet inside, you’d have never have know that the car had a canvas top. For more information on the E Class Cabriolet, or to find out about the Mercedes E Class on Short Term Car Leasing, please click on the link.
Follow Rhys!