Hello Guys i am thinking about changing my current 06 RL for a 2011 E550 V8 4MATIC sports with NAV--PanoRoof, Airmatic suspension, AMG RIM etc. The car is a one owner lease 39,000 miles or a used 2014 Acura RLX Navigation. 6,000 miles...both are within the same price $38,828.

I had the E550 FOR 2 days and love the power quality of the interior and not to mention the V8 which get the same mileage as my current V6.. it's clean inside out... not to mention the ECON button actually saves on fuel.

Has anyone had experience with the German brands?

Thanks

 

Expect regular and maintenance and repairs to be significantly higher than what you are used to driving. I would probably rather pay the repairs on a Benz than own the new FWD RLX though.

 

I have owned a close cousin of the E550 4matic - my 14 CLS550 4matic has seen about 4700 miles since last Oct. Love the twin turbo V8. I am assuming the 2011 E550 has normally aspirated 5.5 ltr so you will escape turbo lag which I have to deal with a little but my M278 should put out more hp and torque ( about +20 and +40 respectively). I really like the Airmatic suspension - the way it is tuned in my CLS, she corners better than in my former SH AWD 2006 RL. Surprised by this but part of it may have to do with the staggered set up and 4matic working well together I guess. I have reached 26 mpg hwy though city driving gets me about 15-16 at best. Overall, I am a happy camper.

Just be aware Comand can be a little clumsier to operate than the Acura nav system. Can be learned, but sometimes I wonder why MB programmed it that way.

Some Merc owners worry that the ECO start stop will eventually kill the starter so some people do not like it. I'm OK with it but I would deactivate in stop and go traffic. So I only get the benefits of ECO when I am at a regular traffic light, not in a jam with lots of starts and stops.

I did not consider an RLX after test driving the PAWS version cos I needed an AWD car and also, I found the styling to be not too appealing. There was something clean, smart and attractive about how my 2006 RL looked and I felt there was no upgrade in moving to a 2014 RLX PAWS.

Good luck in your decision. Let us know how it goes.

We continue to like Acura and its SH AWD through our faithful workhorse MDX.

 

Are you prepared to and can you afford the extra maintenance cost of German luxury? If people think the Acura stealership makes a racket, that's because they haven't owned German. You end up paying for a luxury experience at the dealership, and that cost is pushed back onto you through labor and parts costs.

With that in mind, MB has the best reliability of the three German lux brands. But, you still have to maintain your bulletproof car, and their electronics are still generally less reliable than the Japanese. I think you would do good by going naturally aspirated.

When you are comparing the E550 to the PAWS RLX, there are few things beyond features and size that are comparable. If this were a question about an E550 or SHAWD RLX, I think the debate would be a lot more interesting. In this case however, the E550 wins hands down. BUT, none of that matters if you can't afford it. A Maserati wins over the MB, but for the same obvious reasons, that option isn't on the table.

 

This is an odd pair of choices, like ice cream and gym shoes. These two cars just aren't very similar.

My first reaction is that if you don't need a car, just keep the money. My second reaction is that your personal finances are none of my business. But if you have the scratch and are looking for a fun new toy, the RLX clearly doesn't compete with the Merc, or with dozens of other available choices for that matter.

As the others said, be prepared for the likelihood that the cost of entry won't be all the cost you incur if you go European. Beyond that, I'd encourage you to consider a whole range of similarly priced choices -- there's a whole lot to choose from these days if you've got that kind of money to throw around.

 

i'd would go for a 2012 a6 3.0T.

 

If The E is a wagon, go for it. Otherwise, wait for the RLX SH-AWD.

 

I have a friend who has a 2012 MB SUV. It's very nice, but she's always in the shop. Nothing major, just a lot of electrical gremlins. She also purchased the car used, luckily most of the issues were fixed under warranty (which transferred), but still not a pleasant experience.

I test drove a 2009 Lexus LS460. Now those are nice and probably priced the same depending on the mileage. It's like a living room on wheels if that's your thing. It's fast, or it felt fast due to the V8 and the build quality, at least from what I could tell from that short jaunt, was superb.

 

I'd get the MB. The RLX PAWS does nothing for me. the eSHAWD one is a much better comparison

 

That benz will cost you a lot more to maintain, however the style is much better than the RLX.

 

lets say the HP is the same on both cars would the fact that the MB has the V8 mean its still quicker? than Hybrid RLX?

 

Dunno what the 0 to 60 times were for the 2011 E550 5.5 ltr but the 2014s with the twin turbo 4.7 ltr are declared at around 5 sec by MB. Tuners think MB is under declaring hp and torque so it could be somewhere under 5 sec. I would see what you can find on edmunds.com for the 2011 and wait for Acura to release a SH SH AWD RLX 0-60 time to compare. Would not discount a V6 with hybridmotor boost to a V8 cos it is all about how the two forms of power work together. Have you seen the numbers for the BMW i8 ? And that is a 3 cylinder.

 

HP has very little to do with 0-60. In general, torque is utilized at the lower RPMs and HP at the higher RPMs. If you need to maintain or increase high speed, then you need HP, but to accelerate from a start, all you need is torque.

The 2011 E550 has 391 ft*lb. The RLX hybrid should be in the 370 ft*lb range. Both cars will get up and go with little effort, both should be able to break 60 mph in 5 seconds or less, and both should be equally fast. The (secondary) goal of the RLX is to give V8 power with V6 fuel economy and mid-size nimbleness. The RLX hybrid should be able to go toe-to-toe with any other mid-size lux sedan and hold its own. The power is there, the features are there, and the fuel economy is icing on the cake.

 

As others have pointed out, apples vs tomatoes(is it really a fruit?).
MB hands down over the PAWS RLX in this race.
eSHAWD is another matter but $25-30K higher price.
If you go MB, I'd suggest extending the MB warranty, maintenance is high, non-waranty repairs are insane!
The E class is a solid choice but, there are a gazillion on the road

 

Supposedly MB is changing up their CPO and warranty deals. I read in Car Talk you can extend the factory warranty 3 years and CPO is limited by time, not mileage.

 

No matter what, longer term maintenance costs when not covered by warranty are VERY high with Mercedes, but if you are used to that already, it may be possible. It is a very different world from Acura however.

Just tread cautiously and if you do go MB, make sure to have the best and most comprehensive warranty coverage possible, if not maintenance as well, as day to day oil, tires, etc. costs when at dealer are much more expensive as well. My previous Mercedes clients repeat every single time "each service I used to wonder if they were gold plating the engine or just changing my oil...it cost so much, and there was never a reason why". Then when things go wrong they do cost a lot afterwards.