Test drove today...

Currently driving a Ford CMax Energi. It drives great but saw the lease deals with the B-Class, so went to check it out. The car looks great and is more upscale (obviously) than the Cmax, however, it didn't come with some features that are standard on the Ford (rear view camera, power lift gate, homelink, etc.)

The biggest difference I noticed though was driving. It was smoother and faster overall but takes more effort to get going from a stop. Not sure if I'm just light footed but I had to push down quite a bit more on the MB than my Ford. The Ford gas pedal seemed more responsive, however, once it gets going, it's quicker and smoother.

Just curious if others notice it sluggish off the line. The Volt and Energi seem much more responsive.

OTS, eye of the beholder stuff. I usually describe my MB Be as stealth zippy. Someone who studied science can take the weight vs. power stats and do some kind of calculation. However, if it is not MB adjusting their pedal to their preferences, it would physics wise make sense that a heavier car all other things being equal would be a tad less quick off the mark. However, I think it is eye of the beholder.

Some of the other stuff you mention are options which of course gaps the price even more.

I noticed the sluggishness you describe as well when I test drove and when I purchased mine.

You will notice this on almost all the German cars, even the ICE ones. The approach they take with the accelerator is that is must be completely linear. 25% accelerator is 25% of the power from the motor. On most other cars (US and Asian) it is very non-linear. The first 25% maybe 50% of the power. Car makers will actually tune this feel. This makes the car feel quicker off the line. GM cars are particularly touchy with the initial accelerator depression. Any way from a real world perspective it really makes no difference in the capabilities of the car. It just changes the feel of the car and you generally will get used to it. I actually prefer the German approach as it makes it easier to modulate the power in low speed (parking lots etc.) situations.

I think it happens when it's in E/E+ mode. When you are under those mode, it tends to have slow acceleration and sluggishness - nonetheless, it's normal for Mercedes to have sluggishness - I think that's in their DNA. Regardless it's my parent's or other family's Mercedes, unless it's an AMG version, all the sedan showed some sluggishness at the start (or what my parents called "moving in class"). :lol:

There is an intentional lack of sensitivity in the first half of the pedal travel in E mode. You have to rapidly go past the 50% mark if you want it to respond quickly to merge into traffic, etc. However if you put the car in S mode and get into the pedal it will quickly spin the tires. I have even experienced it from a rolling start. While it is obviously not AMG acceleration (my other car is an E55) it is still no slouch once you get used to it.

Awesome, thanks for the information. I'm a pretty conservative driver anyway, so it's not a big deal.

My only concern now is the range (after reading all the reports on this forum), how to make it work for my 50 mile R/T commute and occasional 20 mile client visits in southern California. I have a 110 plug at work I can use for 4 hours, but I might still live with range anxiety.

On a 110V plug for 4 hours you will recover less than 15%. In perfect conditions you would be close but is there any way you can talk your boss/landlord into installing a 220V plug at the office? Mine was willing to put in a 14-50R behind our warehouse area because they had occasionally wished they had one to test equipment. I was sweating with the 110V charger before that.....


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