German Car Zone

Not really at all.did u drive the V8s and V12s? the only weak link is the V6s and they'll be replaced other than that MB pretty much has the strongest engines lineup.

Most of the people buying these cars do so for comfort and luxury, not raw performance.

The "old" 3.2-l V6 in our Mercedes E320 is a bit "loud" when you drive aggressively, but when you drive in a normal and easygoing manor it isn't even audible.

All these magazines obviously drive the cars aggressively, hammering the engine at every occasion. Obviously the engine will be "noisy". That's clearly not how the people who're interested in this car generally drive.

And for those that want more power, they can easily go for an E550. Someone shopping for a Mercedes E-Class easily has enough dough to upgrade to an E550. The only reason they're going for the V6 E350 is most likely because they're not really interested in raw performance but want to experience the cars luxury features etc.

Also, Mercedes doesn't do the whole "ultra-quiet" stuff that Lexus strives for. A Mercedes is generally a very quiet and isolated car on the inside, but not as extreme as a Lexus. Some people care about that, others don't. It's not a big deal IMO.

Good post Christian. I'd also like to point out that the whole magazine review comments thing about aspects of a vehicles performance, like noisy engines, overall quietness etc, is very, very subjective. It's about as useful as saying, 'this car feels so much faster than X'

The measurements don't lie, and sometimes Autocar, or Car and Driver US will provide the actual Db A weighted decibel levels, and it is surprising how often they are very close in reality, - to the point of say 1db, which is where you might (?) just perceive an audible difference - despite the claims for night and day differences often found in reviewers (subjective) comments.

As always with cars, there are perceptions, subjective opinions, myths and facts.

Best

Jon...

Normally people won't notice the differences in noise level under 2 db.

Come one, you know that's not true.

MB has a history of making successful and impressive engines. Just because they don't win as often as BMW on Wards doesn't mean anything. Wards, like everyone else, has their biases (in the form of judges, engineers etc.).

I don't understand why people are bashing the current V6 engine. It is one of the most advanced V6 engines on the market today. It has variable intake length, variable cam timing on both inlet and exhaust valve, active tumble flaps inside the air intake, now with direct fuel injection. I don't think MB engineers have drop the ball on the V6 engine.

The rules and theories of designing I.C engines are well known to all engine designers, it is a matter of balancing what you want and what compromise you are willing to have, and the design constrains that is imposed onto the engineers. I am 100% sure those MB engineers are capable enough to design a killer V6 engine, even with their relative lack of experience, but they don't always get what they want. For example the optimum angle for V6 engine is 60°, however due to cost reasons and ease of manufacturing MB chose to have a V6 engines with 90° between the banks of the cylinders. It is because the basic engine architecture is shared between the V6 and the V8 engine, and the optimum angle for the V8 engine is 90°. So MB chose to compromise the design of V6 engine for the sake of the V8.

Personally I don't have any problems with the current 3.5 V6 engine. It idles smoothly and it is extremely quiet. You can hardly hear it when it is cruising. It does become a bit loud when you are really accelerating but it remains smooth. It is a lazy engine with a wide torque band, which is perfect for normal city driving. The engine suits the purpose of the car.

I know this is the 316hp version and I know it comes with a deliberately sporty exhaust note, but please, just listen to that metallic wail at high revs!

This is nothing other than the sound of a true V6 engine. The fact that it is fitted to a Mercedes is even more impressive.

While i love that version of the 350 engine i really don't think it suits the comfy nature of an E or S but it definitely should make it to the C-Class IMO.

I have had my E350 V6 for almost 4 happy years now and I can tell you that it is a quiet engine, it does have some punch when pushed hard and you can hear it, but it responds quite nicely and meets all my needs for power when I need it and it can accelerate quite swiftly, plus the 7 speed tranny shifts smoothly and almost imperceptibly...nice!! The V6 provides a good balance of fuel economy and is just what is needed for daily driving.