Estate Grip

[Alexn]

Hi All,

I have been looking at buying an estate (E220 or CLS) in second hand, I am however wonder of the grip of the Mercedes on rainy and slippery roads and on snow.

I drive often between Glasgow and Dundee and winter is coming ! Hence I am wondering if any of you had experience with heavy rain grip. I have been driving a skoda octavia and a ford mondeo estate and both don't have a very good grip (especially the mondeo) when it comes to heavy rain.


The one I have had a look at so far is the E220 Bluetec Estate SE from August 2015.

Thank you

Alex.

 

[AMck]

Firstly, hello and welcome to the forum

As to your question, it's more about tyres than cars. What make and type of tyre have you been using in the winter? Changing to winter tyres for our cold and wet season will make a big difference to grip. In fact a Mercedes on winter tyres is likely to have more grip than a big 4x4 running low profile summer tyres. I used winter tyres on my SL and was able to easily embarrass a few 4x4 in the snow.

Have a look at a few videos to see what I mean.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vOv2g5qTpvA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elP_34ltdWI

 

[Craiglxviii]

To put some rough numbers on this:

All season tyres give roughly 60% better ride, handling and stopping performance on wet roads vs summer tyres, and about 20% improvement on snow and ice.

Winter tyres give about the same wet performance as all season, but about 70% improvement over summer tyres on snow and ice.

 

[Craiglxviii]

By the way, I have a W212 saloon and it has stupendous grip with the 18" Pirelli P Zero Nero on wet roads. I have a W211 estate that I've not tried out much yet. I will have all seasons put on it asap.

 

[Steve@Avantgarde]

A set of winter tyres is a must in Scotland! My father in law swaps his wheels over in October as a matter of course to cope with the scottish winters. They are in fifeshire. Tyres play a major part in coping with most weather conditions.

 

[Frontstep]

I'm on Michelin Cross Climate, change the tyres before the car its cheaper.

There is usually an armchair Jenson Button who will tell you they can cross frozen lakes on canvas and steel but for us mere mortals who can't overcome the science we change the tyres

 

[range rover]

I have driven an E Class 220 Bluetec, and the MPG on that car is fantastic, I got 58.6 on a 200 mile run. That was a saloon though, the estate won't be far behind.

 

[Alex M Grieve]

Firstly, hello and welcome to the forum

As to your question, it's more about tyres than cars. What make and type of tyre have you been using in the winter? Changing to winter tyres for our cold and wet season will make a big difference to grip. In fact a Mercedes on winter tyres is likely to have more grip than a big 4x4 running low profile summer tyres. I used winter tyres on my SL and was able to easily embarrass a few 4x4 in the snow.

Have a look at a few videos to see what I mean.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vOv2g5qTpvA

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elP_34ltdWI

I entirely agree. Winter tyres just make so much difference in heavy rain, surface water, snow or ice. You just feel so secure on them, you will be reluctant to change in springtime!

On summer tyres in winter, you wont make much progress on an MB estate, but the saloons would be little different, if any.

So it is more about the tyres than the car, as been said, and happily that is the cheaper option.

 

[M80]

I used to swap wheels seasonally, keeping a second set with winters on.
I found that the summers were a similar ride to the winters but actually wore out faster, running winters all year proved to be more cost effective.
Now I don't carry an extra set of wheels, or wouldn't need to pay for a seasonal swap over and still carry a spare set of tyres as an alternative.

Winter tyres are generally mud and snow tyres. 4x4's run these all year and I am doing the same.

 

[John Laidlaw]

I used to run Vredestein wintrac extremes on my 212 during the October- March/April period and they were amazing, never faltered, never stuck and inspired confidence in low temperatures...
As others have said, get a set of winter tyres and you'll be fine
Unlike some others I just use the existing rims on both sets as I just cant stand spoiling the cars look with horrible steel wheels, but that's personal choice.
I've been tempted to put the Michelin cross climates on the SL for a laugh..
I have cross climates on our Galaxy which are just superb...

 

[turbopete]

winter tyres and some weight in the boot. job done.

 

[Alexn]

Hi All,

Thanks for the responses.

Does the automatic gear changing affect in any ways the driving ? and what about the rear wheel drive ?

 

[LostKiwi]

Auto gearboxes both help and hinder. When setting off they help as they change very smoothly and maintain a near constant flow of torque to the rear wheels, but when stopping on a slippery surface it is often advisable to slip the gearbox into N on approach as there is always some forward drive and on icy surfaces that can push the car even though the front wheels are locked.

 

[JBell]

Last time I went Skiing a vast majority of cars had Michelin Cross Climates on rather than full Winters as they strike a better balance.

If it is wet weather performance you want then the Uniroyal RainSport 3 is the best, I use them and am continually amazed by their wet weather performance

 

[LostKiwi]

Totally agree on the RS3s. Even with a 5 litre V8 giving them grief they grip like brown stuff to a blanket.

 

[Rotorhead500]

Totally agree on the RS3s. Even with a 5 litre V8 giving them grief they grip like brown stuff to a blanket.

They steer & stop a V8 quite well too!

OP, I've run a CLS through two winters (on Avon Ice Touring tyres), and it behaved impeccably - including up around Mids & The North (before any wise-ar5e comes back with the usual "winter tyres in Devon?" remark.

On good summer tyres it also was superb in a couple of very, very wet spells.

The C63 has also done two winters on Winter Dunlops (on 19s too), and didn't cause me any grief. Yes, have to behave but why wouldn't you if the weather's cack? In fairness, it unsticks the rears on a warm dry day!

Automatic - just keep it in comfort and it'll pull away in second, helping you. As said above, knock it in to neutral and be progressive with some light braking when facing icy downhill stretches.