Why I chose the Mercedes W212 E400 as my perfect forever car

The E400 is an unknown and unloved model since it doesn't have any AMG badging.

BHPian utkarshmohan86 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Forever is perhaps optimistic, given you have to pay a small fortune to renew car permissions every 10 years. But let's not lose the forest for the weeds.

The genesis of this thread is my decision to retire from the corporate world at 37 so I can do my own thing. Yet

• I am a crazy petrolhead with a thing for German supersaloons
• I live in Singapore, the most expensive country in the world for cars
• The kicker, we need two cars since my wife is a Realtor who needs one for her job.

How does this compute? Is it even possible? What is this two-car portfolio?

The good news is that I did manage to figure out the solution. The low-mileage 2014 W212 E400 in a beautiful Indigo Blue is one part of this portfolio. The other, I will cover later.

The video goes into more detail where I outline the reasons, but in summary:

1. The W212 generation is probably the most reliable of the modern Es (post the W124). Its angular almost old-fashioned facade with quirks like foot-operated parking brakes isn't everyone's thing but I love how it throws back to what I thought Mercedes was in my childhood.
2. The E400 is an unknown and unloved model since it doesn't have any AMG badging. The 535 for example is much more sought after here and Mercedes owners usually want the comfortable, low-road tax E200 here in Singapore
3. Lastly I detest screens and gadgets. The smartphone-ization of new cars over the last five years or so has really turned me off honestly. The W212 is the perfect blend for me with a very analogue vibe yet with necessary modern features (mainly Bluetooth, a good automatic gearbox, paddle shifters and a proper modern twin-turbo engine)

Some pictures here. This first post is mainly on how the needle of early retirement in Singapore as a petrolhead was threaded. I will provide more updates on the car (which we have had since last year August) shortly. It has, fingers crossed, been bulletproof so far. We got it at about 60K km and have done about 9K on it. It has been the wife's car doing duties as she peddles property across Singapore and has been just perfect for those duties.

In case you have noticed, the car has been lowered by the previous owner. My plan is to decide on whether to return it to stock, once we have secured the permission for the next 10 years. This permission (COE) price in Singapore has been varying wildly so if it goes too high, there is an off chance it won't make financial sense to renew it. We'll see. Fingers crossed.

More to come.

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