Arguably the Best Car I've Driven So Far

                  The E 250 is really the best car I have driven in recent memory. 

I acquired this car in Jan 2018 and I have had the pleasure of driving it 15 months to date. I can safely say that the Mercedes Benz E 250 7 G Tronics is the best car I have driven in recent memory. This is the 2014 model, but apart from the Park Assist, there is nothing new from this model to the 2019 model. (I may be wrong here). I paid S$ 136,000 or US$ 100,000 in Jan 2018 for a then 3 and a half year old car which had its servicing maintained by Cycle and Carriage or the authorised Merecedes Benz agent. The brand new price in 2014 on the road (including the Certificate of Entitlement) would have been S$ 270,000 or US$ 198,000.

Singapore, as readers from foreign countries who are not aware and will be shocked to find out, is the easily world's most expensive place to own a car. The cost of ownership goes far beyond the price of the car. This similar car in USA brand new will cost no more US$ 70, 000 on the road. 

Petrol (top end) like Shell V98 (with zinc added) costs S$ 2.50 per litre (US$ 1.82) easily 3 times what you would pay in the US$ or in many parts of the Middle East. In addition, there are things called Gantries (constructs over many congested roads)  and a system using Electronic Road Pricing will charge each car (regardless of size or engine capacity) anything from $0.50 to $3.00 depending on time of day - during the morning rush hour there will be literally thousands of cars heading into town so most roads leading into the Central Business District CBD - hence there will be a deduction from the cash card (similar to a stored debit card) mounted on the In Vehicle Unit (IVU) each and every time that car passes under the ERP gantry. Hence a daily 'tax' will be imposed for cars using heavily frequented roads and on average, a daily commute back and forth to office can cost anything from $3 to $6.00 in ERP charges. 

I have stuck to driving cars, out of necessity to ferry family members as well as for business activities.

Back to my Merc E 250, since my acquisition of the car, it has given me (apart from the backup battery for Engine cut-off) zero (nil) problems. One real pleasing aspect is that servicing of the car is pretty inexpensive and there are numerous Mercedes Benz ex-staff providing routine quarterly servicing (if nothing exceptional except oil change  

The 2.0 litre Turbo V6 engine with 207 bhp power is really a speedster on the road, with massive acceleration and only the sports coupes and the likes of the Merc E 63 with 500 bhp in a totally different class.

With the 'low' Certificate of Entitlements or COEs this car 2019 model on the road is about S$ 245,000 or US$ 180, 000. Road Tax for 1 year is S$ 1,200 and Comprehensive Insurance is S$ 1,300 (US$ 1,000).

Features of the car include, electronic adjustable seats, stored preferred seat orientations, climate control airconditioning, predictive control for vehicles or objects which are deemed too close to the front and the on board computer can take over, smooth automatic changeover of gears and 207 bhp turbo acceleration, Man this baby is powerful !!!