• Mark Musutu THE Mercedes Benz E Class has been a definitive car for decades. As far as I can recall, the E Class was probably the most successful Mercedes Benz.
It was followed by the W 210 with four Porsche/Jaguar-like round lights. These evolved into the four rectangular lights face which is the current platform, then was facelifted to the W212 or the 2017 E Class.
The new E Class has made history as the most expensive facelift ever. There are so many changes that it is almost all new.
In technology based markets, the battle to the top is fierce, let alone to be competitive. The 2017 E Class is the second facelift, this time ditching its boxy orientations and taking on strong family resemblance.
As I recall the past E Class urban legends, I realise that it’s not the first time for Mercedes to have strong family resemblance. It had such resemblance in the 90s. These included the then-newly introduced C Class, the chunky E Class (V-Boot) and the abnormally large S Class. The E Class is the best all round Merc because it has the sophistication of its big brother the S Class and the economy of its small brother, the C Class.
It is clear to see that the S and C Class have been a huge success and Mercedes has entrusted this design theme with the E Class, obviously riding on S and C Class success.
The resemblance is so strong, at first sight I thought it was a C Class. Taking a closer look, you will see the headlamps echoing four lights as per E Class tradition – it has four daytime running lights, this is how you can identify it if you don’t read its label or don’t manage to judge its size. The E Class is slightly bigger than the C Class and slightly smaller than the S Class. The C Class is a hit to me, a marvel on the road. It’s a very well executed design, nothing in its class comes close in terms of appearance. On this legacy, the E Class is sure to succeed.
With the onset of the autonomous driving fray, Mercedes is gearing for this and all its design coherence is pointing in that direction.
The interior is very refined and spacious with high attention to detail. You can see effort was put into perfecting even the most trivial things; for example, when moving the aircon vents to point in your direction, the louvers feel heavy and smooth, very different. The vertically oriented dash echoes cues of Benzes of the past, it’s a very retro interior, just like the C and S Class.
The interior is a mix of refined leather, polished aluminum and refined wood. You can see signatures of attention to detail in the buttons and knobs, and you can also see precision and refinement in the dials and clusters.
The E-Class comes with a choice of high-end Burmester sound systems, both of which use some structural members of the body as passive speakers. The more expensive sound system has 23 speakers and 3D sound staging. You are totally in charge in this car, you can even dictate the mood of the occupants thanks to a 64 colour spectrum ambient lighting.
Mercedes claim this is the most intelligent car on the road today, it is even more loaded than the S Class and is likely to be a cannibal of the S Class (in terms of sales) and it goes on to rival only Tesla in terms of intelligence or autonomy.
I feel it takes a level of trust before you can really depend on its autonomy, and that takes some getting used to. Standard equipment includes the coffee-cup warnings of attention assist; a new pre-safe sound that emits a distinct frequency if the car senses an imminent accident; forward-collision warnings with automatic braking and a rearview camera. The automatic-braking and steering features of the E Class have been expanded to operate at higher speeds, or even to apply the brakes if the driver doesn’t recognise the approach of cross-traffic and the car will add torque to the steering system if it detects a driver making evasive manoeuvre.
These systems work well enough to consider them a net benefit. They demand the driver play an active role by gripping the wheel every 20 to 30 seconds. They are not flawless, not yet: In at least two instances, the system either couldn’t detect a faded white stripe or couldn’t detect anything at all, and stopped engaging its adaptive cruise control. Despite that, we are far above mere cruise control here; the E Class can drive almost entirely by itself at highway speeds.
Other new functions spun off of this technology include the ability to self park and move itself out of a parking space, solely through a smartphone app; hardware that emits and receives data about nearby vehicles and obstacles and could one day help to avoid accidents; and a trigger for the front seats to inflate a seat bolster, shoving the passenger almost about 7cm away from a potential point of impact.
The new E Class is as silent as any Mercedes and has that traditional or trademark feel of an oil smooth ride, though its settings can transform it into a different car: It can feel slow and refined and it can feel peppy and stout, it can feel less responsive and it can turn into an AMG sprinter. Any of the systems with adaptive controls suspension, steering, transmission and throttle can be combined to a set of drive modes, from comfort to economy, sport and sport+. If you don’t fancy any of the above settings, you can even customise the settings.
The E Class sedan comes with just a single drive train. It pairs a 2,0-litre turbocharged inline-four with 241 horsepower and 273 pound-feet of torque to a nine-speed automatic, with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.
It’s not a bad sprinter especially in sport and sport+, but I expected more from Mercedes. I won’t blame it though, considering it’s the best two-litre I have ever driven, though it seems to labour when pressed hard.
Bigger engines are soon to follow; I can imagine the E 320 and the E 500 set to its sport+.
The E Class also offers a choice in suspensions, between a steel multi-link setup with adaptive dampers (in base or sport tune) and an air suspension with adaptive dampers and its tire sizes range from 17 to 20 inches.
At present, the E Class is a cat among pigeons against rivals like the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Lexus GS, Jaguar XF and Cadillac CTS, and it definitely looks a lot better.
Mercedes seem be bracing for more tech improvements. The E Class even seems to be climbing up the ranks to take on the S Class segment, as the S Class as well climbs higher into ultra lux territory. It comes from a very accomplished legacy and lives up to it. Not only that, it oozes with Benz charisma and has raised the bar, as ever. Anyone who has driven one on a Saturday afternoon with the sunroof open will know what I mean.
