15 May 06
When Mercedes's blurb for its exhaustively reworked E-Class eulogises about being: 'More dynamic, poised and assured than before', it prompts another squint at a decidedly mild exterior makeover.
Louvred headlamp eyelids, more assertive grille, remoulded bumpers, tidier rear brake light clusters and LED parking lights might sharpen up Stuttgart's enduring middleweight, but the seventh-generation E-Class is all about extensive under-the-skin surgery.
E was for evolution this time round, as Mercedes has poured its development money and engineering effort into repairing the damage sustained by poor quality, faltering reliability and, horror of horrors, the threat of damaged second-hand values.
For decades - and the E-Class has been around for six of them - cast-iron durability has been a given with taxi drivers racking up mileages in the millions. But major quality 'issues', particularly surrounding electronics, prompted much gnashing of teeth and soul-searching back in Stuttgart.
The 'new' E-Class is the latest manifestation of that, with one senior corporate suit talking about an evangelical 'testing, driving, testing, driving' ethos.
While you might have to be a Mercophile to spot the subtle changes, both outside and inside the E-Class, Mercedes's technicians have replaced and revised 2,000 parts, half of the car's collection of components.
