15 May 06
In the cabin that extends to a four-spoke steering wheel and new air conditioning controls, while new colours and fabrics provide options to the aesthetically challenging traditional naff black and tan trim combos.
Included in this wholesale renovation are new or modified petrol and diesel engines with greater power and pulling muscle, while the more pragmatic approach to high technology involves abandoning the troublesome, unpopular Sensotronic Brake Control, or brake-by-wire system.
Adaptive braking has been brought in from the S-Class and, while providing much needed tactility, it is also connected to novel flashing brake lights, which can allegedly shave 0.2 of a second from the time it takes someone following to react and pull up. That translates into stopping 5.5 metres earlier, or one car's length.
Without nibbling away at fuel consumption Mercedes's engine-meisters have added power or torque, sometimes both, to the eight engines (the three diesels outselling the petrols.)
The result is a power band stretching from the supercharged kompressor 2-litre petrol with 181bhp, via the 221bhp, V6 (3-litre) 320 CDi diesel, up to the new 5.5-litre V8 E500 (388bhp) petrol and ultimately the 507bhp 6.3-litre AMG monster Benz.
A significant amount of resource has been applied to sharpening up the E-Class's act on the road, with more precise steering courtesy of a 10% more direct ratio, and less tilt and roll.
