04 Dec 06
Unless you spend your weekends on railway station platforms clutching a notebook, you really don't want to know the full extent of the E-Class range. It's unbelievably huge. Let's make it simple by saying that there are three trim levels. The Classic has climate control, wood trim and cruise control. Elegance adds some chrome, a leather steering wheel and an automatically dimming rear-view mirror. Top of the E-Class heap is Avantgarde spec, with ultra-bright xenon headlamps, part-leather seats and dazzle-reducing glass, plus extras like automatic gearboxes and full leather.
Starting at the bottom of the petrol pile there's the 200K, a supercharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre engine, joined over the years by a bunch of V6s: 240, 280, 320 and 350. At the top end are the V8s in the shape of the 500 and the more powerful E55 AMG. To balance it all up are the CDI diesels, the 220, 270, 280 and 320. And from late 2003 you could get the majority of these models in estate format, including the alarmingly rapid E55 AMG.
There was a model upgrade in 2005, when new engines came in ready for the next model - the 2006 car, which looks very similar but in fact has many changes under the skin.
