Category: Executive 
Price Range: £29,324 to £68,409
Refined, quick and prestigious; excellent new diesels; relatively low fuel consumption and emissions.
Rather conservative, not a sporting drive.
The consummate executive all-rounder, now more fuel-efficient and better value for money.
While not as aggressive or as edgy-feeling as a BMW 5-Series, the E-Class isn't as dull as its detractors suggest. Handling is sharp, the steering is well-weighted and the suspension is taut but not uncomfortable.
There's a good selection of gearboxes: entry-level models get a new six-speed manual, four-cylinder models can be ordered with a smooth five-speed auto 'box, and six- and eight-cylinder versions get the 7Gtronic seven-speeder, with slightly awkward steering column-mounted gearchanger lever, US-style).
Both auto gearboxes have a sequential-shift mode and selectable sport/comfort modes, but they perform so intuitively that you may as well leave them to do their thing. Ratio changes are perfectly timed and almost imperceptible.
The UK's best-seller will be the E220 CDI diesel (170bhp/295lb-ft) that does 0-62mph in 9.2 seconds. This four-cylinder engine is so beautifully quiet, unstressed and strong mid-range that the E250 CDI (204bhp/369lb-ft) seems rather an indulgence - let alone the V6 E350 CDI (231bhp/398lb-ft).
Few British buyers are expected to pick the petrols. The V8-engined E500 (387bhp/391lb-ft, 0-62 in 5.3 seconds) is certainly out of tune with the current culture. Speed freaks can hang on for the E63 AMG if they must; otherwise, the most appealing petrol option is the direct-injection E200 CGI (184bhp/199lb-ft), giving an extremely creditable 0-62 time of 8.7 seconds yet returning well over 40mpg and remaining fun to drive. Its stop-start system is fuss-free and unintrusive.
The only problem with the driving experience is the bewildering - and sometimes annoying - array of new aids, which include a driver alertness warning, pulses through the steering wheel if you drift out of lane, red triangle warnings if you get too close to the car in front, flashing lights on the door mirrors if there's a car in your blind spots (optional), and all sorts of new signs, symbols and cues which pop up on the dash display. Still, most of these can be turned off.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes E-Class Estate
wrote on 05 10 2007