Mercedes E-Class (2006-) Review

Comfort and Equipment

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This is an extremely comfortable car, thanks to its exceptional ride, space and superb seating: however, the ride quality is slightly let down by the occasionally excessive firmness of the steel-sprung versions around town. Models with Airmatic DC suspension - an option on all but the E 500 and E 63 AMG - have three settings, serving a pillowy urban ride on their softest setting, a good, supple compromise in the middle position and a sportingly firm set-up for hard, high-speed driving.

Up front, the E-Class scores not only for its extraordinary spaciousness, but also the exceptional adjustability of the seats and steering column - very few cars offer so much scope for tailoring your driving position. Rear room is good but not great - Mercedes being careful to preserve the need for the bigger S-Class - but the boot is impressively spacious. The rear seats fold neatly for long loads, too.

One recommendation for the estate is the optional loadbay Easy Pack system. This sees the boot floor fitted with pair of deep-set grooves for a set of aluminium stoppers to allow odd-shaped objects to be locked in place. A retractable nylon band locks onto the side of the boot so bottles and cylindrical objects can be strapped in securely. And as a final touch, the tailgate has electric power opening and closure as standard - useful when your hands are full of shopping bags or children.

Standard equipment includes plenty of active and passive safety equipment, as well as automatic wipers and headlamps, alloy wheels, climate control, electric windows and single CD player. Although we'd recommend against doing so (for the reasons stated in Running Costs), it's very easy to add thousands to the list price by going overboard on the options list. For example, on the audio front there's a harmon/kardon LOGIC 7 surround sound system (£510) that offers seven output channels pumping 420 watts out through 12 speakers; plus an iPod interface kit that means you can plug your little magic white box in the glove compartment and control all the functions from the buttons on the steering wheel.