Mercedes E-Class is redefining luxury
Words by: Sreejith Nair Photographs from: Flyweel
The All-New Mercedes-Benz E-Class is the Personification of Modern Mercedes Design. The 5th generation E-Class is a lot more than its predecessor. The designers at Mercedes-Benz have done a phenomenal job in balancing tradition and modernity in this piece of art.The car comes with the same curvy design as S and C class with a variant in dimension. This 2017 year model shares the same W213 Platform.
Since its debut in India, Mercedes has sold 34,000 E-classes and that is by far the company’s best-selling model in India. In Europe as well, the new E-class has done exceedingly well and at nearly 100,000 units for the calendar year 2016, it is Mercedes’ third-best selling model in Europe after the C-class and the A-class. However for the first time, it is notthis car that will be sold in India as the new E-class but a car that is currently designed, engineered, made and selling only in the Chinese market. India has already become only the 2nd country where the car is being manufactured and the only country where the RHD version of the car is being made.
EXTENDED WHEEL BASE
The extended wheelbase of E350 D is 5036 mm in overall length which is exactly 184 mm longer than current E-Class. The car is also 205 mm longer than the current model, translating into more than 50 pc rear space compared to the current one.
The wheelbase of the LWB E-class is 140mm longer than the current E-class that is available around the world and 180mm longer than the outgoing E-class in India. This immediately impacts the profile and the sporty AvanteGarde front end does not lend well to the limousine look that the LWB E-class has. The Avant Garde exterior trim line was introduced to add sportiness to the Mercedes range, a look that does not fit well with the stately and elongated look of the new LWB E-class.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
There are the new LED headlamps, each housing a pair of LED strips (a nod to its predecessor), 17-inch multispoke alloy rims, more angular LED taillamps with a ‘stardust’ effect, This Front heavy approach E-class has long bonnet and short rear which makes it look big and spacious. On comparison with the previous E-class, one of the difference comes with the head and tail lamp designs. The car looks really smart with its smooth curvy design lines, a trademark sunroof which adds to the style quotient. For the spacious rear section, the rear quarter glass has been moved into C-pillar, The E-class looks really sporty in its appearance with the 17 inch, 10 spoke light alloy wheels.
WHAT IS IT IN THE INSIDE?
Mercedes are offering two cabin colours at launch: an all black interior with contrast white stitching and silver accents, and a dual-tone beige and black combo. It is well contrasted with silver and chrome trim pieces all over the cabin and comes adorned with ash black open-pore wood trim on the dashboard and door cards as standard. The upper portion of the dashboard houses a large and crisp 12.3-inch COMAND infotainment display and a regular instrument cluster with analogue dials. For the Indian market, there’sno option of a 12.3-inch instrument display similar to the S-Class, although it’s merely eye candy. The COMAND system’s UI is now simpler to navigate around, along with the Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. The extended wheelbase gives unmatched space at the rear which makes the car really spacious and the new seats of this beast can be reclined up to 37 degrees.
The cabin is fully finished in leather and ash wood. The mood lighting comes with a support of 64 different shades. A 12.3-inch display with an audio system of a 13 speaker Burmeister unit with a 9 channel amplifier. The dashboard is wrapped with stitched Artico leather and has a smart analogue clock giving the car a retro touch. The steering comes with two touchpads on either side. The left one controls the 12.3-inch screen on the dash and the right one controls a 7.4 inches display in the instrument cluster area.
DRIVING MODES
Behind the wheel, the new E 350dis actually more fun to drive than I expected. It’s still not as involvingor hardcore as the BMW 530d M Sport, but the E-Class’ drivabilityis biased towards comfort than on road performance. Regardless, there are hair-raising moments when you mash the throttle pedal. After all, the transmission is shuffling 620 Nm of twisting force to the rear wheels; it is capable of sprinting from 0-100 km/h in 6.6 seconds. The NVH is so well tuned that you don’t realise you’re breaking the speed limit unless other cars start to look slow. Keep flooring the throttle, and it can effortlessly touch its top speed of a 250 km/h. The new 9G-TRONIC gearbox has notable improvements over the previous model’s 7G-TRONIC Plus unit, offering better fuel economy as well as quick, butter-smooth gearshifts.
It gets 5 driving modes which vary the settings for the suspension, steering weight and transmission. Economy/ Comfort Mode: Car is tame and well behaved. Sport/Sport plus Mode: Tried to shed its timidness to adopt a more aggressive attitude. Thus the new Air Body Control Suspension system lets the car alter its damping to suit the driving mode selected.
Verdict
“Rather than coming across as an elongated and more sophisticated C-Class, the new E-Class feels like a value-friendly version of the S Class, one of Merc’s most desirable cars ever. This impression will likely hook prospective customers, who wish to experience the essence of a full- edged S-Class at nearly half the price. The new Mercedes- Benz E-Class is a thoroughly impressive car. It won’t just sustain the popularity of the E-Class brand, but will probably take it to new heights. With this iteration, the E-Class has moved closer to the S than ever before and it might even eat into its bigger brother’s sales a little bit. Mercedes isn’t too worried though as the traditional S-Class customers are quite clear about what they want.”
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