Executive Establishment
You might just miss it on the road. There is some S Class and there is some C Class in the new car. The Mercedes-Benz E class is the benchmark for most auto makers, who want to produce an Executive full-sized sedan. Going back to the days when the pre-E Class models, the W123 and W124 models plied our roads, and behind the wheel, you could find either a “towkay” or a higher-up executive, the E Class simply appealed to so many.
The long bonnet houses a traditional longitudinal four mated to a very new and advanced 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic transmission, which keeps revs, noise and vibrations low, while maintaining optimum fuel efficiency.
Starting the engine, you will first realise how much attention the engineers have placed into noise and vibration reduction. Revving the 4-cyl reveals very little vibration, thanks to the excellent engine mounts, and interior insulation. There is however, a little bit of roughness during idle, but things smoothen out as you accelerate. Incidentally, anything above 4,500rpm would again reveal some raspy engine characteristics.
The steering column-mounted gearshift lever is easily operated with your fingertips, and drops into drive with reassuring mechanical switch-like feel when pushed. The engine in the E200 is a 2.0 with a light pressured turbo which is able to produce 300Nm of torque from a very low 1,200rpm, meaning that you almost don’t feel the turbo lag when setting off. The century sprint timing stands at an impressive 7.7 seconds, and power delivery comes in smoothly, and never like a kick in the back.
Four drive modes which vary from Eco to Sport+ gives the driver the flexibility of choosing how the E Class delivers the drive. My choice mode being Comfort, road dampening becomes soft, only slightly unsettled over bigger undulations at speed, which very quickly gets arrested by the car’s suspension, and returning itself to the same soft and comfortable ride. Cornering at speed reveals some bounce and roll, while the car decides between giving comfort, and keeping things in place.
In the far extreme of switching to Sport+ mode, reveals very different behaviour. Gears are held on to for a longer time, and the suspension stiffens and drops a few mm with the assistance of the Air Body Control system, providing a firmer ride. Body roll is near non-existent at speed. But the ride is never as harsh as cars which have greater lean to performance, and there is still some good dampening as the car soaks up the bumps. The BMW 5 Series would offer better handling here, albeit generally an overall firmer car.
But where the Merc shines, is in offering such a comfortable ride, with one of the best quality interiors that is in the industry to date.
When driving at night, the smart high-beam system calculates the distance of objects in the path of the car and makes adjustments to how the individual LED lights in the headlamp module behave, and also identify and illuminate road signs, allowing the driver to make decisions and react quicker. While it may sound a little over the top to some, I would swear by the better illumination and in-turn this reduces the likelihood of nasty last moment lane changes, which may pose a threat to other road users.
We are ever so thankful that existing technology would mean that cars are now more efficient, and are able to produce better power and torque figures from smaller engines. The E Class does just that with very well sorted power delivery. Mercedes have also raised the bar with the amount of in-cabin refinement and technology that is currently available. We all know that it will not be long before their German rivals play catch up. But why wait, when you are looking for something plush and iconic? It really has arrived.
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