Getting older is something that has a nasty habit of catching me by surprise.
Through the 90s, when Mercedes was going through it’s drab design phrase, I felt Mercedes’ – in particular the E-Class – were for very old and very dull people.
And even though driving the old-shape E-Class was a pretty smooth experience, it impressed me more in the way having lunch with a fat Barrister does. Pomposity and girth both amuse me in small doses.
Whereas the current E-Class impressed me in the way I imagine rowing with Steve Redgrave would. This E-Class feels like an Audi-beater; it’s cool and the class of the field without being flash.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy driving it anywhere as near as much as I did. The test car’s spec is an eye-brow raising £40,000 when new, yet it felt worth every penny.
It has a neutral handling balance, smooth automatic gearbox and even smoother torque curve. All of which means that you can cruise along the motorway, or thread through country roads, with equal ease. Driving this E-Class in any condition is effortless.
The leathers are all high-quality, soft-touch. The seats and driving position were superbly comfortable. The controls and read outs are all classic Mercedes – so understated they border on austere.
Which sums up the dichotomy of the modern E-Class. Because its styling is subtle, so as not to put off the silver-haired buyer, it is easy to dismiss it as: austere, flabby, sober.
But take a 3.0 litre diesel in a Sport trim like the test car for a drive and you will find that it is anything but sober. It is a match for a BMW 5-Series in terms of driver enjoyment. Or drive it back to back with an Audi A6 or A5, and realise that the Mercedes just feels that little bit more assured and commanding.
The Mercedes E-Class is the best executive saloon in the market at the moment and surprisingly for a man that has only bought sports cars for the last 10 years, I would rather like to own one. So is it that I am getting older, or that the E-Class has now been built to appeal to the ‘younger Executive’?
Probably a little of both.
What’s the market like?
Mercedes E-Class prices have long been settled. This luxury saloon, as it seamlessly moves from one version to the next version evolves so smoothly that depreciation is perfectly reasonable and very predictable. But the thing at this level is, even relatively small depreciation in percentage terms adds up to several thousand pounds.
A nearly new 350 CDI BlueEfficiency Sport, with just a few thousand on the clock, bought at a considerable saving over the new price, can still lose £17,000 over the next two and half years to its first MOT, which will be a great time to buy.
By MOT time you can pick one up for just £19,000. Which makes me feel ever so slightly tingly; the E-Class gives you an incredible amount of Executive gravitas for not much money at all.
Summary
The definition of an Executive saloon. Check the dictionary if you don’t believe me.