Muscular Merc is one great estate

E400d has power and space to spare

THIS week we have something for the traditionalist. A good old-fashioned estate car.

We Brits have had a soft spot for estates for decades and still buy a lot of them despite the fact that the SUV has taken over as the de facto family car. Usually an estate car performs just as well as its saloon parent with similar performance, economy and handling. You just get a lot more space for not a huge amount more money over the saloon.

Years ago I wrote that if I had to have one car for the rest of my life it would be a Mercedes-Benz E-Class estate. Having spent a week in the new Merc E400d I’m even more sure.

The model itself is not brand new but the engine is and it’s a belter – a 3.0-litre straight-six diesel with a pair of turbochargers. Its output is a very strong 340bhp with an even more impressive 700Nm of torque.

The official fuel consumption figure is 46.3mpg and you’ll get very close to that because the engine is rarely having to work hard. In fact, you’d probably find it tough to better that figure in the

lower-powered E220d. The car’s 155mph top speed is irrelevant but you’ll find the exceptional 5.1sec 0-62mph acceleration handy for overtaking.

The engine itself is exceptionally well insulated from the passenger compartment so that even at idle you can barely hear it. It drives through Merc’s trusted nine-speed automatic gearbox which also helps keep things quiet