Mercedes-benz E-class Facelift for luxury saloon includes the addition of more hybrid engine options
Luxury saloon gets a fresh look, new technology and more hybrid engine options On sale August Price from £40,000 (est)
READERS OF MAGAZINES like Hello! and OK! will be used to the idea of a facelift. Every so often, an ageing celebrity will reinvent themselves with a bold new look in the hopes of keeping pace with younger rivals. This brings us neatly to the Mercedesbenz E-class, the current model of which is a grizzled veteran next to its luxury car contemporaries, including the Audi A6 and our reigning champion (and former Car of the Year), the BMW 5 Series.
Like so many Hollywood celebrities, then, the E-class has been nipped, tucked and re-presented to the world with a fresh face.
Aside from a new front grille, all E-class models now come with LED lights as standard and there’s a new bumper at the rear, along with redesigned light clusters. Buyers can choose from a wider selection of paint colours than before, too, and have the option of new aerodynamic alloy wheels to help improve fuel economy.
The upgrades continue inside, where two 10.25in digital screens are now standard, with one given over to the infotainment system and the other to instruments.you can upgrade to two 12.3in screens, but even with the smaller units, Mercedes’ infotainment system is one of the most visually impressive, although previous experience with it in some of the brand’s other models suggests it won’t be as intuitive to use as BMW’S set-up in the 5 Series – especially because inputs are now made via a touchpad on the centre console or the touchscreen, rather than the rotary controller found in the outgoing model.
The E-class’s seats have become pretty smart as well. If you tell the car your height, the driver’s seat will morph around you to a position that should be close to ideal, leaving you to make only minimal nal adjustments.
This updated E-class is also better at recognising your hands on the wheel when you’re using semi-autonomous driving features such as adaptive cruise control with lane-keeping assistance. Previously, drivers needed to make steering inputs to keep the system happy, but now sensors in the wheel detect even the lightest of touches.
Meanwhile, Mercedes is introducing options geared speci cally towards security
‘A new security system can send noti cations to your phone if the car is tampered with’
under the banner name of Urban Guard.the new system can send noti cations to your smartphone if the car is moved, if it detects a break-in attempt or if it’s knocked while parked. It can even tell you which area of the car was hit and how hard.
Although Mercedes hasn’t revealed full engine details for the new E-class yet, buyers wanting to go green now have more options than ever, with both mild- and plug-in hybrid options available alongside conventional petrol and diesel engines.the mildhybrid petrol option, for example, can coast using small amounts of electric power to save fuel and the plug-in hybrids can of cially travel for around
34 miles on electric power alone, which means your entire commute could be completed without using a drop of fuel.
Four-wheel drive will be available on some versions as well.
Prices won’t be announced until closer to the E-class’s on-sale date, but we’d expect a modest hike over the outgoing car’s, starting at around £40,000.The current E-class is already more expensive to buy outright than the 5 Series, but discounts on both cars are substantial. For example, buyers can save up to £10,043 on the current E-class through What Car? New Car Buying.
As with today’s car, there will be an E-class to suit every taste.as well as the saloon, you’ll be able to choose a two-door coupé, a convertible or a spacious estate. There will also be a jacked-up All Terrain estate, designed to appeal to buyers who want the versatility of an off-roader but don’t want to drive a fully edged SUV.