Top Of The Pops
Updates to Mercedes-Benz’s mid-sized, evergreen bestseller keep it coasting along for 2021.
IF YOUR MEMORY stretches that far back, the predecessor of the car in question here, the Mercedes-Benz E200, was once Singapore’s bestselling car. Not bestselling luxury car or bestselling mid-sized executive saloon, mind you.
Yes, if you can believe it, the number one-selling car of the year on our little red dot – on at least three occasions since the mid-1990s – was the Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
Of course, the cynic in you would be pointing to how those cases are outliers. Broadly speaking, the above scenario happens only when COEs are in short supply and premiums are correspondingly sky-high. At any rate, let’s not take away from the fact that the E-Class in all its guises, from the base model E200 to the frothing-at-the-mouth beast that is the Mercedes-AMG E63, is a damn fine car and thoroughly deserving of claiming top spot when it does.
It really does occupy the Goldilocks zone when it comes to luxury cars. It has a roomy interior, a big boot for golf bags, a plush interior, pillowy ride, decently specced even in entry-level form, reasonably priced (S$279,888) and of course, solid resale value.
Those attributes are all things that the fifthgeneration E-Class, freshly emerged from a midcycle refresh, has. And even more so now that the facelift has given it more accoutrements from a top-drawer kit including a massive freestanding display on the dashboard comprising twinned 12.3-inch screens.
The updated E200 also has a full complement of LED lights front and rear, a 360-degree camera that’s super handy for tight spots and/or parking, an electrically retractable blind for the rear windscreen and soft-closing doors. Its 197hp and century sprint time of 7.5 seconds are decent enough, but the way its nine-speed gearbox slurs shifts, along with its big steering wheel and lazily
The facelift has given the E200 more accoutrements from a top-drawer kit including a massive freestanding display on the dashboard comprising twinned 12.3-inch screens.
geared helm doesn’t make it a very conducive tool for hard driving. But no matter, horses for courses and all that. And in this case, the E200 is a horse that does best when at a gentle canter, with no sudden stabs of the throttle or abrupt movements of the wheel.
On the other hand, if what you’re looking for is a junior S-Class with most of the practicality, comfort and equipment trappings of the flagship product, but without the associated flagship price tag, the E200 hits the spot.
Then there’s its infectious serenity. Driving or riding in the E200 just puts you in a most Zen of moods. And for more? The proof, as they say, is in the driving. And as history shows, many have certainly found its forbears suitably desirable to catapult it to the top of the charts.