The Mercedes Class E goes under the knife after 4 years of career. She gets a few touches of makeup and, more importantly, she equips herself with new onboard technologies and light hybridization.
While crossovers seem to take all the big titles, the Mercedes E-Class remains a safe bet, especially for the star brand! Since its introduction to the market, more than 14 million have passed. It’s simple: the E-Class is Mercedes’ most popular model! In short, so as not to miss the boat, all its variants receive a mid-career update.
Make-up touch-ups
Despite Mercedes‘ explanation, we get lost a bit in the novelties so the ranges differ. Yes, the three finishes (AMG Line, Avantgarde, and Exclusive) benefit from their own bumpers, grille, and even hood! Suffice to say that we could spend the day there. To put it simply, we will focus on the AMG Line version since it represents 75% of sales.
Here Mercedes tried to further support the feeling of dynamism. Thus, we find a new trapezoidal grille, LED lights with a sharp visual signature, and an aggressive-looking bumper and you can easily buy used luxury cars for sale . The whole front face is changed. Even the hood evolves since two lines of force appear, as on the AMG models. At the rear, the lights (LED, too) lengthen to adopt a more horizontal shape. Fortunately for our explanation, this is common to all versions.
Same?
Unlike the exterior, the changes in the passenger compartment are… difficult to perceive! Besides a new steering wheel, finally, two (AMG and normal) seen that Mercedes is easy, nothing has changed apart from the infotainment system. Let us come back to this steering wheel. It now features new captive controls and its rim features detection sensors for lane-keeping assist.
Under the hood, on the other hand, things are moving! Light hybridization at 48 volts is making its appearance on all 6 and 4-cylinder petrol engines. Mercedes also comes to embed the alternator-starter within the automatic gearbox, which allows it to offer a little extra juice (14 hp). Unfortunately, diesel units do not have this development…
Frugality
Following this damn virus and in the application of the rules of distancing, our first test is limited to one car. We opted for the plug-in hybrid E 300 e as a sedan since the other choices made up of powerful 6-cylinder petrol are not very relevant for our market. In short, this model does not change much. There is still a 2.0-liter gasoline unit producing 211 hp and a 122 hp electric motor that provides a combined power of 320 hp.
In its most frugal version, it has an average consumption of 1.6 l / 100 km for CO2 emissions of 36 g / km. As before, its large 13.5 kWh battery still gives it +/- 50 km of range, and, unfortunately, it still reduces the trunk space by 170 liters again and again. Fortunately, it also exists in the station wagon …
Comfort
Like its technical specifications, the handling of this E 300 e does not change for a penny. We, therefore, find an extremely comfortable sedan with a very flexible and silent hybrid chain. In addition, it advocates electricity, even when the battery is empty. Something rare in plug-in hybrids! In short, at the end of our test of a hundred kilometers, the displayed consumption is 3.2 l / 100 km, and “our” Class E tells us that we have traveled more than half of our route on electricity.
Verdict
Thanks to its small make-up touch-ups, the Mercedes E-Class improves its aesthetics while the light hybridization and plug-in hybrid models are responsible for improving its carbon footprint. In addition, it is still as comfortable and efficient.
