Mercedes-Benz reveals the new E-Class estate, and surprise, it’s bigger than before
Mercedes-Benz reveals the new E-Class estate, and surprise, it’s bigger than before
Mercedes has pulled the wraps off the estate version of its new sixth-generation E-Class. The new car is basically the same, only with more boot – looks alright, with new rear lights that have the Mercedes logo inside them. As we know, Merc is all about the subtlety these days.
That boot is what you came here for, so let’s get the proper bit of excitement out of the way. The new E-Class estate offers you a whopping 615 litres of space with the seats up and a cavernous 1,830 with them knocked down. Take our deposit money now, please. Go for the PHEV version (which is a surprisingly practical driving option, with up to 100km of range) and you lose a bit of space – 460/1,675 litres on offer there. You can access all of that lovely space via a powered tailgate that will be fitted as standard.
The car is 22mm longer in the wheelbase than the outgoing fifth-generation E-Class – Merc says it has popped the extra room in the back so that rear passengers are more comfortable, so that’s nice. An extra 28mm of width means extra elbow room too.
Not that front passengers are suffering at all – the E-Class estate gets the new MBUX Superscreen (not the Hyperscreen, note, you have to go much fancier in the Mercedes range to deserve one of those) set-up, which means whoever is in the passenger seat can watch films or telly on the go. Make sure the driver doesn’t look over though – a camera sensor will pause whatever’s happening on the screen so they can’t get distracted. The system won’t run if there’s no one sitting there, either.
Now we’re not saying that we despair at the state of the world, but we are saying that the new E-Class estate comes with new third-party app functionality on its central touchscreen that means you can play Angry Birds, take a Zoom call or watch TikTok videos. Just what the automotive experience has been missing. The central part of the dash even has a selfie camera built in as part of the MBUX Superscreen. Oh, the humanity.
The tech onslaught continues with the new Digital Vehicle Key, which means you can open up the E-Class estate with your iPhone (11 or later) or Apple Watch (6 or later) – anyone else will have to use the actual key like a chump.
Specs and model line-up for the UK market are yet to be confirmed, but the E-Class estate will come with a 2.0-litre petrol option, a 2.0-litre diesel, or a plug-in hybrid petrol that uses the same 2.0-litre engine. The E200 has 200bhp and does 0-100km/h in 7.8secs, the E220d has 195bhp and does the 0–100km/h run in 7.9secs. The E300e mixes it up by producing 308bhp thanks to the 127bhp e-motor for a particularly effervescent 0–100km/h time of 6.5secs.
All of the standard diesel and petrol models will come with mild hybrid tech, plus the E-Class estate will be available from launch with that PHEV powertrain option. Mercedes says it’s going to add a diesel PHEV powertrain too.
Got a trailer? The E-Class estate will tow up 2,100kg of braked trailer. We’ve no idea which engine will do that, you’ll just have to guess.