Yahoo Autos 2020 Mercedes-Benz E 450 Wagon Review | The connoisseur’s choice
Buying a station wagon in the United States is an exceedingly niche thing to do – especially if that wagon isn’t a Subaru Outback. The numbers are bleak: JD Power says that wagons made up just 1.4% of overall vehicle sales in 2018, the vast majority of those being Outbacks. Other wagons accounted for only 0.2% of that towering 1.4%. It’s a heartbreaking stat to see for wagon enthusiasts, especially knowing that the small crop of wagons currently on sale are excellent choices. But since Audi is about to join Mercedes-Benz by adopting a two-pronged wagon approach with the 2020 A6 Allroad and RS6 Avant, we figured it was time to revisit the three-pointed star as the Audis lurk in the background.
That brings us to the 2020 Mercedes-Benz E 450 4Matic Wagon that showed up at our doorstep for the week. It’s the most reasonable and tame of the two Mercedes wagons sold here today; its rowdy and maniacal sibling, the E 63 S Wagon, being the other. Given their statistical rarity, it’s no surprise that we saw nary a single other new E-Class Wagon on the road over the course of a week driving around southeast Michigan, but there were plenty of GLEs and GLCs to go around.
Mercedes has sold the latest E-Class Wagon since the 2017 model year, but a light update to the whole E-Class range for 2019 means the wagon has more power than when we first drove it. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 now produces 362 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque, an upgrade of 33 hp and 15 lb-ft of torque. Its name also changed from E 400 to E 450 to reflect the extra power, though the name is rather nebulous, as Mercedes doesn’t specify any particularly meaning to the “450” number. It simply designates that this Mercedes is equipped with the current 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, as all other Mercedes E-Classes with the 450 designation are. To confuse matters even more, the 450 designation is used on some Mercedes (GLE, GLS, CLS) that house the new 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six under the hood. Basically, look at the specs, not the numbers.
Naming ambiguity aside, this wagon is legitimately quick. The E 450 sprints to 60 mph in just 5.1 seconds, which is 0.1 second faster than the E 400 before it, according to Mercedes.
The power will be appreciated even more with a full load of passengers and baggage on a road trip. Mercedes has gifted the E 450 Wagon with stellar utility, besting even the brand-new GLE-Class SUV for cargo capacity behind the second row — the Wagon has 35 cu-ft available, and the GLE makes do with 33.3 cu-ft. What we’re saying is, you don’t need to buy a crossover to get excellent utility. This wagon is perfectly suitable for trips to Ikea, the grocery store and schlepping kids around. The little ones will love it, too, because it has the coolest third row in the automotive industry. It faces backwards, so if the kids are old enough to escape their child seats but small enough to fit back there, they can live it up like its 1977, making faces at the cars behind you. You can tell them it's better than an iPad.
