Yahoo Autos 2024 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Sedan Tested: What the Tech?
It's no complaint to say that given the slow visual evolution of the Mercedes-Benz E-class, many wouldn't notice that the stately three-box sedan has entered a new generation this year. The only gauche elements that might have a design referee reaching for a flag are the numerous three-pointed-star logos crammed into the grille and taillights. Otherwise, the E's silhouette carries forward as much as its dynamic sophistication, and the latter is precisely what landed the previous E-class on our 10Best Cars list two years in a row.
By the numbers, it's much the same. The wheelbase grows by 0.9 inch, and rear-seat space is adult luxurious. A 255-hp turbo 2.0-liter four powers the E350, and a 375-hp turbo inline-six motivates the E450. The base price is up by $5450, although newly standard all-wheel drive accounts for part of that leap.
Sure, we'd prefer the sound of the six, but the E350's four-cylinder is extremely refined and refuses to get unruly, even as it strains to run to 60 mph in a plenty-quick 5.8 seconds. It also delivered 35 mpg on our 75-mph highway fuel-economy loop (equating to 600 miles of range). Only when you're outside the car does its idle sound diesel-like thanks to its high-pressure direct-injection fuel system.
That 35-mpg figure seemed impressive until we also tested an E450 with the inline-six. Naturally, the acceleration times improved—4.4 seconds to 60 mph and 13 seconds flat through the quarter-mile. And despite its 120 additional horsepower and two extra cylinders, the E450 logged an identical 35 mpg on our highway loop.
Interestingly, archrivals BMW and Mercedes share the 21-inch tires the E uses—the sidewalls have both BMW's star and Mercedes's MO markings. Who wore them better? Definitely the Benz, which outcorners and outbrakes the BMW 530i xDrive—it also stops on par with the Nissan Z NISMO—and is quieter at highway cruising speeds. The E-class also steers and rides better, and it exhibits a surprisingly neutral cornering attitude for a large luxury sedan. Whether comparing E350 to 530i or E450 to 540i, the BMWs are slightly quicker and lighter, and yet the Benzes have the edge in chassis performance and driving dynamics.
We'd pony up the $3200 for the air-spring suspension with adaptive dampers (the package also includes rear steering), as it delivers fantastic ride quality without excessive floatiness. Pairing it with a smaller wheel option than the E-class's optional 21s would certainly improve impact harshness, making it even better. Indeed, the only dynamic misstep is the initial softness in the brake pedal.
The E's most dramatic changes are inside. Mercedes's latest MBUX infotainment gets a much-simplified menu structure, which is welcome, but from there, Mercedes loses the plot. Built-in Zoom functionality for the optional selfie camera on the dash (yes, really) allows users to call in to meetings sans phone. But the entire app, not just the video portion, works only when the car is parked. And our fellow meeting participants made fun of the poor image quality and fisheye effect of the camera, which (sigh) allows you to save photos to a portable storage device plugged into one of the USB ports. TikTok is also built in, but its vertical format means it occupies only about a third of the E's giant 14.4-inch screen, and the swipe action isn't nearly as fluid as a phone's. And why can't you post directly using the selfie cam? The Angry Birds video game—remember when that was a hit over a decade ago?—is available to play on the center screen, and an optional passenger screen allows for YouTube and internet browsing but no TikTok or Zoom. These are Mercedes's best ideas? Less capable copies of smartphone functionality?
Another new feature, the ability to create if-this-then-that routines, seemed to hold more promise. We figured we could use it to avoid cooking the cabin in the midday sun and automatically close the sunroof shade when the car is parked. But among the numerous options—including changing the music source each time you open or close that shade—this is not possible.
The optional 21-speaker Burmester stereo sounds as lovely as the E-class drives, with the beautiful and oft-copied metal speaker grilles in the doors. But it also includes two "exciters" in the lumbar area of the front seats, so you can feel the music in your lower back, and the system can flash the interior lighting to the beat, part of a "4D experience." Complaining about this might make us sound old, but you know who is even older? E-class buyers. And speaking of multidimensional experiences, our E lacked the smell realm, but a built-in perfume atomizer remains optional.
While touch-sensitive swipe controls on the steering wheel survived the redesign, and there's a general lack of buttons, it's otherwise easy to ignore any unwanted tech and simply enjoy the way the new E-class drives.
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