Carel's Car Corner: Mercedes BlueEfficiency estate – Wagon mama

THE mid-range Mercedes Benz has been the mainstay of the Mercedes offering since the mid-1930s. The E-Class, as it was officially dubbed in 1993, has come to represent to most people what a Benz is all about – spaciousness, a smooth ride, and safety beyond compare.

This is epitomised by the E-Class wagons, which have a loyal following all around the world. What happens when it is paired with one of Benz’s newest diesel engines and their most recent bouquet of eco-technology?

With the world’s scientists realising that we can’t continue braising the globe in our vehicles’ exhaust gases, carmakers have been facing stricter emissions standards from just about every government in the world. Every couple of years, the requirements in Europe or the US are tightened up in a desperate bid to save more penguins. This has provided car manufacturers with a major selling point, if they can drop not only the fuel consumption, but also the emissions of noxious or undesirable gases and particulates. 

Petrol engines are becoming smaller and are being fitted with turbochargers to force more air into the engines. More fuel can then be added but, crucially, the combustion process can be more complete, meaning there are less gases being burped out the back end of your car. Various manufacturers have been experimenting with hybrid vehicles with mixed success, but it seems as if the large investment in diesel engine technology has seen the greatest gains in fuel economy over the past two decades. 

And this is where the new E-Class wagon comes in – here’s a vehicle that can swallow an army and its supplies, can accelerate from 0-100 km per hour in 7.4 seconds, yet uses less than 7.5 litres of fuel per 100 km in the mixed highway/town driving cycle. Maybe the environmentalists have gifted us with something better than what’s gone before.  

I still find the E-Class styling slightly confronting. If you’re used to the smooth-looking, older style Benzes, you probably won’t be bowled over by the angular looks of the current E-Class. But it grows on you and after a week or so living with the car, I thought it was compellingly handsome. Strange how that happens – perhaps the designers of these cars do know what they’re doing … 

I’ve always had a soft spot for Benz wagons, and this one certainly made its mark on me. There’s simply nothing that says “landed gentry” like a Benz wagon. The front and rear ends are blended harmoniously together and avoid the current “blob” look, which is becoming increasingly scarce these days. Interior design is of the cosmonaut variety, with many buttons, dials, and info screens being used inside the cabin. None of it is intrusive, and the general look of the instrument binnacle and centre console is functional, yet extremely elegant in execution. 

Performance
 
If you haven’t driven a diesel for the past five or 10 years, then you’re in for a surprise. There’s a slight diesel clatter at start up, but as soon as the vehicle is moving you’d be hard pressed to classify it with any certainty as an oil burner. It’s a smooth powerplant and the only giveaway is that the redline is at 4500 revolutions per minute instead of 6500 rpm. 

Most remarkable, however, is the fact that this is only a 2.1 litre powerplant. Benz’s increasingly complex nomenclature means that the same engine is also found in the E220 CDI, albeit it in a slightly lower state of tune. German car manufacturers no longer feel bound by the constraints of a badge which actually shows you the capacity of the engine. This can be incredibly confusing at times and a lot of the time the only difference between these vehicles (and their corresponding price points) is the level of turbocharging involved. So don’t make the mistake of thinking that you’re buying a two and a half litre six cylinder beauty — this is a four pot powerplant of just over two litres, which significantly diminishes your pub bragging rights. 

But what it lacks in candour, it more than makes up for in valour. It produces 150 kilowatts and 500 newton-metres of torque – incredible figures for a small four cylinder, and unthinkable even four or five years ago. Fuel consumption is miserly; I never managed to attain Benz’s stated figures, but then again I had such a great time thrashing the living daylights out of this car (a diesel wagon, remember) that I didn’t care too much about the environment. Sorry, penguins. The standard stop/start functionality of the Blue Efficiency model we tested did, however, go some way to making up for my lack of discretion.

For $108,000, you’d expect any vehicle to be kitted to the hilt with features. Sadly, this is no longer the case these days, especially with the German car manufacturers. To its credit, Benz has done a good job of late of including more and more kit as standard, but the vehicle that I tested had more than $8000 worth of features that I would have assumed would have been standard at this price. 

Benz is not alone in this though, as Audi and BMW follow the same trend. This has led to the good wife enquiring of late whether the vehicle comes as standard with a steering wheel, which sort of sums up consumers’ attitudes towards this.

The vehicle that I tested was finished in metallic paint, which costs (I hope you’re sitting down) $2100. For that price, I hope that it’s made of stardust and bits of plutonium. The test vehicle also came with the optional vision package which added $6200 to the base price but, despite the “vision” name, didn’t include a reverse camera, which was an extra $1100. Leather came as standard though. The vision package includes a mind blowing Harman/Kardon surround sound system, keyless go entry and start, and a glass electric sunroof with tilt/slide function. It also includes a powered boot lid. The beautiful 18 inch wheels added another $2300 to the manufacturer’s list price, for a grand total of just under $120,000. For a four cylinder. Gulp.

This is a great vehicle to drive; it’s one of those rare cars that makes you want to spend more time behind the wheel, not less. I couldn’t wait to take it on an extended drive and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The ride is smooth and cosseting, without being wallowy. It absorbed most bumps and potholes around town with aplomb, and cruising in the big Benz was nothing short of delightful. Body roll was controlled and the vehicle generally felt hewn from granite.

Quirks abound, such as the column mounted shifter for the seven speed automatic gearbox.  It takes a bit of getting used to, but frees up a lot of place on the central console. The gearbox itself is very smooth and unobtrusive in operation. The only irritation (even after all these years) is still the foot operated park brake. The navigation system was very clear but wasn’t as easy to use as some other systems we’ve tried before and wasn’t very intuitively set out. The display screen was usefully large and easily readable, but not as wide as some of the units being offered by BMW these days. 

Something else that was a bit strange was the fact that the reverse camera didn’t activate the on board screen if the radio wasn’t switched on as well. This became a major source of irritation for me, as I don’t always have the radio on, meaning the reverse camera image wouldn’t be shown on the screen when engaging reverse gear. Most other car manufacturers have the screen come on as soon as reverse is engaged so that you can see where you’re going. There might have been a way to remedy this using the central control system, but I simply didn’t feel the inclination to delve down into menu after menu to try and find something which should, well, just work. The distortion on the camera was also such that it was a bit disorientating.
 
The Benz wagon is cavernous and can swallow just about everything including the kitchen sink. The seat backs can fold flat and during one weekend jaunt we managed to cram a seemingly impossible amount of stuff in there. It didn’t affect the ride or handling of the vehicle at all and the vehicle felt tied to the road even when pressing on with a full load. The headlights were extremely effective and driving along rural roads at night was a doddle.

As regards pricing, if you’re a fan of the three pointed star, then pricing won’t be the first thing on your mind. If, however, like the rest of us you are thinking of stretching your dollars a bit in the afterglow of the global financial meltdown, then you’d be looking at wagons from Audi, BMW, and Volvo as well. 

And this is where the Benz slips up a bit. The Volvo V60 wagon is a fantastic car, does everything the Benz does with very, very nearly the same level of competency, but costs (wait for it) nearly half the price. Of course, Daimler Benz fans would never even look that far down the price list, simply because they know what they want and they don’t want to spend time messing around with offerings from seemingly lowlier brands. In fact, they probably wouldn’t even consider the slightly cheaper BMW 5-series or Audi A6. 

If you’re looking for the ultimate in Germanic solidity, combined with prestige and practicality, well then it’s worthwhile popping down to your local dealer to test drive one of these wagons.

Mercedes Benz E250 CDI BlueEfficiency estate: $108,150