ROADTEST MERCEDES-BENZ E250 CDI:THEY SAY YOU can tell a lot about a country by the cars on its roads. For a decade in Ireland, it was our love affair with SUVs that defined us. Sitting atop great masses of engineering might that went unused in gridlock traffic, middle class Ireland aspired to the LA lifestyle of excess. It was an age when style always surpassed substance, writes MICHAEL McALEERMotoring Editor
On the continent, however, function regularly supersedes form. For them the estate car has been the ultimate in practical motoring for more than three decades. It offers all the attributes of the family saloon, but the flexibility to throw everything in the boot and head for the hills. Not a week has passed in the last month where we haven’t spent time driving a new estate: is the long-awaited motoring revolution underway in Ireland? Have we finally grown up to the fact that estates make more sense than SUVs? We can only hope so.
The sales figures still show that the estate market here is minuscule, but car companies seem more confident that we’re finally coming to our senses. If you don’t tow a horsebox, if your “land” comprises a patch of grass bordered by hydrangeas, and if you were one of the thousands of SUV owners who stayed at home during the big freeze earlier this year because you didn’t want to risk driving, then it’s time to wise up. The route to greater motoring pleasure is in a bigger boot, not a motoring behemoth.
We’ve driven an array of Mercedes E-Class models since its launch last year and all have proved that the brand has returned to better days. They are sharper to drive, cleaner from the tailpipe, more frugal with fuel and offer more pep in performance terms than the previous generation. Ultimately they’re better built. Where once the BMW 5 Series reigned supreme as the driver’s choice, the E-Class has dramatically closed the gap. The three-pointed star is starting to shine once more.
So how does the latest estate iteration weigh up? First impressions are not as favourable as we would have thought. In saloon format, the new E-Class looks distinguished and sharp-suited. This estate, on the other hand, looks altogether boxier than many of its sleeker rivals. It’s got a great big boot to lug about so a few sharp corners are to be expected, but the sharper contours, in particular of the new 5-Series Touring – due to be launched here in the autumn – threatens to make this E-Class look old before its time. It may have all the interior credentials and premium feel of one of the world’s best-selling premium saloons, but the exterior doesn’t do it justice.
In terms of practicality and space – the ultimate test for any of these cars – this car’s rear end makes a mockery of its competitors. We’re not supposed to turn a cent out of the test cars, but it’s just too tempting with this new E-Class estate. If you have the financial wherewithal to purchase this car, then you are clearly savvy enough to sublet a substantial portion of the bootspace for a small warehouse lock-up. You’d be mad not to – bar the odd moonlighting undertaker, who on Earth would need nearly 2,000l of bootspace? That’s on a par with many small vans.
But the key question in all this is not whether you can justify the enormous boot but whether it’s like a van to drive? The impact of all that rear overhang should be detrimental to its handling, but the Mercedes estate is surprisingly agile. When empty, the only annoying trait was that the tonneau cover – the soft boot canopy that hides your load in such cars – tends to flap about when you attempt to throw the car around, but otherwise the E-Class remains remarkably composed. That said, the new E-Class estate still doesn’t quite match its BMW counterpart when it comes to tidy handling. It’s a big car and feels its size when you pit it against some of the tighter corners on Irish rural roads. Like its saloon sibling, this estate is best suited to a relaxing mile-munching motorway, where it can happily cruise from Dublin to Galway and back between breakfast and afternoon tea.
The test car was powered by the 2.5l Blue EFFICIENCY engine, Mercedes’ latest effort to produce cleaner, but more potent, diesel powertrains. They had a problem with injectors on the 250 and 220 diesel engines initially, but this has since been rectified. There were certainly no problems with the engine in our test car. While an emissions level of 163g/km is at the upper end of the range, opting for manual transmission will bring you down a tax bracket and save you €145 a year and €2,920 in the list price. However, we’d advise against it, for whatever savings you are making now, you are likely to suffer more on the resale value: buyers expect big Mercs to be automatic.
So how does it compare to its rivals in this class? For us the benchmark is always the BMW 5 Series Touring and the Volvo V70. While it pips both in terms of absolute bootspace, it doesn’t match either in terms of looks. On the road, it comes closer to its Bavarian rival than was any previous iteration, but we’ll have to wait to drive the new generation 5 Series Touring this autumn to give a full opinion on whether they’ve opened up the lead again.
The E-Class estate is a fantastic family car, that’s enormously practical but with a real premium appeal. What’s more it’s competitively priced. You don’t have to go very far back to find cars in this class touching on €80,000 with all the bells and whistles. If there is one glimmer of light from the recession, it’s that you can now get a new E-Class estate for as little as €44,185 for the E200 CDI, although it also means a fair degree of pain for those who bought at peak and now find their trade-in values severely hit by all the price drops.
Our heart may still lean towards the BMW in terms of driving appeal or the Volvo for its looks and estate heritage, but our head would demand that this car is worth a test drive before any cheques are signed.
Factfile
Engine:
BlueEFFICENCY auto Avantgarde
CC:2,143 four-cylinder in-line BlueEfficiency diesel engine putting out 202bhp @ 4,200rpm and 500Nm of torque from 1,600rpm
0-100km/h:8.1 secs
BHP:201
L/100km (mpg):Urban: 8.4 (33.6)
Extra-urban:5.0 (56.5)
Combined:6.2 (45.6)
CO2 emissions:163g/km
Tax:Band D - €447
Specification:Front airbags; sidebags for front occupants; windowbags for all seats; kneebag for driver; adaptive brake lights; active bonnet for pedestrian protection; ABS with Brake Assist; adaptive brake system with hold function and hill start assist; cruise control and variable speed limiter; 17' alloys; auto climate control.
Options on our test car included:full leather, Parktronic; heated front seats; metallic paint
Bootspace:695-1,950 litres
Price:€62,736