2013 Mercedes-Benz E200: Road Test

When you think about the luxury sedan segment, three brands reflect into your head straight away – Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Aside from the pride associated in owning one of these, each one brings a certain exceptionality to the table while maintaining that dearly beloved panache that one would expect from a car with a ‘price tag’. Having said that, what makes these brands more than just cars is the uniqueness in it appeal, something that they have nurtured and developed over the years. 

The biggest example of them all is our topic of discussion today – the E-Class. From its early days with W120/121 Ponton, the E has always been an object of desire. The W124 was without doubt one of the most iconic cars to come out of the M-B stable. Renowned for its rock solid structure and unmatched build quality, it soon made its way into the hearts of customers and enthusiasts alike. The next few generations couldn’t quite work the same magic for the Stuttgart-based manufacturer and by giving the new E a much needed makeover, Merc is hoping to revive the charm of its mid-sized sedan. 

So what’s ‘new’ in the 2013 Mercedes-Benz E-Class? Firstly, although it looks like an all new model, it isn’t. It still retains the W212 underpinnings making it amply clear that it is indeed a facelift. Mercedes claims that the new E sports more than 2000 new components as part of its upgrade package. Most of these upgrades have been focused to give it a much needed visual overhaul. The E-Class now gets a more youthful disposition thanks to the larger and more prominent front end design. The twin-slated front grille with the chunky three-pointed star in the centre, ensure that this new offering is in line with the rest of the M-B models. Aside from the grille, the updated E does away with the four-light setup making way for the new-age, super hot looking twin LED running light that give the front end an aggressive stance.

The profile remains pretty much unchanged, but the rear gets a few tweaks to the bumper with the smartly incorporated twin exhausts and those beautiful looking LED taillights. On the inside, the E200 CGI’s dashboard gets a matte wood finish as opposed to the higher variants’ that get metal outlines. Although the texture and the finish of the wood is no doubt top notch, we still prefer the metal finish over the wood. As far as the equipment levels are concerned, the E200 gets a muti-zone climate control system, parking sensors, sunroof, electronically adjustable seats / ORVMs as well as steering wheel.  

Under the hood, the E200 hosts a 1,991cc four-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that produces 184PS at 5500pm and 300Nm of torque between 1200-4000rpm. The torque has been evenly distributed throughout its rev range, in fact, it peaks at around 1200rpm and continues to remain there until the tachometer flirts with the 4000rpm marker which makes it extremely easy to drive not just in the city but also idle n making those quick overtaking manoeuvres on the highway. In our performance tests, the E200 touched the 100km/h marker from standstill in just 8.54 seconds and recorded a top speed of a little over 220km/h before being forced to roll off owing to traffic. That said, the car didn’t feel nervous but was in fact absolutely planted even when cruising at high speeds on the highway but when you pitch it against its diesel cousin, which is 20PS higher on power, the CGI does feel a little sluggish.

Performance aside, the engine feels extremely smooth and doesn’t throw any sort of tantrums even when pushed to the limit in each of its seven gears. The E200’s seven-speed transmission shifts smoothly and is also pretty obedient to the commands you give with the paddle shifters. Needless to say in the ‘Eco’ mode, the car is kept in higher gears for improved efficiency, but slot the E200 into the sports mode, push the pedal to the metal to sit back and watch the tacho needle hit the red line in each gear. For a car that can do speeds of over 200km/h with immense ease, the braking has to be as efficient as the acceleration. The refreshed E doesn’t give any reason to complain in this aspect as well. Bring the ventilated front disc and the solid rear disc combination into action by slamming the brakes hard from 100km/h and the car comes to a halt in just 47.8 meters. On the efficiency front the petrol powered E-class returned 8.5kmpl in the city driving conditions and an impressive 15.1kmpl at highway cruising speeds.  

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Push the car into a corner and you will immediately feel that it does fairly well in the handling department as well. Body roll is limited, and one feels confident to push the car that extra bit further into a corner. Of course a lot of this poise can be attributed to the 245/45 17-inch wheels that the E200 rides on. While it handles quite decently, in effect, beauty of the new E lies in the fact that it doesn’t quite compromise on the comfort front for handling and vice versa. In fact, it manages to create a fine balance of the two. It makes easy work of any sort of rough roads or broken tarmac without any sort of grouse whatsoever. While it does manage to find absolute middle ground as far as the comfort and handling is concerned, we would have liked a little more feedback on the three spoke steering wheel which feels slightly unresponsive. 

 As far as the features are concerned, the E pretty much offers everything that is necessary right from ECO start / stop, Programmable 3 way memory for steering and mirrors, Electrically adjustable seats with lumbar support, Mercedes-Benz integral safety concept PRE-SAFE, Tyre Pressure loss warning system, Anti-lock braking system (ABS) with Brake assist as well as the Electronic Stability Program (ESP) and the works. But one thing that we found missing was a reversing camera as a standard feature, especially taking into account that it is available in most cars that cost a lot less. 

The E-Class has been the one bring the numbers for the three pointed star, not just here in India but across the globe. Now this refreshed E does in fact live up to the family name thanks to its much more youthful design, decent equipment levels as well as comfortable interiors. And although it isn’t entirely a new car, it does a good job of bringing the model up to speed with Mercedes’ new design language. Priced at Rs. 41.5 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi) it is pretty much at par with competition and gives Audi and BMW reason enough to worry. But most importantly, what this refreshed ‘new’ E will do for the brand is attract those customers who felt that the model was starting to look dated. To say in the simplest, this updated E-Class will serve as a good bridge for the brand till the time the new generation E-Class comes to fore.