Mercedes’ New E-Class: For the Rich and Playful
Mercedes-Benz would like to shrivel its image as a builder of cast-iron coaches for middle-aged cardiologists.
It wants younger buyers.
It wants more female buyers.
It wants to restore fun, emotions and a little irreverence to the previously ponderous responsibility of owning and driving a two-ton German sedan.
Above all, Mercedes wants us to fall grille-over-trunk in love with the redesigned E-Class and its Barney Google headlights, popup Jack-in-der-box cup holders and overt youthfulness that is a total loosening of the Teutonic girdle.
Unlike the old Andre Agassi, however, image isn’t everything to the new series. Changes for 1996 aren’t simply cosmetic and visual, they are a measurable juvenescence of construction and concept.
The three cars in this mid-size, mid-price luxury lineup are about two inches longer and wider outside, and subsequently larger inside with added head, shoulder and knee room. But thanks to weight shaved from the engine and front suspension, plus more slippery lines to the grille and rear window area, they are quicker and faster. Also thriftier with gas.
Mercedes has dumped its hereditary recirculating-ball steering for a rack-and-pinion system. That makes the car quicker to the wheel and less like an armored personnel carrier.
As the younger generation is a safety-conscious population, so the E-Class is a trauma specialist’s dream car. Crumple zones have been toughened; traction controls continue to be monitored by a computer fed by brakes, engine and transmission sensors; unique to Mercedes are three shoulder and lap belts for rear seat riders--and side-impact air bags.
And of course the E-Class comes with toys.
Cup holders: Touch a walnut door fo’ard of the center console and a recess appears. Press a chrome button and a small platform rises while cup holder claws swing out and open like an articulated tarantula.
Telephone: Place another fingertip to the dash and a second French-polished panel hisses open to reveal the hands-off and preset number controls to a cell phone. The handset is buried in a two-tiered center armrest. Peculiarly, the lower half of this same cubby is fed by heating and cooling vents. We presume to keep Big Macs warm. Or Eskimo Pies solid.
Smog sniffer: Only in L.A.--or maybe Tokyo, Mexico City, Bangkok and other emphysema capitals--do you need cars with airborne muck detectors and mechanical nostrils that twitch at the first whiff of urban oxides. On the new Mercedes, when pollution levels rise, sensors automatically close outside air vents and begin recirculating existing cabin air.
This upper-class E-Class--formed by the E320 in showrooms this month with a 217-horsepower in-line six, the E420 with a 275-horsepower V-8 due to arrive in February, and the 134-horsepower E300 diesel also in the November lineup--leaves few conveniences or ultra considerations unturned.
Infrared locking sends a different signal with each activation, snookering car thieves who use electronic scanners to read remote control codes.
Seats and doors, of course, are leather-lined in all but the E300 diesel. Installation of a passenger-side air bag has not canceled provision of a glove box big enough for catchers’ mitts.
And in flagrant, yet flattering larceny of Infiniti, E-Class sun visors have three buttons for remote opening of the garage, turning on house lights or unlocking your doggie door.
*
The 1996 cars are styled comfortably close to the old E-Class, which has been with us since 1984. If there is any distinction, it is a subtle lengthening of the hood and a shortening of the rear deck to imply a coupe’s dimensions and purpose.
And, of course, those bullfrog headlights with oval, sloping, Orphan Annie orbs on the outside and Felix the Cat ovals on the high beams inside.
Radical. Shocking. Yet adorable visuals bringing innovation and distinction to Mercedes’ most popular vehicle and the world’s best-selling luxury car.
Our first taste was a double--prototypes of the E320, expected to sell for a base price of $43,500, and the slightly heavier E420, stickered at $49,900.
Don’t choke. Although certainly beyond the reach of cub reporters and apprentice gaffers, E320 prices are unchanged, and actually represent a 5.7% reduction owing to new equipment added to the car.
E420 prices are a tangible, cash-in-your-pocket drop from $52,500 thanks to fewer parts, improved factory efficiency, lower production costs--and Mercedes’ determination to take full advantage of the soggy yen and Japan’s resistance to lower luxury car prices. Price of E300 diesel slides from $41,000 to $39,900.
Untouched, thankfully, is that purposeful handling and feel so unique to Mercedes; a sense of perpetual coddling of owners and a show of inexhaustible performance from a mechanical object that seems to have been carved from a single piece of stainless steel. Rottweilers are equally capable, durable, reliable and hefty.
The E320’s suspension, as always, is biased toward ride comfort but without insulating springs and shocks from what is happening beneath the wheels. Those wheels and tires are wider to further improve excellent grip, which means the car can be pushed harder, deeper and more forcefully. Which are precisely the habits and traits of younger drivers.
*
Our preference was for the E320, which feeds to the seat of any pants a nimbleness, a lightness, almost a sense of frolic we found absent in the seemingly heavier, apparently statelier E420. It seems to steer a little quicker, get to 60 m.p.h. from rest a whisker faster and be better suited to drivers who like to get a little breathless at times.
Mercedes denies that kind of difference. They say the problem rests with comparing hand-made prototypes subject to vagaries. We will argue for faith in instincts and mysticism over logarithms and data in engineering manuals.
Creating broad change does not come easily at Mercedes.
It has taken 11 years to soften the haughtiness of its E-Class. Starbucks was a national pastime before Mercedes put cup holders in cars bound for the Americas.
Lord only knows how many decades will pass before Mercedes engineers separate cruise controls from the turn signal stalk. Or ease the fears of single travelers in danker parts of town with a remote control that is programmed to first open the driver’s door.
But those are barely visible nits.
Rather like telling Mrs. Dean that Antonio Banderas isn’t perfect. Too short. And that Madrid accent.
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)
1996 Mercedes-Benz E320
Cost
* Base price: $43,500. (Includes front and side air bags for driver and front seat passengers, leather upholstery, automatic transmission, wood trim, anti-lock disc brakes, 16-inch wheels, cruise control, automatic air conditioning and traction controls.)
* As tested: $45,000 estimated (includes CD changer and phone).
Engine
* 3.2-liter, in-line six-cylinder, with aluminum block and head, developing 217 horsepower.
Type
* Front-engine, rear-drive, five-passenger luxury sedan.
Performance
* 0-60 m.p.h., as tested, eight seconds.
* Top speed, electronically limited, 130 m.p.h.
* Fuel consumption, EPA estimate, city and highway, 19 and 26 m.p.g.
Curb Weight
* 3,605 pounds.
1996 MERCEDES-BENZ E320
The Good: easy, efficient transition to younger car for youthful buyers. New image does not betray old values, safety and social standing. Lighter for better performance, new steering for nimbler handling. Many will adore the Orphan Annie headlights.
The Bad: Still priced beyond Middle American incomes. Door openers and control stalks need updating.
The Ugly: Many will hate the Orphan Annie headlights.
