|
Every time the big three in the luxury car space bring out a new car, it is immediately subject to incremental improvements. For Mercedes-Benz, these increments were becoming a problem. Over the last decade, the W210 and W211 E-Class were incrementally better than their predecessors on paper. But reality seemed to deliver it a nasty blow. Electronic gremlins, reliability issues and what not were driving the three-pointed star into the red quicker than their association with Chrysler. Build quality too was suffering and every time JD Power & Associates would release a report, the chief quality officer at Mercedes-Benz in Sindelfingen probably sent the document to his computer’s Recycle Bin. Maybe, because he knew a secret that all of us weren’t aware of — the W212 E-Class!
There are numbers attached to this one too. Overall rigidity is up by 30 per cent, aerodynamic efficiency is improved to 0.26 Cd, making it the most aerodynamic saloon on sale, fuel efficiency has improved by up to 23 per cent and the list goes on. But ask the true blue E-Class fanatic and he will tell you that this is Mercedes-Benz’s way of saying, “We are back!” Quality improvements have been made, reliability is on the up, the E-Class is better loaded and specced than its competition and a distraction called Chrysler has been offloaded. It all sounds nice, except that Audi have been quietly chipping away at the heels of Merc all this while. And the A6 has been recently facelifted, while being offered with the gung-ho, 290 bhp 3.0-litre supercharged V6. To counter it, Mercedes-Benz have called on the best V6 in their arsenal — the 268 bhp 3.5-litre V6 from the S350 to take on the might of Ingolstadt. It’s time to roll up the cuffs!
For those familiar with the S-Class, this is the exact same engine block you will find on the larger sibling and is not the CGI, direct injection as one would have hoped it would be. Nevertheless, this is quite a jump from the erstwhile E280. Power is rated at 268 bhp@6000 rpm, up nearly 37 bhp from the 3.0-litre engined predecessor. Torque is also up, now rated at 35.4 kgm@2400-5000 rpm against the erstwhile E280’s 30.6 kgm@ 2500-4600 rpm. Mated to the 7G-tronic gearbox, the gearing has been tuned to deliver all the shove in the first five gears, with the sixth and seventh focused as overdriven gears. The longitudinally mounted engine, with its rear-wheel drive system, puts the car at a porky 1805 kg, up by 120 kg over the E280, but down by nearly 150 kg on the S-Class. So, how does that affect numbers?
|
Most Popular
