BACK IN THE 1970s, if you wanted a big, upmarket car to carry your family around in, you bought a Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate – even though it wasn’t officially called that until 1993. Yep, Merc’s wagon had no direct rivals, so it was either that or ‘slum it’ in a Ford Granada.
These days, though, most rivals, including Audi and BMW, also do big estates, and there are countless posh SUVs to pick from – the latter being the avenue that most family buyers now go down. So, is Mercedes flogging a dead horse by launching an all-new E-Class Estate? Should it follow Volvo and kill off anything that isn’t SUV-shaped – or is there something about a seemingly old-fashioned, traditional estate car that too many people are overlooking?
Well, we’re far from anti-SUV here at What Car?. There are loads of great models to choose from that offer similar practicality to big estates, and some of them have more seats (the E-Class has five). However, the truth is that SUVs tend to be heavier and less aerodynamic, so they’re more expensive to run and less kind to the environment. They’re also, generally speaking, pricier to buy in the first place. For example, Merc’s GLE – an SUV that sits on the same underpinnings – starts at around £78,000. Not that the new E-Class Estate is exactly cheap. Starting at a whisker under £58,000 for the 2.0-litre petrol E200, it’s around £10k more than the entry-level Audi A6 Avant and £11k more than aBMW 5 Series Touring – although the latter is about to be replaced with a doubtless dearer eighth-generation model.
If that sounds rather punchy, the price of the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) E300e – the only version we’ve tested so far – might raise even more of an eyebrow, because it costs from £70,215. However, in this case, the list price is almost a moot point, because it’s aimed squarely at company car drivers paying benefit-inkind (BIK) tax.
Indeed, far more relevant are the E300e’s CO2 emissions (as low as 14g/km) and the fact that it can officially travel for up to 69 miles on electric power alone. These things place it in the 8% BIK tax bracket, meaning a 40% taxpayer will sacrifice just £187 of their salary every month to drive the cheapest AMG Line Advanced model. For some context, an A6 TFSIe would cost you at least £302 and the 530e Touring £224.
KEY FACTS
Mercedes-Benz E300e AMG Line Premium Plus
Price £78,835
Engine 4cyl, 1999cc, turbo, petrol, plus electric motor
Power 308bhp (combined)
Torque 406lb ft (combined)
Gearbox 9-spd automatic
0-62mph 6.5sec
Top speed 141mph
Fuel economy 470.9mpg (combined)
CO2 ,tax band 14g/km, 8%
KEY FACTS