Mercedes E 200 CGI Estate
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Mercedes' new E-Class estate follows the pattern set by the saloon model launched earlier this year; solid technical advances combined with a reassuring nod to the traditional Mercedes values many thought had been lost as the company chased sales outside its established markets.
The mix of tradition and progress is a different one in the case of the estate – although not in the sense that the estate is either more traditional or more progressive than the saloon. Rather, there is a whole area of the Mercedes tradition connected with estate cars that the company's engineers and designers have had to digest and reinterpret in order to produce this new model.
The first thing to say about Mercedes' tradition of making estate cars is that it's nothing like as old as you might imagine. Although there had previously been officially sanctioned hearse, ambulance and estate conversions, the first in-house Mercedes estate, the "T" version of the W123 model, was only introduced in 1977. Volvo and Peugeot, to name but two, had been making big estates for decades by the time the Germans joined in. And the most obviously traditional element of the new E-Class's styling – a pronounced crease over the rear wheel-arch recalling that found on the Mercedes "Ponton" from the Fifties – isn't really a part of the Mercedes estate tradition, as the Ponton was only ever available as a saloon.
But one traditional feature on the new car is estate-specific, and borders on the anachronistic; an optional third row of seats that by my reckoning makes this the only estate car on the market that can still carry seven, as long as the sixth and seventh occupants aren't too tall or too heavy. Other manufacturers have long since dropped this arrangement and instead direct customers who want to carry large numbers of passengers towards their people-carriers and SUVs.
Advantage Mercedes, I say, because SUVs and people-carriers still can't match the driving dynamics of a good saloon or estate. The traditional advice never to buy a Mercedes with a four-cylinder petrol engine or a manual transmission can now be safely ignored. Even the entry-level E200 CGI with its 1.8-litre turbo-charged engine provides enough go for this big estate and Mercedes' latest six-speeder is much sweeter than the company's older manual boxes. But if you're still sceptical, you'll find that the larger engines and automatics are better than they've ever been, too.
Mercedes E 200 cgi estate
Price on sale early 2010
Top speed 140 mph 0-62mph 8.7 seconds
Consumption 36.7 mpg
CO2 emissions 179g/km
Best for keen drivers with big families
Also worth considering? BMW 5-Series estate, Audi A6 estate, Volvo V70 estate
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments