Luxist Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic

by Sam Abuelsamid (RSS feed)
May 4th 2010 at 10:01AM

2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic – Click above for high-res image gallery

For nearly six decades the mid-size sedan has been the mainstay of the Mercedes-Benz car lineup. Known as the E-Class since 1994, the ninth generation of that platform debuted a year ago at the Geneva Motor Show and is currently available in North America in four door sedan, two door coupe and convertible body styles.

On its home turf in Europe the E-Class, like other many other German cars that are exported to the U.S. is available with a wide range of four, six and eight cylinder engines. Over the course of its history the E-Class has built a reputation for ruggedness and reliability which has made it the the equivalent of the Ford Crown Victoria for German taxi drivers and police. Here in the U.S. tough emissions rules and even tougher currency exchange rates mean that we only get the more premium editions of Mercedes models with a more limited V6 and V8 engine lineup.

We had the chance to spend a week with a 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic. Read on to see if this is just an expensive cab or something worthy of the three pointed star.

Gallery: Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic

The E350 is currently the entry level E-Class for the U.S. market and for now is the only version available with less than eight cylinders. When the ninth generation E-class arrived a year ago it moved away from a design theme that debuted in 1995. The last two generations featured a smooth shape with a nose dominated by four elliptical headlamps.

The new edition known internally as the W212 has adopted a crisper design language that further evolves the look we've seen on the most recent C-Class and S-Class as well as Mercedes-Benz SUVs. Judging by the appearance of more recent Mercedes introductions and concepts like the SLS sports can and the next CLS, the E will be the last major iteration of this theme.

Up front the elliptical lamps have morphed into parallelograms flanking the traditional Mercedes grille. While still relatively attractive and modern looking, the new light modules are less distinctive than the elliptical units which instantly said "E-Class!" Like many recent designs the hood now wraps over the side of the fenders with the cut-line running from the corner of the headlamps to coincide with the lower edge of the side windows and continuing on to form the edge of the rear deck.

That upward sweeping line along with two additional rising creases along the flanks gives the new E a decidedly more aggressive stance than the previous generation. That sporting stance is further enhanced by a roof-line that is 0.7 inches lower than before and 1.25 inches of extra width. Despite the extra girth, Mercedes has managed to avoid any significant weight gain thanks to the wonders of advanced computer design tools and high-strength steels and doors, hood and trunk-lid formed of aluminum.

When the W210 E-Class debuted in the mid-1990s, Mercedes was criticized for cost reducing the interior to the point of making it look cheap. No such complaints can be made of the current generation. The look of the E350 interior isn't overtly sporting but it quickly becomes apparent that the most important details are targeted to drivers. As a premium German luxury sedan even the base model is trimmed out in high quality materials. The dash, door panels and center console are trimmed in real burled walnut.

One of the most amazing interior elements of many modern cars is the synthetic upholstery materials. Mercedes calls its artificial hides MB-Tex and most passengers almost certainly won't be able to distinguish it from the the skin of a dead cow. For those that prefer the real thing, it is available as an option.

As most Mercedes cars have had for decades, the MB-Tex is perforated allowing some ventilation on hot days. Another available option on the V8 powered models is Active Ventilated seats which pumps cool air through the seats. Even the base seats provide a surprising degree of lateral support when the road gets twisty.

The standard steering wheel on all E-Classes is covered in real leather and is pleasantly thick to provide the driver a good grip on the action. Like the S-Class the E uses a column mounted lever to select park, reverse, neutral and drive. Mercedes hasn't offered manual transmissions to E-Class customers in decades, but those that prefer to shift for themselves can use the paddles on the backside of the steering wheel.

Our biggest complaint about the E-Class interior is the arrangement of the stalks on the left side of the steering column. A smaller stalk sitting at the ten o'clock position where we would normally expect the turn signal to be is actually for the cruise control. Since we normally keep our hands at the nine and three positions we repeatedly engaged the cruise control when we intended to signal a lane change or turn. The turn signal and wiper control stalk sits down below between the seven and eight o'clock positions.

Rear seat occupants will find themselves with plenty of room even for a long road trip. That's a good thing since the 21 gallon fuel tank and the E350's 19 mpg combined rating could yield a range of over 400 miles. The relatively tall rear deck yields a usefully shaped 16 cubic feet trunk with room to sit several overhead size suitcases on their sides.

The E350 is powered by a 268 horsepower 3.5-liter V6 with 258 pound-feet of torque. The torque peak is flat from 2,400-5,000 rpm and feels surprisingly stout in the mid-range. The engine is paired with a standard seven-speed automatic transmission. A switch on the center console allows the driver to select between comfort and sport modes. In comfort mode, the throttle and shift response is slowed down for smoother launches, while sport makes everything more aggressive. The sport mode also tightens up the dampers to keep the body a bit more level when cornering.

One very pleasant surprise was the steering feel on the E350. The new E uses a speed sensitive hydraulic power steering system that doesn't feel as over-boosted as the bigger S-Class and actually provides very good levels of feedback about the cornering forces while negotiating a curve. Unlike many cars equipped with steering wheel mounted paddle shifters those in the E350 actually yield very quick response from the transmission making them actually useful.

One of the features that debuted on the new E-Class that we didn't try out was Attention Assist. A little steaming coffee cup icon in the driver information display indicates when the system is enabled and watching what the driver is doing. During the first 20 minutes of driving the system monitors the drivers steering patterns and then subsequently looks for erratic behavior. If the system detects that the driver might be getting sleepy it gives an audible warning and a message in the display suggesting it might be time for a rest.

Our E350 was equipped with the 4Matic full-time automatic all-wheel-drive system. Unlike some more performance oriented systems from Acura, BMW and Porsche, 4Matic doesn't feature torque vectoring to help turn-in under hard cornering but it also didn't seem to negatively affect responsiveness either. By the time we got into the E350 Michigan's winter was well and truly done so we didn't have any opportunity to evaluate the low traction performance. Nonetheless we're confident that those living in northern climes will probably want to spend the extra $2,500 for the improved all weather capability.

The rear wheel drive E350 starts at $48,600 and our 4Matic sedan with the premium package (that brings a hard drive based navigation system, iPod interface, rear view camera and other features) has a bottom line of $55,925 including delivery. The EPA rates the all-wheel-drive E350 at 16 mpg city and 24 mpg highway and we averaged just shy of 22 mpg during our test. The E350 retains all the solidity that drivers have come to expect of a Mercedes while injecting a surprising amount of sporting character at the same time. The E is still more luxury oriented than a BMW 5 series but the balance has definitely been tilted. One thing the E350 definitely is not is a Crown Vic.