Mercedes Benz E400

The Mercedes Benz E Class has and always will be, as the name suggests, all class.
The new version of one of Mercedes' top sellers is elegantly styled, roomy, and powerful, and has enough "eye candy" to draw attention wherever it goes. It's also packed with a heck of a lot of electronic wizardry to make the driving experience safer.
This is the E 400, powered by a three litre V6. It's unnoticeable at idle, but when given its head, hurls the car down the road extremely quickly, with typical Mercedes refinement.
That's not surprising ,considering the engine delivers 245 kw and a V8 challenging 480nm of torque.
The E 400 is quite a heavy car and there's some mild understeer when  pressing on at speed along winding  roads, but it doesn't detract from the overall experience. Steering input is light and responsive.
The car has a seven speed automatic gearbox, operated by a wand on the right hand side of the steering wheel. Push it down for D and  up for reverse, and Park is engaged with a button on the end of the wand. It's a good arrangement, but I often found my left hand flailing about, searching for the non existent console gear lever that every other car has. Owners will adapt I'm sure. This car had the optional AMG treatment and had steering wheel paddle shifters for those who like to do it themselves.

The old low tech, foot operated park brake is still fitted to the E400, and is released with a lever under the dashboard. Thankfully the pedal did not collide with my size 12 left foot, as the pedal swings up well out of the way. 
The suspension is reasonably civilised, but the 19 inch wheels and 35 series tyre combo that comes with the AMG pack, don't do it any favours. It's still relatively smooth, but on broken pavement the E400 can get the jitters. Tyres with a little more sidewall depth would provide a more serene ride.
Build quality is not an issue with any Mercedes Benz passenger car, everything is put together with admirable skill.

What is also admirable is the level of technology in the car. The E 400 has among other things, a gizmo called "Steer Assist." If you aren't paying attention and the car starts to wander to the left or right, sensors notice and vibrate the steering wheel three times to warn you. And that's all well and good; other cars have some kind of similar device. But Mercedes goes one better.
As well as the vibration warning, the system will gently nudge the steering wheel to return the car to the direction it should be travelling.
I experimented with this further while on a long, straight, deserted, four lane suburban road late at night.
I had my hands off the wheel but hovering near it, and allowed the car to drift slightly to the left before it detected the white lane line. Sensing this, it made tiny steering adjustments to get us straight again. I continued without any input from me and it slowly drifted to the centreline, before the system turned the car back to the middle of the lane, again all by itself. After three goes at this, a loud chime sounded and a steering wheel picture appeared in the instrument panel, gripped by two red hands urging the driver to actually take control.
Even when driving around a smooth bend in suburbia, you can feel the steering trying to follow the corner by itself, once you have started the turn. It's an odd sensation.
Many cars these days have the option of self parking.
Even vehicles such as the Ford Focus and several VW and Skoda models offer it. But the self park system in the E 400, is also capable of UN-parking the car from its parallel spot automatically. Quite amazing.
The Mercedes also allows you to set the cruising distance between you and the car in front, with an active system that will slow the car down to a complete stop by itself, if the car in front slows and stops. When stationary, a foot on the brake is a good idea however! 
Blind spot  lights flashing in the wing mirrors, warn the E 400 driver that a car is almost alongside in another lane.
You'll know you are approaching an E class at night, by its unique taillight design.

I know most people who buy Mercedes Benz are from the well heeled among us, but having heated seats as an option in a 129K car is a bit rich, especially when they are standard on many lesser cars. Some will say why do you need them? Well, on a cold winter's morning when the temperature drops to one or two degrees they are most welcome believe me.  
The leather clad seats in the E 400 are firm in the Germanic fashion, but not uncomfortable and there's a hidden storage cubby beneath the front seats. The front seats are fully electronically adjustable from the uniquely Mercedes door panel buttons.

Audio and car settings are adjusted with a console mounted " mouse," and all the instruments are easy to read and understand.

 

Audio buffs will love the high spec multi speaker Harmon Kardon sound system, renowned as being among the world's best. The boot is enormous and will swallow a huge amount of luggage.

Mercedes says lately it's seeing a lot of new customers who've previously owned other prestige marques, and with cars like the E 400 on offer, it's easy to see why. 
Peter Sellen.