The Agoura Hills in California The 2024 Mercedes-Benz E-Class has more modern technologies to help the driver than the 1990 190E. The new E-Class has almost twice as many features as the old one. The rest of this high-tech Benz is meant to distract you, which is good because it keeps you from walking into the path of 18-wheelers. Don’t worry—I’m not going to list them (wink).
The new EQS “Superscreen” is the less flashy brother of the “Hyperscreen.” In its best form, it has different layouts for Mercedes’ new 3D instrument panel, a well-organized landscape-oriented main touchscreen, and a screen on the passenger side that can be used as dash art when no one is there to play with it (just in case someone gets too focused on the winding road and poops on it). There are 64 colors of “active” ambient lights around the dashboard. These colors change gradually as you drive or, in a cool twist, pulse to the music. The way the “Sound Visualization” tool reacts to podcast comments is funny. That music can be played on a beautiful Burmester 4D surround sound system with Dolby Atmos. You can set the bass level of the front seat subwoofers from 1 to 10, and they can also be used to massage you. The word “4D” refers to this. If you don’t like having blurry vision, I would stay away from level 10, but after five days on level 4, I have a strange feeling that the systems on every other car will not work quite right. Also, the whole car is a temple of silence that keeps you, even more, cut off from the outside world inside its ADAS-protected walls.
People who are reading this are probably rolling their eyes and asking why I didn’t include the beautiful mild-hybrid inline-six that has 375 horsepower but only gets 34 mpg on the interstate. For instance, the height-adjustable, adaptive air suspension system does a great job of giving both old-school Benz waft and new-school Benz accuracy. On the other hand, the new rear-axle steering system makes the Big E more maneuverable in tight spaces. The engine of the next E-Class model is sure to bring up a lot of topics for discussion.
When talking about expensive cars, it’s clear that the way they look is very important to the people who buy them. The 2024 Mercedes E-Class is a great car that will make you feel like you’re on a big tour of beautiful scenery. But in real life, things are more like traffic jams on Thursday nights or driving two miles to dinner with the Goldbergs on Saturday nights. “Show” is very important. There must be a delay. In fact, the big safety net is very important, even if you like checking a few nanny boxes.
No matter what you call the above traits “show” or “distraction,” some of them have already been seen, especially in the EQS. The old E-Class, on the other hand, tried to copy more features and style cues from the S and C below, while this one looks more modern. There have been big steps forward, after all. Like the generations before it, this one is more unique. Many of the breakthroughs have already been talked about, but there are still more. With the new “Routines” feature, you can make programs like “Date Night” that play a certain song and turn on the pink interior lighting. You can also make programs that do a set of actions automatically when certain conditions are met. For example, “If it’s below 50 degrees, turn on the heated seats and turn on the ambient lighting.” In the future, Mercedes plans to use AI to make these processes for you.
Don’t worry, there will be even more HAL 9000s. A camera that sticks out from the dashboard, like the SportChrono clock on a Porsche, is one of the most creative ideas of 2024. It’s meant for TikToks or WebEx meetings that happen inside the car. Luckily, it can’t be used while driving, and the person who wants to use it has to permit the car before they can do so. Mercedes says the feature will only work if the driver knows about it or agrees to it, but having a digital eye staring back at you all the time can be creepy.
If you think of the new E-Class as a standard luxury car, the interior has better materials and a simpler design than the old one, which makes the dashboard look smaller. The air vents, in particular, are well thought out and well made, with small knobs that allow for easy positioning and safe locking. Thank you, but please keep those crazy vents that are managed by touchscreens. The pictures below show the Superscreen. If that choice is not chosen, however, the passenger screen, which may not be very useful, is not visible. Instead of the piano black screen border, you can choose from a variety of beautiful trims, such as a stylish wood trim with lit Mercedes stars. It is also possible to light up the full-O-stars grille fully. Mercedes-Benz really understands the benefits of LED lighting. Three-year-old boys do, too. Ask me how I know.
The new E-Class has a wheelbase that is 0.4 inches longer and about the same amount of extra space in each row. Because Mercedes seats are still low, tall drivers have to push their seats further back (rather than tilting the front up) than in BMWs or other brands. This means that the back seat room changes a lot more depending on who is in front of them than normal. Mercedes says the trunk can hold 19 cubic feet, which is a lot for a car, but that number doesn’t include storage under the floor. The basic trunk compartment of a luxury sedan is big, even though it’s not 19 cubes. It fits all six bags in my normal luggage test (see the full test on Monday).
The new E is a small car, even though it has a lot of space inside. The rear-wheel steering, which can turn up to 4.5 degrees compared to the EQS’s Disney-ride 10 degrees, makes it easier to see around corners and park, but it never feels like a huge, crushing Benz when you’re behind the wheel. It’s possible. Additionally, the steering could use some tweaking, even though I’ve already talked about how great the Airmatic suspension is at making the E-Class a two-way player when it comes to ride and handling. The only thing I left on Comfort was the steering. This is one of the few cars where I have everything set to Sport. The huge amount of work put into Sport cancels out the small input from the front wheels. Comfort is like the W212 E-Class’s precise but light steering, which I remember happily (2010–2016).
For now, Affalterbach says two types of engines can be bought in the United States. Both come with a standard four-wheel drive system called 4Matic and a well-organized nine-speed automatic gearbox. However, the automatic transmission might benefit from a Sport+ mode that speeds up shifts when accelerating and slows them down when braking. They both have the same mild hybrid 48-volt setup, which has a motor for the gas burner that can make 23 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque. The 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four engine in the E 350 has a 0–60 time of 6.1 seconds and makes 255 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque. The EPA thinks it will get 24 mpg in the city, 33 mpg on the highway, and 27 mpg altogether. The E 350 4 Matic with a V6 engine got 27 mpg on the highway ten years ago.
Bosch drives a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six engine in the new E 450. It has 375 horsepower, 369 lb-ft of torque, and a time of 4.4 seconds from 0 to 60 mph. It gets 25 mpg overall, 31 mpg on the highway, and 22 mpg in the city. However, I got 27 mpg over 270 miles of different driving, including a lot of max-attack canyon roads and a 34 mpg drive to and from Santa Barbara. The 3.0-liter may feel a little slower than the all-electric EQE and BMW i5, but compared to other ICEs, it’s a breeze. It moves smoothly and quickly, and it goes well with the E-Class. You can still hear the wonderful thrum of the inline-six even though the soundproofing is there. Because of how well it worked, I wouldn’t think twice about upgrading to a better model.
What bad things happen when you do that? With delivery, the E 450 starts at $69,250, and the E 350 costs $63,450. Other than the extra cylinders, the panoramic sunroof, 64-color ambient lighting, and two of the three possible dash screens are all the same. As well as the leather seats, TikTok cam, passenger screen, and AirMatic suspension, the price does not include the 3D tools and 4D Burmester sound system. To name a few. My E 450 was registered for $87,920, which includes everything I just talked about. How much is that? In 2024, I’m not as sure about what I should do with the TikTok camera.
That being said, the new E-Class will definitely look great for your family and friends at that price. It will also give you a well-organized driving experience if you still like that kind of thing.
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