Buyers of the W210 Mercedes E-class, whether purchasing new or used, expected certain attributes for their money; namely- quality, comfort and of course performance. The same is true today, however, a large petrol engine hauling along a leather-clad armchair while achieving mpg figures in the 20s just doesn’t cut-the-mustard anymore.
The last three generations of E-class were separated by 7 years, with the last of the W210’s rolling off forecourts in 02/03 and the W212 launching in 2009 but what a difference a few years make.
All versions of the E-class tick the aforementioned attributes but the W212 brought with it a level of technology that helped keep this solid piece of German engineering at the top of the executive market.
The name-of-the-game now is Efficiency and with some fantastic diesel engines tuned to compete with the likes of BMW & Audi, Mercedes almost stamped out sales of the petrol E-class; whether they meant to or not.
The gold star for the most efficient version goes to the E300 Hybrid, featuring the good-old 2.1 diesel coupled with a 20kw electric motor that combined pumped out 204 HP yet giving a jaw-dropping 67 MPG. Mercedes were the first to market with such a combo and as a result, the technology didn’t come cheap; with a price tag of around 40k you’d have needed to be doing an annual mileage of around 85,000 to make it worthwhile.
Whilst we’re poking fun by suggesting you’d need to cover 85,000 miles a year this does actually have some truth to it. The E-class sits firmly in the large executive market, meaning that high millage and the resulting maintenance go hand-in-hand. A combination that produces wear & tear that not even German engineers can cater for.
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