TEST DRIVE: The w212 Mercedes Benz E250 - All the luxury you need and a little more

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The prices of residential property in and around the Klang Valley is starting to sound ridiculous. A few years ago you could get a double story terrace house in Petaling Jaya for about RM400,000. I recently stopped by a developer's showroom for an condominium project located in Ara Damansara where I currently reside. The thousand and a bit more square foot apartment was priced in the region of Seven Hundred Thousand Ringgit. So from a few short years half a million Ringgit now gets you a studio apartment and nothing much else. So the question you have to ask is that what could I buy with RM400,000.00? A Mercedes Benz actually since a house is out of the question.

Anyway, I recently made myself available for a long test drive of the newly facelifted 2013 Mercedes Benz E-Class. The car I had my hands on for a while was an E250 courtesy of the people who sold me my C180 and I have to say that this car is a proper Mercedes Benz and more. Surprisingly more.

Mercedes Benz had changed about 2000 parts in order to make this new E-class what it is today. I believe that it is one of the most comprehensive mid-life make over we've ever seen in a car. The exterior gets a totally new front end which loses the split headlights and in our Malaysian market, also loses the traditional Mercedes Benz grille for the sportier Avantgarde variant which has a large Three Pointed Star right smack in the middle of the grille. The sides loses the 'ponton' arches which somehow makes the car look a whole lot younger and less 'uncle-like' than before. The rear gets totally integrated rear end with built in exhaust tailends. The car also sits on slightly lowered springs in the Avantgarde format and rides on 245series 18 inch tyres on nice looking 5 spoke wheels (It looks a little small though, but after trying the car out I believe this offers the best compromise between looks and ride comfort). Then add the headlight unit with its unique LED driving lights the car looks like a car that's meant for someone a whole lot younger and cooler. It no longer looks like the car your grandfather or that very old uncle of yourswould want to drive.

Chocolate Brown leather makes the car extremely cozy. Too bad it isn't showing in the photograph.

The interior gets some changes which I like too. It gets the gearshift moved to the steering column like the Mercedes Benz S-class. You now have a centre console that has more space for storage and more space for your arm to rest as well as look less cluttered and elegant too. The air vents are now aluminium unlike previously and this is a good thing. There is a clock in the middle of it ala S-class and with the leatherette wrapped dashboard it looks all pomp and expensive like a Mercedes Benz S-class. I somehow like this balance of traditional and modern. You get hip looks on the outside and a whole lot of traditional on the inside. I like this mix as the interior is a heck of a nice place to be after a day's work. The seats are large, easy to get comfortable in with its multitude of adjustments and spot on in terms of ergonomics. Everything is nice to the touch and there's a nice weight to all of its controls. 

The most important change in this new E250 E-class is the engine. From a 1.8liter turbocharged engine, the E250 now gets a 2.0liter turbocharged direct injection engine that makes 211bhp and about 350Nm of torque. Both figures are up slightly and while it is strange that in an era where everyone downsizes, Mercedes has gone up 200cc for the E-class.

It also has a whole lot of features. Naming them all will take ages so I am going to state what impresses me. The first thing that I like is the PreSafe collision warning system. It will detect whether you are too close to the car in front and give a beep. It will also lock your brakes 0.6seconds before you hit the car in front of you if your foot is still on the accelerator. It basically tries to protect you if you suddenly decide to become really stupid. It does work as when I drove the car it started to beep when I got too close to the car in front of me.

The next thing that impressed me a whole lot is that this car has Park Assist. It can park by itself in both parallel and the L shape reverse park. All you have to do is keep your foot on the brake pedal to modulate if you can't trust the car doing so. I believe only Ford offers (only parallel parking) on its Focus but this is the first for a luxury brand to offer so. Upon trying it out it was a marvel to let the car park for you.

Aside from the two mentioned above, you get the usual Mercedes Benz safety systems and other goodies. If one were to list down everything, one would have very tired fingers from typing and explaining everything to you people out there. Just trust me, the Mercedes Benz E250 has everything you don't need and more. Or was it everything you need and more. This depends on your point of view.

Driving the darn thing.

Actually this car is surprisingly good to drive. Once you're seated in the E250 and comfortable it actually feels like any other Mercedes Benz sedan that came before this when inside it. The park brake is still foot operated with a hand release like most Mercedes Benzes. I like this feature as it is a purely mechanical brake system and does not use an electronic switch like Audis or Bentleys. This is something that some motoring journalists complain about as they say it is a clumsy system and so on. I like it as it has no electronic parts to go wrong. The only drawback is if you bought a manual (not on sale here) or you like to use a hand operated brake to do a handbrake turn. But this is a Mercedes Benz. You don't do handbrake turns on a Mercedes Benz.

The column operated gearshift is a doodle to use. Select D and you're off. You can have three modes to change gears. There is an Economy mode, which I like using in city driving as throttle response is relaxed and gearchanges aren't as urgent as in Sport mode, which feels suitable when you're in the mood for a more spirited drive. You can use the manual mode to shift gears, running through all of the 7G-tronic's gears via the pedal shifters located behind the steering wheel. No, not as rapid as those in an Audi or a BMW but good enough as I can bet that any owner would use such a function once a month or maybe never.

When you're wafting around town the E250 does it very well. Better than a BMW 5series when it comes to ride comfort – the E250 comes with standard steel springs and usual fixed non-adjustable dampers that have no electronic modes of adjustments. Good for long term reliability. It however isn't as quiet as the equivalent Lexus, the GS series which is so silent that one should whisper when talking to the person beside you. The tyre roar in the E250 is subdued with the occasional tyre clobber over rough surfaces. But aside from this, coupled to the overall ambiance of the cabin, the E250 is a car one can drive and feel good for hours without feeling fatigued. 

The steering is precise and very sharp when you want it to be. I find it easy to place the E250 where I want to be. In fact when it came to response, the E250 could even be thrown into a corner with some abandon as the steering is actually fast enough. It is electro-mechanical though and it lacks some feeling because of it. You can't really complain as soon most cars will have the electrically assisted steering. It's the new standard and not much can be done about it. Having said that, I have to say that the steering is accurate, but if you wanted a little more steering feel, the current Mercedes C-class is better.

The drivetrain is also something impressive. It's a 4 cylinder turbocharged engine and it can somewhat haul this 1680kg rear wheel drive sedan to 100km/h in 7.2seconds. This figure given by the manufacturer feels right when accelerating from the traffic lights. It is supposed to haul the E250 all the way to 243km/h. Pretty impressive figures for a 2.0liter mid-sized luxury sedan. The engine is also smoother and in my opinion quieter than the outgoing 1.8liter M271 that used to sit in the pre-facelift E250. The engine adds to the refinement of this new E-class. The older engine, which is still used in the smaller Mercedes Benz C-class is noisier at higher rpm, and more clattery on idle. No, it's not an AMG V8. So the quieter it is the better.

The best thing is that this car has 350Nm of torque to play with. Fling the E250 hard into a corner and come on the accelerator mid corner causes the tail to promptly assist the car into and through the corner. The steering is fast enough to catch the small slide I caused bringing a smile to my face. With more road I can bet you guys that the E250 is capable of doing some proper powerslides if the owner wishes it to do so. It seems to be a very predictable car to actually drive fast in.

Having said that, the chassis is so good that you could throw in another 50 or 60 horses and 100Nm of torque before things can get scary in one. I always thought that you should leave the cornering in a Mercedes to the small, much nimbler C-class, but this car has proven me wrong. Owners should drive this car and wring outs its neck occasionally. Not for their chauffers to play The Transporter when the boss is away.

The 2013 Mercedes Benz E250 impressed me on many fronts. It looks younger from the outside than any current E-class has ever been but on the inside has that traditional air to it. It may never be as fast as a BMW 528i (which has about 245bhp & a great 8 speed automatic gearbox but rides a little more harshly, looks plainer if there were no Msport version and the controls aren't as tactile as the ones in the Mercedes) nor as stupendously quiet as a Lexus GS300 (which has no soul whatsoever and you could compare this to an electric shaver if you want). I suppose this car has the best balance among the two cars mentioned above.

No, I've not forgotten the Audi A6, I just think that you're better off buying an A4 as it looks the same as the A6 and it isn't a traditional rear wheel drive sedan/saloon, so save your money as it cannot do powerslides – which no one in this category would ever think of doing. Of course the fit and finish in the Audi is as good and it adds a little more glitz to the interior, but I feel the A6 does not bring anything really special to the table in the spec that is sold here in Malaysia – Hybrid A6 aside, as this car is on a price of its own and not in real contention to the Mercedes or even the other cars mentioned herein.

And I have to state again that the E250 is very luxurious in that traditional sort of way on the inside and on this point it is as good as the outgoing W221 S-class (I cannot compare this car with the newly launched W222 S-class as I haven't seen it yet). This is all the luxury you really need actually. The space in the front and in the rear is more than enough to be comfortable. And this Mercedes Benz is a car that still wafts like a proper Mercedes when you want to and when you don't want it to just waft it'll allow you to throw it around through a nice mountain road instead of moan, complain and scream it's tyres off through all of its corners. You won't get sweaty palms driving this Mercedes. This shows that you don't need rock hard suspension to make a car handle, very unlike the Mercedes Benz A200 I drove earlier.

The only drawback is that the E250 costs RM405,888 before any whiff of insurance is added to it. The E200, which is nearly the same car with less power and smaller 17 inch wheels costs RM366,888 before insurance. All the luxury you need folks and I recommend it highly if you can afford it. And forget about buying some stupid small RM700,000 apartment for investment. This car's cheaper.

That's Adlis K having a look at the E-Class....Time to let the W124 (featured extensively in motoring-malaysia.blogspot.com) have a newer sibling in your garage?

With thanks to the kind people at Cycle Carriage Bintang, Jln Tun Razak Branch.