GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Mercedes flips E-Class wig

A full range of petrol and diesel engines, a host of semi-autonomous driving tech and more spacious seating for four adults will be the headline acts of Mercedes-Benz’s new E-Class Cabriolet.

Due to be officially shown for the first time at next week’s Geneva motor show, the convertible E-Class has grown larger in every significant dimension over its predecessor, with Benz focused on delivering greater cabin comfort.

At 4826mm, it will be a full 123mm longer than the outgoing E-Class Cabriolet as it becomes the fifth version of an E-Class range that includes the already-released sedan and estate, and the All-Terrain crossover and two-door Coupe.

The new E 63 super-sedan and All-Terrain soft-roader (the only new E-Class wagon to be sold Down Under) arrive in Australia around mid-year, with the new E-Class coupe and cabrio to follow in the second half.

The E-Class Cabriolet will finally become a proper four-seater thanks to adopting the same wheelbase as the just-revealed E-Class Coupe, which slices 660mm off the sedan’s figure.

Its folding roof is made from multi-layered, sound-absorbing cloth and can fold into or out of its boot-mounted cubby hole in 20 seconds, going either up or down in 20 seconds.

"The passion for extraordinary vehicles, which we share with our customers, is reflected in our new E-Class Cabriolet in a unique way,” said Daimler’s board member for Mercedes-Benz Cars marketing and sales, Britta Seeger. “It is a car that lets people enjoy comfort and luxury in the open air.”

While Benz is gloating about the E-Class Cabriolet being the latest in a long line of such things, it will really only is the second proper convertible E-Class (the other being the 1990s W124). The outgoing E-Class Cabriolet is, in reality, a rebodied version of the smaller C-Class, which explains why the incoming model will be so much bigger.

It has tried to turn the E-Class Cabriolet into a full four-seater, adding more than 100mm to the rear legroom and 20mm to the rear elbow room.

It will also weigh between 1755kg and up to 1965kg, depending on the powertrain, with development sources admitting the reinforcing of the Coupe’s body structure will add between 100kg and 120kg to the Convertible.

The majority of the body structure will be made from either sheet steel or die-cast aluminium, with the front quarter panels, the bonnet and the bootlid all made from aluminium.

The lightest of the Coupes, running a base 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with 135kW and 300Nm, is 1655kg, while the heaviest runs a 3.0-litre, twin-turbo petrol-powered V6 with 245kW and 480Nm. Both those engines are certain starters in the Cabriolet, along with the 180kW/370Nm version of the 2.0-litre four found in the E 300. There will also be a four-cylinder turbo-diesel version.

All E-Class Cabriolets will mate their engines to a nine-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels though, for the first time, the model will score 4MATIC all-wheel drive in the pricier, more powerful models.

Unlike the Coupe, though, there are no plans to hand the Cabriolet’s blueprints over to AMG for a hot-shot version, because it’s more of a cruising car than a hard-charging one.

A near-direct rival for Audi’s A5 Cabriolet, the E-Class Cabriolet will arrive in Australia in the second half of this year, priced at a slight uptick from the current model, though Benz has yet to confirm a figure.

A lot of the extra cost will be spent on extra size and interior technical oomph, including wireless smartphone charging, connectivity and the ability to use a smartphone as a de facto key to open, close and start the car.

Like the Coupe, the Cabriolet will ride 15mm lower than the sedan and wagon in its standard form and will run three different types of suspension systems, topping out with a multi-chamber air suspension system.

A close visual relative of the smooth-sided E-Class Coupe, the Cabriolet has only one major area where it’s smaller than its predecessor. Its luggage capacity with the roof up is 385 litres, which is five fewer than the outgoing car had, though its 310 litres of topless boot capacity is 10 more.

It’s considerably larger in every other area, with a 113mm stretch in the wheelbase, 67mm and 68mm wider front and rear tracks respectively and the car itself is 74mm wider.

Inside, the Cabriolet will carry over the Coupe’s gorgeous new interior, replete with six jet thrust-style air vents up front and two more in the rear. The long-hated foot-operated park brake will finally be confined to history, too, while there will be a 50:50 split in the rear seats to load extra-long luggage.

Like the Coupe, it will use twin high-resolution 12.3-inch display screens and a head-up display as options, while it also scores a vent to blow hot air on the front passengers’ necks while the roof is down, and the Air Cap, which extends the top of the windscreen frame’s panel forward to push the air over the open cabin area.

The windscreen itself will benefit from the new Magic Vision Control, which is a fancy German way of saying they’ve developed the SL’s wiper system to jet water precisely in front of the twin wiper blades and Benz guarantees no water will be left on the screen to block forward visibility.

The convertible won’t be the only Benz launched in Geneva, though, with the Stuttgart powerhouse also due to show its biturbo V12 Mercedes-Maybach G 650 Landaulet loony off-roader, the E 63 S Estate and four 50th anniversary AMG models.