Mercedes-Benz E 250 CDI Coupe: Long-Term Test

Mercedes-Benz E 250 CDI Coupe BlueEFFICIENCY Avantgarde
Long-Term Test

Price Guide (recommended price before statutory & delivery charges): $101,500 ($111,000 as tested)
Options fitted to test car (not included in above price): Metallic Paint $2100; Vision Package $7400
Crash rating: Five-star (ANCAP)
Fuel: Diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 5.4
CO2 emissions (g/km): 141
Also consider: Audi A5 3.0 TDI

Long-Term Tests
motoring.com.au aims to make your choice of vehicle easier. Hopefully, our Editorial section does this via our mix of news, international and local launch reviews as well as our seven-day tests.

From time to time we also take the opportunity to spend more time in a vehicle. These longer term tests can be as short as a couple of weeks, but more recently we've settled on a six-month period as indicative of 'normal' ownership.

Long-term tests give our staff writers and contributors a chance to get to know a car as an owner would. While the car is with us, we pay for fuel, pay for the servicing and generally use and live with the car as a new owner would.

We believe long-term tests give car buyers an added insight into the vehicle on test, but also the qualities behind the brand and nameplate. The extended period also allows us to touch base with the dealer networks in question.

No surprise manufacturers tend to have a love-hate relationship with long-term tests ... Six months is plenty long enough to fall out of love with the latest and greatest, and start to nitpick -- just like real owners do.

Bringing sexy back
It's not every day a premium manufacturer presents the opportunity to experience one of its products long term. But at motoring.com.au we've been lucky -- or should that be greedy. Over the years both Mercedes-Benz and BMW have furnished cars to participate in our long term test car programs.

In the case of the Bavarians it was an E60 5 Series Touring -- a car yours truly had a lot of trouble returning. But eventually the police were called, so I did... With Benz it was a base grade C-Class sedan -- supplied right about the time Benz decided its 'cheaper' cars (a relative term) should deliver more than poverty-pack essentials. Though a steadfast performer, it didn't quite win hearts to the same extent as the Beemer wagon.

Now Benz is back in 2012 with the arrival of what amounts to a change in our recent long term test (LTT) car 'habits'. LTT cars tend to be selected on the basis of practicality. But our latest three-pointed star is towards the other end of the scale. More Versace than versatile -- enter one Iridium Silver E 250 CDI Coupe.

We first drove the E-Class Coupe back in 2009. Effectively the model replaced the CLK – the change to an E badged moved it upmarket, thereby creating room for the C-Class coupe that appeared last year.

Our E-Class coupe sits at the entry-level end of Mercedes executive class offerings. Priced at $111,000 (as tested), it's modestly optioned with upgraded paint ($2100) and the so-called Vision Package as the only cost options over and above the normal $101,500 (MRLP) sticker price.

The Vision Package adds a Harman/Kardon LOGIC7 surround sound audio system and a digital television tuner. It also yields a full-size panoramic glass electric sunroof with tilt/slide function over.

The latter may sound like a gimmick but in reality it is one feature that really defines the E Coupe's cabin ambience... Especially uplifting on a grey Melbourne autumn day.

Our E 250 arrived in Avantgarde trim. Black leather seat facings are joined by black ash wood trim and black headlining and carpets. It'd be a dark little cave save for the glass roof (see above).

An amenable cave though -- the E-Class two-door comes standard with all the goodies you'd expect in the six-figure segment. COMAND satnav and audio system with Bluetooth phone and music streaming is standard. It also scores power seats with three memory points for both the driver and front passenger, effective dual-zone climate control and auto high-beam headlamps.

'Smart' wipers are fitted and the excellent brake hold function that Benz has now expanded beyond the S- and E-Class models. More of this in future updates. Why? Simply it's this brake hold function that makes Benz's idle stop-start system (also standard on the E 250 CDI) the best in the business.

While we're still talking spec’, the keen eyed will notice we've stuck with the standard 17-inch five twin-spoke alloy wheels and conventional (non-sports) ride height. No AMG frippery here.

The E 250 two-doors (petrol and turbodiesel) do, however, get Benz's slightly sharper AGILITY CONTROL suspension as standard.

No point in avoiding the Hefferlump in the hallway. Perhaps the most surprising aspect in our E-Class is our choice of engine -- it's a diesel! And a four-cylinder diesel at that.

Benz is placing a lot of responsibility on its latest twin-turbo 2.2-litre oiler. It's the launch engine for the new ML-Class which thus becomes the first large prestige softroader with a four-pot under the bonnet. This 150kW/500Nm engine will even find its way into future S-Class models.

But that's not the reason we chose it... Rather we're keenly interested to understand firsthand whether classy coupe and compression ignition can co-exist... Whether driving delight and distillate can dance to the same (somewhat clattery) tune...

So we ticked the box... And now time, and our next few LTT updates will tell...

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