Wagon joins E-Class range

The three-pointed star launched its E-Class Estate at Frankfurt, back in September last year. Now the prestige importer has come good with the wagon variant for the Australian market also.

Powered by a 200kW/350Nm 3.5-litre petrol V6, the E 350 Estate is the first E-Class wagon to reach us, but there will be other models brought here subsequently. On top of that, Benz plans to introduce the E-Class Cabriolet locally in April, which would lead to a four-body range for the imported model.

According to the importer, the first shipment of the E-Class wagon has been sold out already, in spite of the E 350 Estate's price (manufacturer's list price) of $138,100, which Benz claims is actually 2.4 per cent lower than for its superseded counterpart on the W211 platform.

In addition, the new car features an extra $8400 worth of standard equipment. Among the car's comfort, convenience and safety items, there are nine airbags, driver-assistance systems, adaptive damping and self-levelling air suspension. Those nine airbags include 'pelvis bags', first unveiled with the ESF concept 2009. In addition to those and the driver's knee airbag, the E-Class Estate also draws on force limiters for the outboard rear seatbelts. Other safety features include items as disparate as High Beam Assist, PRE-SAFE and the Active Bonnet for pedestrian safety.

As an option, the E-Class Estate offers 'EASY-PACK', which provides modular floor loading and a powered tailgate facility that can be operated from the ignition key or at the tailgate handle. Also unique in the E-Class range is the rear seat, which folds forward in a 60/40 split fold from cable-pull releases situated in the luggage compartment. There are additional releases inside the C-pillars. Unlatching the seats by either means, they fold entirely flat without the need to raise seat squabs or lower/fold/remove headrests. Luggage capacity, with the seats folded flat, can liberate as much as 1950 litres.

Further to the packaging tweaks, Benz has simplified the operation of the standard cargo cover -- which can rise with the tailgate -- and the retaining net, while also improving elbow width and headroom in the rear -- the former by 51mm and the latter by 46mm.

Mercedes-Benz dealers have already begun delivery of the local-spec cars, but there are more shipments on the way.

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