2024 MERCEDES E-CLASS CELEBRATES THE SEDAN IN A WORLD OF SUVS
- The iconic Mercedes E-Class sedan is new for 2024, riding on a new platform with a freshened front and rear look and a sweeping Superscreen inside.
- You get a choice of improved 2.0-liter turbo-four or 3.0-liter turbo straight-six engines. Both get 48-volt mild hybrids for efficiency.
- Prices start at $63,450 for the E 350 and $69,250 for the E 450. They're in showrooms now.
You can’t drive down the road anywhere in America without seeing SUVs, crossovers, and other things that trace their heritage back to off-roaders only about as much as we trace our genetic makeup back to monkeys.
Into this world, while every other automaker, darn near, has given over entirely to the almighty SUV and crossover, Mercedes, the company that invented the automobile, offers a sedan. Several sedans. And a bunch of coupes, convertibles, roadsters, and wagons, too.
We should all kneel down, or at least genuflect in reflective contemplation if not an outright Danke Schoen to Mercedes for just giving us options that are not crossover utility vehicles.
Among the six sedans, five coupes, two convertibles, one roadster and a wagon in the Mercedes fleet right now is our subject car, the new 2024 E-Class sedan.
“There’s still a market out there for sedans,” said Paul Harmon, Mercedes product manager for the E-Class (and a bunch of other cars).
It’s still there, like print magazines and bundled cable television. A little over 20 years ago the E-Class sedan was selling almost 200,000 units a year in the US. That number has steadily declined, with a bump up every time there was a new model cycle. The figure last year was 17,075, if you include the CLS.
So it’s not a big market, but it’s at least profitable for Mercedes and, as I said, we should all be grateful the option still exists. It won’t be long until we’re all going to be packed off in autonomous internet-connected infotainment bathtub electric cocoon pods that we can’t drive at all. So enjoy these days while you still can!
And you will enjoy the big E.
The E-Class is considered all-new for 2024, Mercedes says. It’s based on the MRA II platform that also underpins the current C-Class and S-Class, while the prior generation E-Class was built on the earlier version of the MRA platform. It also has a slightly longer wheelbase (0.87 inches) than its predecessor.
It comes with your choice of two engines, both considered "improved" by Mercedes. In the E 350 4MATIC, the 2.0-liter four now gets a 48V mild hybrid system that boosts the engine at lower rpms with up to 23 hp and 148 lb-ft of torque. The gas 2.0 itself produces an additional 22 lb-ft of torque (295 lb-ft vs. 273 lb-ft) and achieves better fuel economy across the board for 2024 (24 city/33 hwy/27 comb vs. 22/30/25).
The 3.0-liter engine in the E 450 4MATIC is revised as well, with 13 hp more than the outgoing E-Class (375 hp vs. 362 hp). Despite the modest increase in power, the new E 450 4MATIC accelerates from 0 to 60 mph significantly quicker than its predecessor, taking 4.4 seconds to 60 vs. 4.9 seconds.
The mild hybrid is made up of an integrated starter/generator that resides inside the transmission housing to make the gas engine more efficient. The 48-volt system knows when to glide, boost, and recover energy.
Both E-Class models come standard with Mercedes’ 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system.
To keep it all in line there are four links in the suspension at each front wheel and five at each rear. Controlling movement at each corner is a combined spring and damper unit, but if you get the Technology Package you’ll get the AIRMATIC air suspension system with Mercedes’ ADS+ continuously adjustable damping and rear-axle steering.
The steering angle at the rear is 4.5 degrees, which reduces the sedan’s turning circle by up to 35.4 inches, over three feet, which makes a difference when turning around in my street.
How does it feel behind the wheel? It carries the Mercedes tradition of combining luxury with controlled sportiness into 2024. I drove it for a while around city and suburban streets first. There you’ll appreciate the ginormous and appropriately named Superscreen infotainment extravaganza that was on my E 450.
At a stop, I was able to enjoy a game of Angry Birds from the driver’s seat. Under way, your front-seat passenger can play the same game on the section of Superscreen that greets them, without you seeing it. A camera detects the front seat passenger and opens the right side of the Superscreen.
If under way, the driver must not see what's on that half of the screen, so the passenger can be fully entertained without distracting the driver.
Both you, when stopped, and them, whenever, can access TikTok, the collaborative application Webex, and even Zoom, not to mention the web browser Vivaldi. A new "Routines" function allows you to personalize this electronic edifice to your liking.
Then, just because I could, I took the new E 450 4MATIC up my favorite mountain road. I adjusted the optional AIRMATIC suspension on my car to "Sport" at all settings and had at it. The car stayed in line nicely, with body roll seemingly eliminated.
The Continental Ecocontact 6Q tires on this model’s 21-inch rims never complained. You have to really push them to get even a squeal. The response from the E 450 was more on the comfort side, seemingly more at ease under way than the desperate electronic immediacy of a typical AMG product, and I liked that.
There was none of the AMG’s overboosted responses—the E 450 felt just a little muffled, a little more tilted toward sporty comfort than all-out performance. Apart from the somewhat numbed steering feel, the rest of it was quite pleasant, even on that mountain road.
Of course, if that's not enough for you, the AMG E 53 Hybrid will launch later this year. The AMG model is also based on the E’s new platform, but mechanically it’s significantly different, with a modified body shell, and everything else on it dialed up to A-M-G.
The AMG-tuned turbocharged 3.0-liter straight six and integrated electric motor make 577 hp, or 604 hp with RACE START, while combined system torque is up to 553 lb-ft. Acceleration from 0-60 mph takes 3.7 seconds (again, with RACE START). The top speed is electronically limited to 174 mph, and AMG says it'll drive on electricity alone up to 87 mph.
That's because the AMG model's electric motor makes 161 hp all by itself. Its 354 lb-ft of torque is available right off the line, too. A 400-volt, 28.6-kWh battery stores juice for when it’s needed.
Heck, on the AMG E-Class Hybrid, the Angry Birds might even be angrier.
Pricing for the AMG Hybrid version is not out yet, but the non-AMG E-Class starts at $63,450 for the E 350, and $69,250 for the E 450. Those two models are in showrooms now. So go celebrate the continued existence of the sedan, while you still can.
Are you glad there are still sedans in the world, especially sedans as nice as this one? Please comment below.
Looking to purchase a car? Find your match on the MSN Autos Marketplace 2024-03-28T20:35:19Z dg43tfdfdgfd