Test drive Mercedes Benz E-class w211 2002-2006 sedan

Revolution. Evolution

The debate did not have time to subside on the revolutionary appearance of the famous Glavy Mercedes E, whose debut, I recall, took place in the distant 1995 (in the last century!), And the legendary manufacturer of expensive limousines has already presented a new generation of its most popular model. The level of sales of the eye V210 still kept at a fairly high level, this is a considerable merit of last year’s price correction held by the Belarusian dealer Mercedes, but starting from the summer of 2002, a new eye - more spacious, comfortable, economical. In general, the new Mercedes E-class. So, meet the new W211 ...

In the photographs, this car looks just incomparable. Professional photographers who made out press releases and catalogs have chosen the most successful and suitable angles to show how perfect the new Mercedes E-Class. Perhaps it just seems to me, because the car has not yet become familiar on the streets of our city, but in reality the e-class was simply incomparable. The machine seems to have no significant differences from the previous generation in terms of design, but when you see it at least briefly, even the most distant person from the car world has no doubt that this is really new Mercrdes. Yes, the breed is really felt ...

You feel the breed inside the car. Although over the past decade, the design of the dashboard has changed almost completely, and only the proprietary three -beam star has remained from the eternal, the interior of this car is accurately identified precisely as a Mercedes. The most interesting thing is that, like outside, inside the new E-class, too, did not undergo any revolutionary changes in comparison in the car of the previous generation. Nevertheless, the result, as they say, is evident. The advanced interior of the new E-class instantly gives out a car of the 21st century in it. But this is only with regard to the design and technology that are used in the assembly, and in everything else ...

Colleagues from Russian automobile publications, who naturally traveled on the new E-class much earlier than us, are almost unanimous in the fact that interior decoration in these cars, no matter how regrettable it, is gradually becoming too massive. Indeed, much of what the new Mercedes is in the cabin, and especially the quality of materials, more recently, it was characteristic of mass Japanese sedans - everything is convenient, reliable, somewhere even original, but there is absolutely no shk that was famous for which The former Merses. Honestly, I personally could not find anything frankly criminal in the decoration of the new e-class salon-yes, the interior really does not dust with luxury, but at the same time it significantly exceeds most of the classmates-land, not to mention Japanese or themes More American models.

Some purely ergonomic solutions did not like a little: the front seats do not have a regular height adjustment, they can raise a little up, but only while approaching. Perhaps not fatal, but sometimes, when, it would seem, I found the optimal landing, it is this inability to just raise a slightly armchair that can greatly affect the convenience of control and comfort during movement. I have not yet liked the fact that the handbrake, which is made in the form of a traditional Mercedes scabric, is located too high and pressed as much as possible to the left side. With this arrangement, it may not be accidentally hurt, but it is also not very convenient to use it either.

But the running qualities, let’s say, are traditional for the Mercedes-Benz brand. The steering is light, and even in the parking lot the steering wheel can be twisted with one finger. True, at speed, especially if you try to drive quite actively, it does not help to feel the car: you have to move to the touch, each time a slightly stroke, in order to at least approximately feel the degree of adhesion of the front wheels with the road. You can forget about the passage of turns by a fan, at least on this modification: the car simply does not give enough information about what kind of entry it goes into uncontrolled rotation. However, we will not categorically say. Due to the very limited number of these new E-classes that are allocated for our market this year, each of these cars is now literally worth its weight in gold, which means that there could be no question of any twist during the test. Therefore, we will not talk about what we have not tried.

But the fact that nevertheless managed to feel in full, it is worth telling more in more detail. For the first time, precisely on the example of the new E-class, I managed to feel the difference between BMW and Mercedes models, which experts of all automobile publications are talking about. Tell me, 7.7 seconds from a place to hundreds - is it a lot or a little? If we talk about a sports compartment, then the result is quite outstanding, and if about a prestigious business class sedan? After all, this is how much time is required by the new Mercedes E-class in the E320 version for acceleration from a place to 100 km/h, and this despite the fact that the car is equipped only with an automatic gearbox, which a priori reduces the acceleration intensity. True, these very 7.7 seconds are felt quite differently than in the same BMW - there is neither a characteristic undermining, nor the blood -chilling acceleration, when the sky sitting in the back seat already seems to be a cell. In the new Mercedes E320, this action takes place somehow everyday-creature: you click on the pedal, and after a few seconds, casting a glance at the speedometer arrow, you note that the speed has long been exceeded for one and a half hundred. Even if with a sharp click on the gas to provoke the inclusion of a kick downs, the expected wave of acceleration will not bring: the car will simply gently come to the stern and imperceptibly reach the speed you need. In general, an active driver who is used to not just moving from point A to PUNTK B, but at the same time wants to receive a portion of adrenaline along the road, the E500 version is more suitable, which will probably be much more exciting: after all, 5.9 Seconds!

As for the sensations from the new Mercedes E-class as a whole, then everything can be described literally in a few words: stylish, expensive, efficiently. Moreover, it is expensive not in the sense that the car itself is expensive, although it is, but in the fact that, sitting in the new e-class, you really really understand what the money has been paid for. The machine is literally stuffed with electronic devices, the purpose of which to control, protect, help and provide the highest level of comfort. There are electric drives literally everywhere, and you can simply not stutter about various backlights and indications there. And how many of the new e-classes of various messes, cup holders and just secret places for storing various little things! Apparently, having decided to compensate the owners with an incredibly small volume of the main glove box, which now really will enter the gloves or maximum the barricet, the designers have provided many additional places for storing small things. Take, for example, the central front armrest: the upper part of it, hidden under the wooden panels opened, was given to the place for installing the stationary phone of the GSM standard in the tested car. But this, as it turned out, is far from all. The upper part of the armrest lifts up, and under it there is another fairly roomy container in which even a small bag can be put. In addition, a small container is hidden under a wooden lid in front of the armrest, on the central console; Surely pockets on the doors will be useful. The rear passengers are not deprived of attention. The original advanced cup holders in the doors are complemented by two cup holders hidden in the central armrest. In addition, in this very armrest there is a small container in which, most interestingly, lies ... operating instructions. Her thickness, by the way, is four centimeters. The owner of this Mercedes, who probably prefers to use the driver’s services, will be something to read at leisure in order to understand all the bells of the new E-class.

By the way, since we mentioned the owner who in such cars most often drives on the back sofa, it would be a sin not to tell about what exactly awaits him. Firstly, on the back sofa of the new Mercedes E-Class is really spacious. With a length of slightly less than five meters, the new E-class has a very long base, which made it possible to make the salon as spacious as possible. And even more so - the designers went even further and even with such a spacious salon several more cunning solutions were used in order to conquer the maximum number of additional centimeters of free space. On the back of the front seats there are special recesses for the knees, so even if three fat men travel in the E-class, for sure none of them will be particularly complaining about crowding.

The new Mercedes is always something more than just a new car. This is an indicator of the status of the owner, a symbol of his well -being, if you like, a certain lifestyle. After all, you must admit, the owner of the MerCeDes lives in a slightly different rhythm than, say, having a BMW and even more so turbocharged Subaru. Dimension, stability, prestige, high status - these are the concepts that we associate with Mercedes brand cars. It was always customary to pay for quality and pay a lot, so the relatively high cost of new ones, as, indeed, used to be used by Mercedes, has not surprised anyone for a long time. However, no one is surprising and the survivability of all the models of this brand - a mileage of a million kilometers has long turned from a dream into reality. Personally, I most remember the Mercedes advertising slogan, then just Benz, which he used in Russian automobile publications in the early nineties: even the smallest malfunction can stop the entire car, and that is why we pay attention even to the most insignificant, at first glance, details. It was written that way, with an emphasis on the words of a car and details. Although then I was still little understanding in a serious car business, this phrase made an impression on me. I think she makes an impression on the company's regular customers who, having tried the real quality of Mercedes once, never try to look for something better. Because it is useless ...

SUBJECTIVE OPINION:

(+) An interesting design of the interior and exterior, a high degree of saturation with various auxiliary devices, an abundance of mess and dummies.

(-) The quality of the decoration of individual elements of the cabin, the sound of the motor at high speeds, an uncomfortable gearbox lever, the smoothness of the course.

Text: Pavel Kozlovsky
 

Source: Auto -Gazeta / N 23 (369) dated 26.06.02