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

Classic avant -garde

I will not say that Mercedes-Benz cars cause me a reverentwe of awe, but the feelings that they generate are incomparable. It seems to be the most important model, equipped with the most advanced mechanical and electronic systems. And at the same time, barely born, it has already become part of the story, because its revolutionary, as always, is so correct that in a couple of years the automobile world will not only condemn it, but rather, unanimously will accept the rules of the game proposed by it . And someday in 2027 the press will write that exactly a quarter of a century ago the production of cars of the W211 family began, on which were first applied

 

But it will be later, and today the new E-class is not so often found on the roads. At least Russian. Our car is still offered in three main modifications E 240, E 320 and E 500. Equipment levels are also three Classic, Elegance and Avantgarde. The price of prices is very large: for example, that E 320 Avantgarde that you see in the photographs is twice as much as E 240 classic without options. And this is not the limit: on our car there was no such equipment as the Airmatic DC pneumatic suspension, the self -adjusting driver's chair Multicontour and the emerging rear seat.
 
Of course, the design of the car can be discussed, but is there any need? What is the point of trying to criticize what is destined to be a recognized work of design art? Unless for self -affirmation, because in fact, for criticism, it will be necessary to look for reasons, not reasons. In general words, if you like the current Mercedes, then, of course, this one will like this, but if not then you can find fault with the form of headlights or the architecture of the stern.

  

Inside you meets the twenty -first century by his own person. And the process of penetration into the salon itself is worthy of the dreams of science fiction writers of past decades. The Keyless-GO system reads data from the immobilizer, and the doors can be opened without pulling the key from the pocket. The same applies to the trunk lid. Moreover, the car starts with a simple press of the button on the gearbox lever, without any manipulations with the ignition.
 
You can talk about the salon of the new E-class for hours. I admit that if earlier I was sure of the unconditional leadership of the interior Volvo S60/V70, now this confidence has become great. I have not yet met such a combination of sophisticated style and wealth! Moreover, wealth here does not go into the frontal attack of snow -white skin, kilograms of falsehood and chromium. Skin, wood (natural black maple) and chrome are also present here, but exactly in such quantities that correspond to the concept of impeccable taste. The impression of the high cost is created by another scrupulous attitude to details, each of which is distinguished by exquisite simplicity of shape and the highest quality of manufacture. Each button, every pen is made with great love for the brand and its admirers.

  

A separate conversation is deserved by the dashboard masterpiece of ergonomics. It includes a speedometer surrounded by a tachometer and already an order of analog hours forgotten by motorists. All control lamps are concentrated inside the dials, and the on -board computer display is integrated into the speedometer. The indicators of the fuel level and the temperature of the coolant in the form of columns are carried into the corners. Their testimony is read just excellent. And the white color of the devices excellently harmonizes with American black displays of auxiliary devices, such as the four-zone climate control of Thermotronic, which controls the temperature in the driver's area and each of the passengers of the machine.

  

Behind passengers should still be two-thirds to create inappropriate tightness and will not allow neighbors to fully enjoy life. And sitting here is no less convenient than in front. A fair supply of space, its own microclimate control unit, a transparent hatch above the heads, finally. True, unlike the front, it does not open. By the way, the entire roof of the Mercedes is made of glass; In addition, solar panels are built into it that feed the climate control fan during the parking. And one more point: pressing the air recirculation button leads to automatically closing the side windows and hatch.

Even the front seats have its own ventilation system. In addition, these seats are stuffed with electric drives of everything and the whole, and the driver’s memory is equipped with three positions. Moreover, electronics remember simultaneously the position of seats, mirrors and steering wheel, as well as climate control settings. What else to surprise you? Rain, outdoor lighting and parking sensors are found today on many machines. The steering wheel is equipped with heating, and a telephone with Bluetooth technology is already a prerogative of a representative class of machines is built into a bivalve central armrest. The full-time audio system about ten speakers sounds great, although the list of options also has luxury music from Harman-Kardon. Ah, here she is, a highlight! For access to the CD-changer, part of the central console is shifted down on the electric drive, and at the end of all the manipulations itself returns to the starting position.

   

Passive and active security systems set the level to which in the past years all manufacturers will have to be pulled. E-class received six pillows (front adaptive), two-stage belt tension limiters and an automatic system for determining the mass of the front passenger. Two sensors, in the case of an accident, evaluating the severity of the collision and initiating the operation of these systems, are carried out on the radiator mount, which allows you to win precious milliseconds.
 
Technologies used in the design of the brake system are truly unprecedented. At the E-class, as well as on the recently debuting SL, the SBC (Sensotronic Brake Control) electronic brake pedal is used. It calculates brake efforts for each wheel, and also automatically performs the drying of the brakes. SBC coordinates the operation of other ESP stabilization systems, anti -lock, anti -tuxe (ASR) and emergency braking (BAS). And the SoftStop function allows you to avoid clutch with a standard braking.

 

The brakes of the new Mercedes are impressive in practice. The most powerful thing! And you need to treat them carefully, accurately dosing the effort attached to the pedal. With smooth slowing, for example, in front of a traffic light, the car really holds horizontally, even seems to be a little squatting. When braking into the floor, the car closes with an incredible grip to the asphalt, and striving to catapult their passengers. And we must not forget to track what is happening from behind, since there are so many such brakes.
 
And how the car is going! The level of noise and vibration insulation is such that sometimes it seems as if you are sitting in a comfortable chair at the wheel of a super-proped simulator. And with the pressing of the accelerator pedal, the surrounding world, trees, houses begin to swim faster and faster towards the car. The car goes just with unearthly ease, as if planning a magnetic pillow above the ground! And with a gas pedal, Mercedes rolled as if someone had taken it and crossed one thing from all the well-known formulas of friction and resistance. The smoothness of the course in most cases does not leave the best only careless passage of large irregularities is transmitted to the body, and then with soft tremors.
 
The E-class is equipped not only with an adaptive automatic machine, but also by the adaptive drive of the accelerator, that is, depending on the driving style, not only the moments and speed of the gear shift, but also the speed of engine reactions to the movement of the gas pedal. In life, all this is difficult to feel, because, like a pedal not a topchi, the Mercedes still accelerates with aristocratic grace, without any fussiness. And the torque of the engine is always enough to shoot. To match the dynamics and controllability: the machine responds quickly, smoothly and sedately on the actions of the steering wheel. If you seriously spur in a bunch of turns, then at the first moment it is a tendency to easily demolish the front axle, and then ESP instantly enters into work, stopping the alleged skiing by pulling the car for one of the rear wheels. It even seemed to me that ESP does not trust the driver too much, trying to intervene in the machine control process.

 

So, the new E-class remained a real, purebred Mercedes, as his ancestors were. Car on the front line of technological progress, a car reveling in their perfection. Hence the very distance between a person and a machine, causing respect for this difficult mechanism and forcing him to treat him only to the living classics of the avant -garde.
 



During the test, the car is insured ASK Trust.
The car was provided by Logovaz-Neva.
 

Text: Leonid Klyuyev
Photo: Roman Ostanin
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Source: Wheel magazine [No. 59/2002]