2024 (24) Mercedes-Benz E-Class E200 AMG Line 4dr 9G-Tronic

There's plenty of life left in the E-Class model line, as this sixth generation design proves. Jonathan Crouch drives it.

Ten Second Review

Cars are rarely as crucial to their makers or buyers as this E-Class model is to Mercedes. This full-sized Executive segment contender is the backbone of the German company's range and a perennial favourite of the corporate car park. This sixth generation W214-series model retains a sensible side but dials up the desirability, aiming to offer a smarter, more prestigious approach to Executive class motoring than close competitors. It does so with more efficient engines, cutting-edge drive technology and comfort that makes you question the need for a larger luxury saloon. Arch-rivals from Audi and BMW still have quite a benchmark to aim at.

Background

Over a history going back more than 75 years, the E-Class and the models it's derived from have been at the heart of the Mercedes range. Today, there's a similarly-sized all-electric E-Class alternative in Mercedes showrooms, the EQE. But the Stuttgart maker remains committed to its core combustion luxury model, as evidenced by the depth of development that's gone into the sixth generation W214-series E-Class we look at here. According to the Three-Pointed Star, this is 'the most personal Mercedes ever', able to sense what you want even before you know you want it, be that media tech, cabin climate or drive dynamics. Much of course, including certain styling elements, is borrowed from the larger S-Class, though as usual, unlike that car, the 'E' can also be had as an estate. And of course it needs to be good, hitting the market at much the same time as new generation versions of its two arch-rivals, the BMW 5 Series and the Audi A6. To take on those two, this MK6 E-Class needs to be more than just an evolutionary step forward. Is it? Let's see.

Driving Experience

This sixth generation E-Class offers a selection of combustion powerplants defiantly still including two formats well out of industry favour, diesels and a diesel PHEV. We actually tried a diesel E-Class for this test, the 197hp 2.0-litre four cylinder E 220 d, which like all mainstream E-Class engines is a 48V mild hybrid and gets offered in the UK only in conventional rear-driven form. Throughout our test, this unit served to remind us just what a good fit a great diesel still is on a car like this, wafting around on 440Nm of torque and easing through the perfectly-spaced ratios of the smooth-shifting 9-speed auto that all variants of this car must have. There's the usual set of Dynamic Select drive modes and in 'Sport', the most urgent of these, 62mph is 7.6s away en route to 148mph. If you want an E-Class diesel with the brand's now improved 4MATIC AWD system, as towers might, you'll need the six cylinder 3.0-litre E 450d 4MATIC. This makes 62mph in 4.8s en route to 155mph and, more significantly, has 750Nm of torque, more effortlessly delivering the 2,100kg braked towing weight that all variants of this car share. The other mainstream E-Class engine is petrol-powered, the entry-level 204hp 2.0-litre four cylinder unit found in the base E 200 model. On paper, it's fractionally faster than the equivalent diesel (62mph in 7.5s and 149mph) but in reality feels quite a lot slower thanks to 120Nm less pulling power. Pulling power won't be in short supply if you opt for one of the PHEVs; there are two, the petrol E 300 e and, as mentioned earlier, unusually a diesel PHEV too, the E 300 de. They're based on the 2.0-litre petrol and diesel units we've just briefed you on but add a 125hp electric motor to the mix, energised by a 25.4kWh battery capable of nearly 70 miles of EV range. Total system output in each case is 313hp and 0-62mph in either model takes 6.4s on the way to a maximum of around 146mph. We can't help thinking right now that for most executives most of the time, an E-Class Plug-in Hybrid is a better all-round confection than the brand's equivalent all-electric EQE saloon - and the PHEV E-Class also has the advantage that it can also be ordered as an estate. Which is a body shape you might want for reasons other than carriage capacity. Unlike the E-Class Saloon, the station wagon version comes with rear air suspension as standard. Which you'll appreciate because, rather unwisely, Mercedes has decided that in standard form, the E-Class should come with quite a firmly-suspended 'Sport' version of its Agility Control suspension. And, to be frank, despite built-in selective damping, that doesn't deliver the kind of floaty, cossetting ride this Mercedes ought to have. To address that oversight, it's necessary to add the expensive optional 'Refinement package' that's been fitted to this test car, standard-fit only on the E 450 d. With this, you get all-round AIRMATIC air suspension and full adaptive damping with automatic level control, all enough to restore the magic carpet-like ride you'd want this car to have. With the 'Refinement package', Mercedes also throws in its latest rear-axle steering system, which turns the rear wheels by up to 4.5-degrees, adding extra cornering stability at speed and when manoeuvring, reducing the turning circle by up to 90 centimetres. Though it's not our focus here, we should also say a few words about the only E-Class variant we haven't yet mentioned, the Mercedes-AMG E 53 HYBRID 4MATIC+. In one hit, this replaces two W213-era AMG models, the previous E 53 (a mild hybrid) and the classic E 63 (a wildly powerful V8). Instead, for this W214-era E 53 there's a six cylinder 3.0-litre petrol PHEV drivetrain, which uses a 21.2kWh battery energising a 163hp electric motor sandwiched between the engine and the AMG Speedshift TCT 9G auto gearbox. Total system output is 569hp, 158hp down on the G90-era BMW M5 Stuttgart wants this top variant to compete with (also now a PHEV), though the 3.8s 0-62mph time of the Mercedes is just 0.3s slower than that Munich model - and it goes considerably further (up to 60 miles) on battery power. The same 2.0-litre engine also features in the E 300e Plug-in petrol model, which offers 312bhp and now gets a larger 25.4kWh battery capable of taking the car up to 69 miles without troubling combustion power. Also a PHEV is the top Mercedes-AMG E 53 HYBRID 4MATIC+ model, which can offer up to 603hp, has up to 59 miles of EV range and can get to 62mph in just 3.8s. Whatever mainstream E-Class you decide upon, your dealer will want you to consider the pricey optional 'Technology Pack', which adds AIRMATIC air suspension and a rear axle steering system that can add 4.5-degrees of turning angle, reducing the turning circle to just 10.8m.

Design and Build

Design chief Gordon Wagener describes this E-Class as 'the business icon of Mercedes-Benz', something you don't mess with, hence an evolutionary take on the 'Sensual Purity' styling theme already established in current versions of the C-Class and S-Class. With 4,949mm of length, 1,880mm of width and 1,468mm of height in saloon form, this MK6 E-Class is slightly larger than before and it's 0.23Cd drag coefficient is slightly sleeker. But you're more likely to notice the smarter gloss black-framed front grille, which can now be back-lit and is flanked by slim LED headlights. The tail lamps are narrower too and get a Three-Pointed Star illuminating signature. As before, there's an estate body style option, but this time round, there will be no Coupe or Cabriolet versions, these body shapes relocated to a newly-created CLE model line-up. Once inside, the promised 'digital experience' continues - or at least it will do if you've stretched to a version with the brand's 'Superscreen' dash. Unlike with the 'Hyperscreen' layout we've tried in the brand's top EQ saloons (which gives you one continuous screen across the dashboard), here, just the central and passenger-side screens are seamlessly integrated together, with the 12.3-inch instrument cluster display kept separate. The other thing that strikes you fairly soon after getting in is that after years of falling standards with build quality, this sixth generation design finally seems to exhibit the kind of bullet-proof build quality we once associated with E-Class models of old. Everything feels solid, the doors clunk shut, nearly all the materials used feel lovely to the touch and you're surrounded by a slim ambient lighting strip that in its upgraded 'active' form can proactively prompt you on major functions. This stretches along the bottom of the windscreen round into the doors with their intricately-crafted Burmester speaker grilles. The centre console's high, so you feel quite cocooned at the wheel and as you'd want from a Mercedes, the seats are cossetting and supportive, nor are you forced to have them in nasty synthetic leather. Not so good are the twin-level horizontal spokes of the grippy sports steering wheel with their irritatingly fiddly touch-sensitive buttons. A longer wheelbase means slightly more rear seat space, but the more conventional Modular Rear Architecture platform in use here doesn't of course free up anything like as much leg room for folk at the back as the full-EV platform in the EQE allows for. Boot capacity is 540-litres for conventionally-engined E-Class saloons - and 370-litres for PHEV-powered ones. With the E-Class Estate, there's 615-litres of boot space in conventional form (or 460-litres with the PHEV versions)

Market and Model

At the time of this test in Spring 2025, Mercedes was asking in the £57,000 to £90,000 bracket for mainstream versions of this E-Class, with a premium of just over £3,000 if you'd prefer the estate body style. The base trim level is 'AMG Line' for combustion models, where there's an extra £1,650 needed if you want to go from the base petrol E 200 version to the E 220 d diesel variant. The identically-priced petrol and diesel E-Class PHEVs have their own dedicated base trim level - 'Urban Edition', which at the time of this Review started from around £67,000. From that starting point, the range progresses through four further mainstream trim levels - 'AMG Line Premium', 'AMG Line Premium Plus', 'Exclusive Premium' and 'Exclusive Premium Plus'. If you'd like the top Mercedes-AMG E 53 HYBRID 4MATIC+ high performance PHEV model (which also comes in saloon or estate forms) well that of course is more expensive still, priced in the £92,000-£100,000 bracket across the two trim levels offered, 'Premium' and 'Night Edition Premium Plus'. If you're looking at a mainstream E-class model, then you're going to need to know that there's a bit of a price premium for Mercedes ownership if you're comparing against this car's two premium German arch-rivals in this segment. We'll use the base petrol E 200 as our comparison point (since BMW no longer sells diesels in this sector) and tells you than compared to that, you'd save around £4,000 on a base BMW 520i and around £5,000 with a base petrol Audi A6. You could also consider a Lexus ES and a Genesis G80 in this segment, but you probably won't want to. As you'd expect with this E-Class, there's also loads of advanced camera safety and drive assist kit. 'ATTENTION ASSIST', in conjunction with the optional camera in the 3D driver display, can detect signs of microsleep. If the driver's eyes are not focused on the road for several seconds, 'ATTENTION ASSIST' can detect a distraction and warn the driver acoustically and visually. If the driver still fails to turn their attention to the traffic situation, there is an escalation with a second warning and a continuous warning tone. If the driver still fails to respond to the warning, the system will initiate an emergency stop.

Cost of Ownership

No matter how advanced this sixth generation E-Class might be, if it doesn't return the right efficiency figures, business folk won't consider it. But of course, Mercedes has covered that off thoroughly here. We'll quote figures for this Saloon body shape. The volume E 220 d mild hybrid diesel variant we tried manages up to 58.9mpg on the combined cycle and up to 125g/km of CO2. The same 2.0-litre engine in the E 300 de PHEV improves those figures dramatically of course - to as much as 706.3mpg and 11g/km, thanks to a potential EV range of up to 68 miles. It has a BiK tax-rating of 8%. Switch your attention to the petrol 2.0-litre engine and for the base E 200, you're looking at up to 43.5mpg and 148g/km. The same 2.0-litre engine in the E 300 e PHEV improves those figures to 470.8mpg and 13g/km, thanks to a potential EV range of up to 70 miles. There's a BiK tax-rating of 5%. The now-larger 19.5kWh usable-capacity battery used in both PHEV models can be DC-charged from 10-80% in 20 minutes. The same 10-80% charge from an AC wallbox would take 3 hours with a 7.4kW single-phase supply; or 2 hours with a 3-phase 11kW supply. As we've told you elsewhere in this review, the top Mercedes-AMG E 53 model is also now a PHEV and its 21.2kWh usable-capacity battery can take it up to 60 miles between charges, hence a combined fuel figure of up to 313.9mpg and a CO2 return of up to 21g/km (which means it's BiK tax-rated at 8%). The only other six cylinder model in the range is the conventional E 450 d diesel, which manages up to 47.1mpg and 158g/km. What else? Well servicing is needed every 15,500 miles. And there's a three year unlimited mileage warranty, built upon by Mercedes' Mobilo scheme which delivers breakdown cover for up to thirty years, as long as you continue to have your car serviced at a Mercedes main dealer. Insurance is group 36 for the E 220 d - or group 41 for the E 200 petrol. Otherwise, you're looking at group 50 across the rest of the range. Because all versions of this E-Class cost over £40,000, they're subject to VED luxury car tax, which means a surcharge will be added from the second time the vehicle is taxed until it's six years old. Depreciation after three years and 36,000 miles is up around 50% (as good as a 5 Series) though that falls to 41% with the AMG E 53.

Summary

In the brand's attempts to bridge the gap between traditional full-Executive sector Saloons of the past and the avant garde electrified models of the future, this E-Class has become very much a 21st century conveyance, especially with the cabin's 'Superscreen' package fitted. Yet the overall packaging remains comfortingly familiar. We'd question the standard suspension set-up choice for the UK market, but with AIRMATIC springs and rear axle steering fitted, this is every bit the kind of refined, luxurious cruiser you'd want it to be, yet with dynamic attributes surprisingly close to those of its BMW and Audi arch-rivals. Overall, what's on offer here remains arguably the ultimate statement of technology and luxury in this part of the market - and possibly even a package good enough to leave you questioning the need to spend more on a larger S-Class model. 'The best or nothing' was the slogan that Mercedes founder Gottlieb Daimler's lived by. If it's yours too, then we think you'll like this car.