Mercedes Benz E350

The E-class is powered by a silky smooth four-valve per cylinder, twin-cam 3498cc V6, the same which powers the current S-class. This 272bhp provides more than enough grunt for the E-class, which is significantly lighter than the S-class (by 145kg). The throttle response is sharp has an urgency that will delight owners.

Mash your right foot into the carpet and the big E lunges forward, acceleration always strong and linear. It’s deceptively quick as well and wafts you to 160kph in under 20 seconds before going on to a claimed top speed of an astonishing 250kph. The engine is super silent and even at max revs, there’s just a murmur from under the bonnet. 

Even more impressive is the seven-speed, 7G-Tronic ’box. Equipped with paddleshifts, plus-minusing is a joy and the revelation of this gearbox is the aggressive way in which it downshifts. The Merc’s seven-speeder drops a gear more readily and you feel the effect of ‘engine braking’ just like in a conventional manual.  Driving in ‘D’ (which is what most owners will do) isn’t bad either, the ’box very responsive and the kickdown pretty quick. The options of ‘Comfort’ and ‘Sport’ mode, standard on Mercs for a while, tweak the shift pattern with the latter mode shifting gears with a bit more urgency.

A big V6 petrol engine in a 1.7-tonne car isn’t going to be economical but the E350 could have done worse. The city figure of 6.3kpl is in line with our expectations, especially since stop-start conditions with all that mass can make the engine quite thirsty. The insanely tall seventh gear allows the car to cruise at very low revs, which helped achieve an impressive 11.4kpl.