Ugly, but capable. Review on Mercedes Benz E220

NOTE: THIS ARTICLE WAS FIRST WRITTEN BY ME FOR BUSINESS STANDARD MOTORING, WHERE I WORKED FOR TWO YEARS, AS ROAD TEST EDITOR

Here’s some blasphemy right upfront - I don’t particularly care for the new E-Class’ styling (here, I am talking about the ''new'' E-Class that's been launched in India about 6 - 7 months ago, and not the car whose pic you see here...). Sacrilege? Perhaps it is. But for me, the new car looks a bit... Korean! Those elongated oblong headlamps, the egg-crate grille, the tail end treatment, and even the design of those alloy wheels - all of these whisper Hyundai XG 30. Not so much Stuttgart salami, more Seoul curry.

Compared with the car that preceded it, the new E-Class might not be as great to look at, but the E 220’s performance is not too bad. For a base-model E-Class car, that is. The 2148 CC inline-four has been carried over from the last-generation E 220, and is adequate as ever. It produces 147.5 bhp at 4200 rpm, and a substantial 34.3 kgm of torque at only 2000 revs. These figures actually compare well with the petrol powered E 240 which is powered by a 2597 CC V6 that makes 165 bhp at 5750 rpm, and 22.8 kgm of torque at 4500 rpm. The E220 CDI, at 1610 kilos (kerb weight) is only five kilos heavier than the E 240, so performance is none too shabby. As with its petrol sibling, the E 220 utilises a five-speed automatic to transmit power to the rear wheels. This autobox also has the ‘Touchshift’ mechanism which lets a driver shift gears manually simply by rocking the gear lever sideways (I admit I never bothered using this feature), though the resident computer remains the boss, and will still automatically upshift once you reach the rev limit for any one gear. Actually, the automatic is capable enough on its own, though if you floor the throttle, the car takes a heartbeat to gather itself up - a downshift happens, four pistons gather momentum, and blam - you are carried away on a thick, rich stream of torque.

I know, I know, you can’t wait for the numbers, and you shall have them too. But remember, this a relatively small diesel, so don’t expect AMG-style histrionics here. That said, the 4.86 seconds which the E 220 CDI takes to lunge from 0 to 60 kph are actually 0.25 seconds less than the E 240’s time! Then again, the E 240 takes only 10.59 for the 0 to 100 kph sprint, whereas the E 220 takes 11.42 seconds to get to 100. The diesel car’s torque tells in the 80 to 120 kph run - 8.5 seconds, as opposed to the E 240’s 8.74. Of course, the latter is ultimately more powerful, and gets it own back in the 100 to 140 kph run, which it does in 9.43 seconds, whereas the E 220 takes all of 12.39. As you can see from these figures, the E 220 CDI is no VTEC-style hotrod, but then it was never meant to be one. Effortless, high-speed cruising is the Merc’s forte, and it’s very good at that. During testing, we did up to 210 kph in the E 220 (though I suspect it might go up to 215 with the aircon switched off), and the car felt completely calm and composed at those speeds. With the windows down, you can hear some diesel rumble at idle, but the engine is smooth and vibe-free at high speed, and the car never really feels underpowered. Another 40 - 50 horsepower wouldn’t go amiss (a bigger engine - the E 270 CDI perhaps - should be just about perfect!), but then greed is endless. And with a bigger/more powerful engine, the E 220’s mileage of about 8.5 kpl will likely drop to something much lower, so this isn’t such a bad deal after all.

Like with other MB cars, what’s remarkable is the E 220’s safety margin at very high speeds. The car sits on proper 16-inch alloys, which are clad in 225/55 Goodyear Eagle NCT rubber. Suspension comprises of McPherson struts at front, multi-link independent at back, and stabiliser bars at both ends. During high-speed lane-change maneouvres, the car felt calm, composed and completely safe. Unlike some other big cars (the Accord, for example...), the new E 220 CDI never feels like it may suddenly let go without warning, which, given its propensity to head into triple-digit-speed zone at the first possible opportunity, is a blessing. As usual, there are a host of electronic driver-aids quietly toiling away in the background, making sure the driver doesn’t get into trouble. There’s the very efficient anti-lock braking (ABS) which seems to be better than ABS systems employed by most other manufacturers. Mash the brakes to the floor, and the pedal doesn’t pulse and quiver madly - it just stops the car in double-quick time. Our E 220 did the 0 - 100 - 0 in 14.14 seconds, and the car simply came to a standstill in a straight line, without any sideways drama whatsoever. The ABS is complemented by what Mercedes Benz calls ‘Sensotronic Brake Control’ (SBC), which represents another advancement in braking technology. What SBC does is calculate optimum braking force for each individual wheel, and modulates braking accordingly. This, together with EBD (‘electronic brake force distribution’), BAS (‘brake assist’) and ESP (‘electronic stability program’ which is basically traction control...) makes getting into trouble close to impossible, though there’s still a full brace of airbags (SRS) if you do manage to crash the thing somehow!

So, is the new E 220 CDI worth Rs thirty-five lakhs? Well, it’s difficult to justify spending that much on a car - any car - but if you have to justify the expense, you would have been walking to work. The E 220 is substantially more spacious, refined and powerful than the C-Class cars sold here, has much more torque than the E 240’s petrol V6, is only 20 horsepower down on that car, and offers much lower running costs. I would only say that until MB bring the E 270 CDI to India, this, the E 220 CDI, is the Mercedes Benz to buy.