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  The new range of sedans and coupes will be available with a range of safety and convenience technology. Photo Gallery

Karla Pincott road tests and reviews the Mercedes Benz E350 and E500.

Dull design has been banished from the Mercedes-Benz E-Class range. While the E-Class always has been one of the standards for mid-sized prestige sedans, there’s also always been a strong streak of staidness in the styling. Forget all that. The new eighth-generation E-Class looks as good as it feels.

The lines of the iconic Pontoon from about 60 years ago have been used to give the new wedge shape an arresting side contour and wheel arches, with a longer and lower stance. But there’s more than just skin-deep beauty. The new range of sedans and coupes arrives with a raft of safety and convenience technology and some new engines on the way.

And it’s also undergone one of the most intensive testing programs of any Stuttgart model, with 36 million kilometres of test driving, and 150 crash tests of real metal supported with more than 17,000 of computer-modelled ones.

Variants

The E-Class will appear on showroom floors in both sedan and coupe body styles this month with two initial petrol engines — both carried over from the current range — the 200kW/350Nm V6 E350 and the 285kW/530Nm V8 E500, and both mated to a column-mounted seven-speed G-tronic sequential automatic transmission.

While those looking for the AMG badge will have to wait until the arrival of the E63 early in 2010, later this year we’ll see what promises to be a stonking engine in the V6 E350 Cdi turbodiesel, which boasts 540Nm but a fuel economy of jusy 6.8l/100km.

However, even this fairly frugal consumption is likely to be outshone by the accompanying uber-economical four-cylinder BlueEfficiency engines, with the range being plumped out by the E250 direct-injected turbocharged petrol and E220 Cdi and twin-turbo E250 Cdi diesels.

Mercedes-Benz expects a great buyer response to the more economical versions, especially the diesel, with the public’s increasing search for better and greener solutions. “But diesel by itself is not the whole answer to the future fuel issue,” says Merc’s managing director, Horst von Sanden. “We believe there is not one single answer, but that the success of engines in the future will rely on an intelligent mix — diesel, hybrid, super-efficient petrol — all of these will be improved.”

Pricing

Prices will start from $80,900 for the E220 CDi sedan and $94,500 for the E250 CGi coupe, while the E350 will start from $128,900 and the E500 V8 from $178,900.

Equipment

The equipment list is long and pretty comprehensive, with the usual safety and comfort features being joined by the Attention Assist system that monitors your driving behaviour and inputs and sends alerts if it senses you are getting drowsy, nine air bags, repeater LED indicators in the side mirrors, lane keep and blind spot assist systems and ambient lighting. There is also speed-sensitive direct control steering and three-mode — Comfort, Sports or Airmatic — direct control suspension in the top spec.

Options include night view assist for low-light driving, adaptive intelligent lights that adjust the spread and automatically dip when they sense oncoming traffice, and radar-controlled active cruise control that lock on and keeps a safe distance from cars in front. Unfortunately we miss out on the European system that reads speeds signs, as our signs are a different shape, while the stop-go technology is available — for now — only on the four-cylinder manual variant that will not arrive here.

Driving

The E350 and E500 can be a bit sneaky, if you’re not careful. Both cabins are so quiet that there’s little sensation of speed, and you tend to creep the needle up the dial without even noticing. Neither of the engines are unwilling, but the V8 copes much better with the weighty body that is the unavoidable consequence of racks of technology being added to already hefty strengthened metal. While the column mount takes a bit of getting used to, the seven-speed transmission is smooth and snappy, and there’s no question it gets enough out of either engine to please most buyers.

But these two sit somewhere in the middle of the market — they’re not all-out fire-breathers expected of the hero and AMG versions when they arrive, but nor are they the modest and more frugal end of the spectrum that the BlueEfficiency engines will cater for. Rather, this pair will offer some extra urge for those moments when you want to stir up just a bit more, but generally encourage you to cruise around in supreme ease and comfort most of the time.

The interior fit-out is superb, and with the quality of materials married to the extra technology, the E-Class is starting to get closer to the S-Class that has always been held up as the technology standard for Mercedes-Benz. The S-Class is the car that gets all the goodies first, and then sees them trickle down to the rest of the range — but the E-Class had us wondering if there was any need to spend the extra money.

Mercedes-Benz E-Class
Price: E350 V6 $128,900, E500 V8 $178,900
Engines: 3.5-litre V6 (E350), 5.5-litre V8 (E500)
Power: 200kW at 6000 revs (E350), 285kW at 6000 revs (E500)
Torque: 350Nm at 2400 revs (E350), 530Nm at 2800 revs
Transmission: 7-speed G-tronic sequential automatic