Shift stuff around real fast, or confuse supercar drivers - the E 500 Estate

 makes it all possible

By Leow Ju-Len in Munich, Germany
From CarBuyer, Issue 57

 

JUST FOR A lark (and because the other journalists snatched all the E 500 sedans before we got to the Mercedes man holding the keys to the test fleet), we decided to take the new E 500 Estate for a spin.

Like the facelifted E-Class sedan, the revamped Estate model gets new front-end styling treatment (sculpted corners for the bumper, a more upright grille and headlamps with fussier reflector clusters), but as far as I can tell, it's pretty much unchanged at the rear.

Ironic, that. You'll be seeing mostly the back of the car, after all, if it's powered by the all-new 5.5-litre V8 that goes into the E 500.

 

In a previous life, the E 500 got its motivation from a 5.0-litre V8 that had a head full of 24 valves. It revved rather lazily to produce 309bhp, great for ruling the highways and leaving a trial of flummoxed BMW drivers in your wake, but hardly the stuff of cardiac palpitation.

With the new V8 (now with four-valve-per-cylinder technology) pushing out a tasty 388bhp, the E 500 so closely borders supercar territory that it's easily the sort of car to give a Porsche driver a thing or two to think about.

This isn't an iron-fist-in-velvet-glove sort of experience, either, the big estate completely un-shy about snapping your head back with the brutish force of its acceleration. Just to try and get you properly frightened, there's a bloodcurdlingly bestial note to the V8's snarl, too.

The gap to this car's performance and the last E 500's is so glaringly large that we're surprised Mercedes-Benz isn't calling it an E 550 around the world, as it is in North America.

There are a few things to overlook, such as a general lack of steering feel, but the E 500 is otherwise a spectacularly fun car to be in, with half of the amusement arising from the visual discretion of the thing.

Anyway, just chew on this: 388bhp is only 12bhp down from 400bhp, which is what the Ferrari 360 Modena, not to mention the last BMW M5, had.

It's even quite nice in Estate guise, with useful features like a boot floor that electronically slides out of the car to ease loading and unloading.

Of course, that bodystyle also means it's the last thing on Earth that other drivers expect to be blown away by, and the E 500 Estate's ability to leave so many heads scratching is a trait that should bring a wry smile to your lips every time.

Try it, you might like it. We sure did.

 

NEED TO KNOW
 

Model Mercedes-Benz E 50 Estate
Engine Type 5,461cc, 32V V8
Max Power 388bhp at 6,000rpm
Max Torque 530Nm from 2,800 to 4,800rpm
Gearbox 7-speed automatic
Top speed 250km/h (electronically limited)
0-100km/h 5.4 seconds
Price TBA
Warranty 3 years/100,00km
Contact Cycle & Carriage Industries