Mercedes-Benz E-Class review (2016 - 2023)

There’s a strong body of opinion that proposes the mk5 Mercedes-Benz E-Class – known as the W213 among Benz buffs - to be the world’s finest luxury executive car because of its total focus on pampering its occupants with comfort and luxury. Unlike rivals cars from Audi, BMW and Jaguar, the E-Class makes zero effort to be the sportiest car in the class. Instead, sophistication and refinement are the order of the day.

It achieves this in a variety of ways. For a start, the three-pointed star grafted to the front end does no harm whatsoever when it comes to prestige and desirability. It’s also a bigger car than the model it replaces, and with smart styling that’s very reminiscent of the larger – not to mention more expensive – S-Class limousine, the E-Class also feels more high-end by association.

Most versions are rear-wheel drive, but some variants – including all the hardcore AMG models and the All Terrain – have (or can be had with) four-wheel drive, known in Merc circles as 4Matic. Virtually all E-Classes were sold with a nine-speed automatic gearbox.

The Mercedes E-Class’s powertrain range comprises several choices, most of them turbodiesels with either four- or six cylinders, with outputs spanning 191bhp to 355bhp. By far the most popular was the E220d, a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine producing 191bhp.

Petrol choices are more limited, but include an entry-level 181bhp 2.0-litre unit, while from the company’s sports division come the Mercedes-AMG E45 with 395bhp, the 428bhp AMG E53, and the outrageous AMG E63 S, powered by a 603bhp twin-turbo V8. Buyers also have the choice of a couple of plug-in hybrids that team an electric motor with either a petrol or a diesel engine.

Regardless of which you pick, you get a high-class cabin that’s festooned with posh-feeling materials and swanky finishes. All versions – even the entry-level SE (later known as Sport) – also come with a generous roster of luxury and safety kit including climate control, cruise control, leather-effect upholstery, rain-sensing wipers, automatic emergency braking and an all-singing-all-dancing infotainment system with DAB radio and Apple Carplay/Android Auto.

You may see Mercedes-AMG E-Classes in the classifieds for very tempting prices. Do yourself a favour: resist that temptation. Unless you have pockets as deep as mine shafts, the running costs of an AMG could bankrupt you. Not only is the fuel economy dismal if you start using the performance, but by their very nature these cars have a keen appetite for tyres and brakes, too, and they’re expensive items to replace. Keep this mantra in mind: if you can't afford a new AMG, you can't afford a used one, either.

Mercedes-Benz is a premium brand so its dealers can charge premium prices for servicing and maintaining even the regular E-Class models. From new the E-Class was supplied with a three-year warranty – officially approved used cars also enjoy a one-year warranty – and if the used example you’re looking at is still within warranty then you might well be best to take it to an approved dealer, rather than taking advantage of the cheaper prices you’ll enjoy at one of the UK’s many independent Mercedes-Benz specialists.

Service intervals are typically annually or every 10,000 miles, although your E-Class’s on-board computer will alert you to the fact that a service is due and what sort of service it is. Mercedes-Benz dealers offer a fixed price monthly servicing plan from as little as £37 a month for three years and covering three services. However, you’ll need to do careful calculations, involving your local dealer’s service charges, to determine if this is actually good value or not. Canny owners take out the plan just ahead of their E-Class’s more costly ‘B’ service, thereby ensuring that during the three years they enjoy two ‘B’ services and one cheaper ‘A’.

Excluding the AMG models, fuel economy is pretty good, the E220d claiming 54.3mpg as the best of the ‘regular’ cars and the petrol E200 just scraping over the 40mpg mark. Under the curious system for measuring the economy of hybrid cars, the E300de returns 217.3mpg, but while that’ll be all but impossible to replicate in real world driving, pre-April 2017 E-Class plug-in hybrids do save you money via zero annual road tax, and all provide exemption from congestion and emissions-based charges in big cities.

Despite Mercedes-Benz overall not doing as well as you’d expect in large-scale owner satisfaction surveys, the fifth generation E-Class is, by and large, a low-hassle ownership prospect.

However – and rather like its predecessor – the W213 E-Class has been subject to a number of safety recalls, the most disturbing of which both concern the airbags. In one recall for cars built between 1/8/16 and 31/3/17, there was the possibility of the airbags not going off at all, while in another for around 400,000 UK Mercedes across several different ranges built from November 2011 and July 2017, a broken steering column spring could trigger the airbags erroneously, potentially spewing out fragments of spring at the same time. It's also worth checking that remedial work has been done is on a recall for oil leaking from a turbocharger feed pipe, which has the potential to cause a fire.

Given the complexity of the numerous safety and convenience systems in the mk5 E-Class, it’s unsurprising that electrical glitches form the majority of owner complaints about the car. The satnav system can be very slow to start up initially, and can then take two or three minutes to re-route you if you stray from the original path. Although not a widespread issue, several owners have reported that the automatic parking system has malfunctioned, in one instance trying to park the E-Class in a space that was already occupied. As a consequence, there’s some distrust of the Parking Pilot system.

As with so many modern cars, ascertain that all the relevant software updates have been carried out at the dealership, otherwise you may find issues with the satnav and with the way that the infotainment system interacts with your mobile phone. And before you drive away from the forecourt, make sure that you’ve been talked through all the E-Class’s set-up features. They’re quite complex and not always very intuitive.