Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate

Just bought this car today after trading in my C180.

This is a 1.8lit turbo, 4 cyclinder unit.

What attracted me was the 5+2 seating arrangement. The last 2 seats are for up to 1.4m tall children with good leg room.

Lots of gadgets such as attention assist (in case you fall asleep while driving), blind spot warning, parallel parking assist, auto traffic stop brake release, auto open/close rear hatch, start/stop engine button, keyless entry, auto seatbelt tightening etc.

The estate has the same length as the sedan, but is looks longer though.

Suspension is soft for comfy ride. Have yet to push the car hard to assess handling.

Seamless 5 speed auto. Comes with comfort or sports mode. Have not tried the Sports mode yet.

Seats are thick and very supportive. Has memory for 5 drivers and for all position, headrest, lumbar support, forward tilt, height, thigh support etc.

Fresh looking independent dials, not clustered together, easier on the eyes.

The side view mirrors are large.

Window tinting and reverse camera are installed locally.

This is where the E scores highly. Mercedes hasn't attempted to make a sporty mid-sized exec, just a very good one. So ride comfort both on A-roads, in town and on larger routes is very well-judged and the auto 'boxes.The E isn't cool so much as superbly rational. People will respect the choice, but it won't tempt a Page 3 girlfriend.Merc back on form here with a car that might lack the techno-festival of the S-Class, but nevertheless remains a sober, solid performer. Feels like it'll go for ages if the materials and fit are anything to go by - and it'll need to; it's going to end up as a German beige taxi doing 120,000km a year, isn't it?There's no pretention to making the E-Class the best handling car in the class, but that doesn't mean that it is actively bad, more that it is definitely more skewed towards driving comfort. It might lean a bit on tight corners, but it also soaks up potholes like a good 'un. A decent trade off for the type of car, I reckon.