All Entries Tagged With: "E-Class"
Oval Revolution: The W210 E-Class Headlamps
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Mercedes-Benz W210 E-Class
WHEN Mercedes-Benz unveiled the W210 generation E-Class onto an unsuspecting public in 1995, it was clear Stuttgart had hit one out of the park. The Press was enamored. The Public, enthralled. And, importantly, BMW was forced onto the defensive.
Much of the new E-Class’ popularity boiled down to one simple aspect: the shape of the W210’s headlights. The twin sets of oval units marked a radical departure from the conservative, sealed-beam box lamps that faithfully carried the Mercedes-Benz lineup through the 1980s.
Adding to the distinctive new shape, for the first time Mercedes offered the option of blue Xenon discharge bulbs, a burgeoning technology in automotive lighting at the time.
The new headlamps did have their detractors, however. Some liken the units to “bug eyes” and missed the button-down conservatism of the 80s. Indeed, Mercedes’ design team now seems to be reverting back to a more rectangular lamp housing.
Nevertheless back in the 90s and early 00s, Mercedes’ oval headlamp style spread throughout the industry and was copied by rival marques Jaguar and Lexus, in particular.
The W210’s oval headlamps are now what the horsebit-buckles are to Gucci’s loafers and Burberry’s plaid is to, well, everything that Burberry sells; they’re so aped that even their own design houses seem resigned to producing knock-offs (the W212 E-Class headlamps seem to owe much to the current gen. Lexus GS).
Fifteen years on, their effect on the lexicon of automotive design endures.
Achtung! Mercedes Ready to Launch E-Class Cabrio
- Mercedes preps us for 2011 E-Class Cabriolet launch
- Softtop, not hardtop, more aggressively styled than milky CLK forebear
- E-Class cabrio’s power options on E350 and E550 (E500 in EU) potent but relatively mild
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler, AG
BY every measure the 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-Class cabriolet stands as a more substantial 2+2 boulevardier than its predecessor, the silky soft CLK.
Mercedes traditionally positioned the E-Class (or CLK) convertibles for a more feminine buyer but this latest iteration seems to have struck a better balance. Unlike the original W124 E-Class but like its more immediate predecessors, the E-Class cabriolet will be based on C-Class underpinnings.
Ever since the time 60s, MB designers have taken the harder edges of an E-Class sedan and rounded them ever so slightly to appeal to our softer, inner hedonists. The point was to not worry about performance or the expectation thereof (the 90s E320 cabriolet was a casual performer at best) and to just sit back and enjoy the wind in your hair.
Or not. Mercedes like BMW and the rest have previously deployed rear seat wind-deflectors to help curb back draft; the sticking point being that you ceded use of the back seats.
In the 2011 E-Class cabrio, Mercedes looks to have mitigated this somewhat by taking notes from the Volkswagen EOS and implementing their own “AirCap system” – a 2.4 inch wind screen that pops up from the top of the windshield when the roof is lowered to reduce those ill winds that give ladies “convertible hair”.
In cooler months, Mercedes AirScarf system – first deployed on the SLK and then, messily, on the SL (think ET headrests) – which will pump warm air to the driver and front passengers necks.
Rear passengers get to freeze, sorry.
But back to what makes the 2011 cabrio a more distinctive ride than the 2010.
The amoeba headlamps and soft curves of the predecessor CLK model were pretty and pretty generic. That car’s best angle was from the rear 3/4 perspective, which also gave you the impression that what you’re looking at was most any Euro-designed droptop – Is it a Peugeot? Audi? Zil?
The latest model which will bow in Detroit next month keeps the angular facia and hood creases from the E-Class sedan and then carries all that pent-up surface tension rearward along the side panels. There’s even an S-Class-ish rear wheel-well arch that rises from the rockers flows up over the wheel and then shoots aft in a straightline to the rectangular tail lights.
The cabrio’s new essence is aggressive: for the softop appears to be in forward motion even when stationary. Speaking of aggressive, the engine options are actualy fairly mild in contrast to the super-tuned behemoth V8s and V12s that we’ve come to expect.
The E350 cab will feature a 3.5 liter V6 channeling a respectable 268 horsepower with 258 lb-ft of torque, while the E550 cab’s 5.5 liter V8 keeps the horses relatively reined in @ 382 hp and 391 lb-ft, respectively. If this were the year 2000, the V8′s figures would’ve represented serious, AMG grade power.
But in a twin-turbo, 600 horsepower world, we’ve become jaded. Which is how buyers of Benz’s latest cabrio are sure to feel.
Surviving The Estate: 2010 E-Class
New horse. Old hitch.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler AG
NUMBERED are the station wagon’s days.
Sadly, trends are showing that the world’s breadboxes are being sidelined for SUVs (Stateside), Crossovers (ibid), and hatchbacks (Fair Europa). I note this decline with some regret, for I credit generations of Volvo wagons for transporting yours safely.
Lords knows what the demise of the wagon will do to the I-roll company.
That said, thanks to Mercedes-Benz’s seat-for-every-ass product-line philosophy, the station wagon isn’t going anywhere soon – at least not in this product life cycle.
The 2010 E-Class wagon whose handsome images leaked earlier in the week is a testament to Stuttgart’s commitment to an older utilitarian form of vehicular transport.
What’s more, it seems that finally (and not since the W124 generation of the mid 80s to early 90s) Mercedes has produced an estate as thoughtfully executed and comprehensively engineered as the new W212 series.
Mercedes-Benz says the new station wagon’s stuffed with more safety goodies than you can [insert whitty safety-themed metaphor here]. There’s the mnemonically titled “NECK-PRO” whiplash protection system, a lane departure system, PRE-SAFE with Attention assist, and Night View Assist Plus (Plus = pedestrian detection system) all packed tightly into a five-door wedge.
It’s more commodious than the predecesor and the exterior features actual surface tension, high shoulder lines, and a lofty rear departure angle. So better of both fuction and form worlds, then.
Perhaps it’s my fondness for traditional modes of transport, but somehow, BMW’S 5er Gran Turismo SAV seems suddenly less appealing.
eBay Watch: 1994 E320 Cabriolet
Wide eyed: early 90s E320 Cabriolet
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG eBay Motors
BIDDING’S at $4,161 as I write this piece on one cherry on cream E320 Cabrio from Pennsyltucky. A pretty example of the W124 generation of tried and true over-engineered tanks.
The odo grins six digits wide – 123,126 mi – as the camera captures the burl of unfaded, unwarped, uncracked walnut and the satiny glow of German leather, lovingly cared for. This décapotable was $80,000 or better when new.
You can almost pick up the sweet scent of mid 90′s Benz. Powered by the M104 straight six engine, winding up to an underwhelming but adequate 217 horsepower on command. This 2+2 topless tourer flexes and shimmies in the twisties.
Comes with “ultra rare Mercedes Benz key coded locking gas cap.” Huh? Engine’s in “A1 mechanical condition.”
Still, it’s cred lasts as the consummate boulevardier. Not that Pennsyltucky has all that many glossy avenues to shine down. This beauty deserves a flash home. Five days…
[Linked: E320 Cabriolet]
Suspect Sportiness: 2010 E-Class Coupe
By Gunnar Heinrich
I’M of the mind that Mercedes-Benz is really fighting like hell to be all things to all people.
Which never works. Ever. There’s accommodating and then there’s pandering – and once you pander, you’ve lost your target audience because you’ve managed to lose the plot and their trust in the process.
Mercedes can certainly do athleticism – Stuttgart hath wrought some of the baddest machines on this old block. And, indeed, Mercedes has gotten away with lithe and svelte. Consider the early generations of “Sport Light” otherwise known as the SL-Class – the Pagoda comes to mind. Even the original SLK that debuted in the 90s had a certain sporty, cute charm about its little self.
But the new E-Class coupe, which tries to draw on so many aspects of the 60s, 80s, the CLs and CLKs, Audi, Lexus, and BMW that I’m not sure what to make of it. Is it a 3-Series fighter? Probably not, given its loftier price tag. Will it do the grand tour like a Jaguar XK? Lacks the visual presence. Will it go for broke like the Infiniti G Coupe? Not as stock, it won’t.
Will it put comfort, efficiency of design, stolid but proud character first as in the W124 generation coupes and cabrios? For all the marketing associations, I don’t see that sense of purpose here.
Given that every styling gimmick has been thrown in – googley eyed four headlamp unit housing with projector beams, LED accent lights in the lower air intakes, flared wheel well arches, charred sheetmetal a.k.a. “flame surface design”, multiple sill lines, and two panes of glass for both sets of rear windows – and that’s just the outside.
On the inside, we’ve got a C-Class interior, replete with three spoke sport wheel and low-rent instrumentation that’s meant to harken back to the original Baby Benz or 190E – a car that skimped on more than a few luxuries – and, perplexingly, fixed rear headrests à la Toyota and Honda circa 1985.
Really… what does this car want to be when it grows up?
Honesty In Design Policy: W123 & W212 Benz
By John Sweeney
OBSERVING the new (W212) generation ‘E’ Class this morning, my thoughts turned, as they often do, to a gracefully aging relative. In this case, the W123 Benz.
It was the interior that did it. Perhaps it was the wide, vertical pleating on the seats, or maybe it was the uncluttered feel to the door panels, but this generation seems to have regained some of the simple elegance of what is, to many, its most recognisable predecessor: the W123.
This classic simplicity remained Mercedes’ unique ability from the 1950s right through to the 1990s. Mercedes of this period were always simple and uncluttered in design, and yet still managed to ooze quality. Somehow, the lines appeared at once both classic and undated.
In the case of the W123, this was particularly so. It’s a car that could, if we didn’t know it so well, be hard to date with any degree of accuracy. Touches like the painted wheel trims hark back to the 1950s, but the crash-resistant technology is very much 1980s in its forward-thinking outlook.
In a way, this is exactly what enabled the W123 to be so democratic and classless. It was (and is) as much at home waiting for a fare at any taxi rank in Europe as it is parked outside Harrods.
But that’s Mercedes of the old school for you: entirely honest. They never pretended to be anything they weren’t. What is particularly interesting, however, is that I get the same impression of the W212 generation.
LA Times Writer Nails Essence of Benz
The rolling equivalent of the Stainless Steel Oyster Perpetual
By Gunnar Heinrich
TYPICALLY unmentioned, but very much there – Mercedes-Benz’s dynamic car line is received quite differently depending upon which side of the Atlantic you stand.
There’s respect for the marque on both sides, to be sure. But it is usually garnered for different reasons.
No one has by means of written word summed up the trans-Atlantic perceptive variance better than Dan Neil has this past weekend.
Writing on the 2010 E250 CDI, Mr. Neil commented that the new E-Klasse is:
“…the stainless-steel Rolex of cars, steadily elegant and appropriate for any occasion, and you have to admire the alacrity with which the E-class can go from being a tan airport taxi drone in Berlin to being a valet-park star in Beverly Hills.”
[Bold emphasis added]
Couldn’t have said it better ma’self. Spot on.
[Linked: LAT]
The Trouble With Mercedes’ W210 E-Class
Legacy lost?
By Gunnar Heinrich
WHEN Mercedes unveiled the first oval-headlamped E-Class in 1996; it caught the competition off guard, rewrote the book on how a midlevel luxury sedan ought to look, and took the car buying public by storm.
The sedan (first, then frumpy wagon, and tight coupe/convertible re-dubbed CLK) was conservative enough to be faithful to years of Teutonic design language but avantgarde so as to stand in bold contrast with its siblings.
Aesthetically, it was a sensation. As feat of engineering the W210 was a round flop.
The cars didn’t age well. Online forums are rampant with complaints of body rust and poor reliability. Word of mouth confirmation from owners who happily traded to the W211 generation confirm this.
Worse, passive cell safety, while an improvement over the predecessor W124 generation, wasn’t up to par with BMW’s E39 5er or the solidity standards set by the W126 and W140 generation S-Class.
In short, the E-Class was the start of an oily slope that sent the brand down a compromised path for the better part of 10 years. It’s only now that Mercedes has begun to recover with the newly reworked C-Class that MB insists is a tried ‘n true, overqualified Benz.
That having been said, will this, the best looking yet least reliable generation of E-Class Benzes, be lost to the ambivalence of time and the wider public only to be registered by the scorn of unyielding MB conservatives?
Daimler Announces Mystic Prophesy on ’10 E-Class Residuals
The prophesies tell of a rewarding future for the 2010 E-Class
By Gunnar Heinrich
THIS has got to be one of the odder – cryptic, even – proclamations to spread forth from a car company’s press machine.
In three years time, the new E-Class will be the car with the highest resale value in the entire luxury segment. According to calculations by the market research institute Bähr & Fess Forecast in Saarbrücken, the new E 250 CDI will then realise up to 62.5 percent of its current new price, and it has therefore received the accolade of “2009 value retention champion” awarded every year by the motoring magazine Auto-Bild – Daimler, A.G. issued January 22, 2009.
Huh?
Nobody told me that the Germans were employing Delphic oracles to forecast the residual value of a model that is brand new.
Heck, the midsize luxury sedan is so fresh that aside from actually having yet to deliver the models to dealers off the European continent, Anglo sites like mbusa.com, mercedes-benz.ie, and mercedes-benz.co.uk have yet to change over their pages to the new sedan. Instead, they’re still featuring the oval headlamped ’09 (W211) genera-sedan that we’ve come to know so well.
The new Benz’s conspicuous absence must amount to some kinda conspiracy against the English speaking peoples as mercedes-benz.fr, mercedes-benz.it, and mercedes-benz.de all showcase the latest 2010 (W212) model.
How odd. Yet curious. One thing is clear and that’s Mercedes-Benz and the oracles are seeing rosy market conditions three years from now. How else could they be so (publically) sure that the E250 CDI will retain 62.5% of its original price?
With such clarity of vision, I wonder if those same mystics can tell me when the Chicago Cubs are going to win the World Series. It’s been a preoccupying concern for fans of the team since 1908.
