The new Mercedes-Benz E250 makes a strong and affordable statement as a luxury sedan, says Christopher Chaves
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| High on the highway: The new Mercedes-Benz E250 packs in a punch at a decent price |
If the popular pastry shop around the corner flashed a reduced price-tag on the hottest selling item on its menu, you’d think that the item would sell like hot cakes. That’s what the bakers at Mercedes-Benz India had in mind when they came up with the latest E250.
On first arrival many potential buyers considered owning the Mercedes Benz E350 (that debuted last October), but the price-tag that came with it seemingly numbed the reach-for-the-cheque book nerves of quite a few people. Seeing the want for owning and running a more affordable E-class car, Merc came up with the new E250, which is basically the 350 with a heart transplant (the same motor as the C250).
From the exterior, the new E250 is very much like the E350 — its bold lines tip downward in aggression from the toned rear to the sophisticated crystal-shaped headlights up front. The visible differences here lie in the design of the alloy wheels and the obvious rear badging, which now tells of the smaller 2497cc V6 under the hood.
The interiors ooze of luxury and comfort — qualities that we have come to expect from all three-pointed star-cars. The seats, which are quite literally stitches apart from the diesel variant, offer loads of comfy support. This feature, coupled with a list of safety equipment that includes six airbags, Anti-lock Braking System and Brake Assist System, shows that though this E-class comes with a fair chunk of price missing, key safety features are very much prevalent.
Though not as powerful as the E350, the petrol-friendly 250 enjoys being revved. The sprightly engine is complemented by a sporty dual exhaust. Yes, it’s refined at idle with no vibration and noise, but on reaching higher revs the engine begins to sound abrasive.
Having a smaller heart doesn’t mean that this E-class is an underperformer in any way. From a standstill, the 100kph mark is breached in a quick 10.72 seconds (2.5 seconds adrift of the E350). As expected, the E250’s 204bhp engine has a comparatively weak bottom end but the mid- and top-end performance packs a wallop. Pumping out 24.9kgm of torque at 5500rpm, the engine is more than comfortable working incessantly at around 80 per cent of its capacity.
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The E250 uses a five-speed gearbox and employs a 7G-Tronic gearbox that makes good use of the engine. The gearbox is worked by the gear stalk and paddle shifts, both features, which are not available with the diesel version. You get two settings — ‘comfort’ and ‘sport’ — with this gearbox. The ‘comfort’ mode will do for most of your day-to-day driving.
When looking to pick up the pace, the gearbox shifts through gears in a smooth and linear manner and doesn’t require you to drastically work the paddle shift. But on slowing down, it hesitates before downshifting and finding the gear that gets you back up to speed. Thankfully, a tap on the left paddle shift allows you to rejuvenate momentum and power your way out of dicey situations. Use the ‘sport’ mode only when you want the gearbox to respond quicker and rev longer. This mode lets you downshift more aggressively too.
The ‘direct control’ speed-sensitive steering works well and is directionally precise at all speeds. It’s also light at low speeds, which helps in city traffic. As speeds increase, it weights up a bit, but lacks the feedback that you would expect. It doesn’t take much effort to flick the E250 around, another reason to drive the car yourself rather than being chauffeured around.
The suspension doesn’t give in to flaws in the tarmac easily and remains very composed when carrying speed through corners. With road and tyre noise kept at an all-time low, you can whisper through an entire conversation when seated in the cabin. Only the air-con vents at the rear, which seem to wheeze breeze when fully opened, tend to disturb the peace a bit.
The E250 does well in flaunting the classy, executive in-cabin look and feel just as well as the E350 does, with not many telltale signs separating the classmates. And, by being Rs 5.72 lakh cheaper than the E350, it has limbo-danced under the Rs 50-lakh bar, making it even more tantalising to the Indian eye.
spec check
MERCEDES-BENZ E250
Price: Rs 48.97 lakh (on-road, Mumbai)
L/W/H: 4868/1854/1471mm
Wheelbase: 2874mm
Kerb weight: 1735kg
Engine: 6-cyls in vee, 2497cc, petrol/ front, longitudinal, rear-wheel drive
Power: 204bhp at 6100rpm
Torque: 24.9kgm at 5000-5500rpm
Gearbox: 7-speed auto
Brakes (F/R): Ventilated discs/ solid discs
