   2014 Mercedes-Benz E 250 4Matic BlueTEC Diesel. Click image to enlarge |
Review and photos by Tom Sedens
The 2014 E-class has evolved slightly. Some of those taut, angular lines have been softened, and the front end has seen the biggest change. Those polarizing headlight clusters have been replaced, and the new ones are spectacular. I love the organic shape of the LED driving light strips – they are eye-catching and look aggressive coming down the road. The grille has also changed, proudly jutting out now. The famous three-pointed star hood ornament? Gone. But have no fear, it’s there – as a plate-sized grille insert. It sounds gaudy but doesn’t come across that way. There are huge restyled lower intakes and a very noticeable, chromed lower splitter in front – which will happily get acquainted with any parking curb you want to nestle up to.
Otherwise, the dimensions remain the same, and the wedge-shaped side profile does too. It retains its compressed snout and gains volume as your eyes make their way toward the back of the car. I quite like the shape, but it’s certainly not one that will get a lot of second looks.
The rear end gets some updated, wraparound LED taillights and nicely integrated exhaust tips. Fenders are filled with 245/40-sized boots on 18-inch rims.
The E-Class’s proportions are great. The car looks substantial, but never comes across as a big beast. There’s a nice balance between classy presence and livable size.
The E 250’s interior is beautifully crafted out of soft-touch plastics, black and grey wood trim and splashes of metal with lovely touches like a handsome analog clock. The fit and finish are spectacular but all the blacks and greys make it a bit of a dark, sombre place to be.
The heated, power-adjustable leather seats are very comfortable and extremely well bolstered too. Both front seats have three memory settings. Speaking of heated and power-adjustable, the same goes for the steering wheel, which has buttons for media, phone and the driver information screen. Behind it sits a three-gauge cluster, the middle being a large speedometer with a circular, incredibly full-featured driver information screen in the centre. The column-mounted gear selector is weird at first, but it frees up real estate on the console.
The centre of the dash holds an average-sized screen that handles your media, phone, vehicle settings and acts as a monitor the cameras. I’ll get back to those. It’s managed by Mercedes’ COMAND, using a rotary joystick button on the console. It’s not the most user-friendly interface, but once you learn its idiosyncrasies, it functions well. Of course, Mercedes is still hanging onto the mess of hard buttons on the dash, including a hilarious and distracting full numerical keypad.
   2014 Mercedes-Benz E 250 4Matic BlueTEC Diesel. Click image to enlarge |
The console houses cupholders, an ashtray and a real honest-to-goodness lighter and an armrest. Overhead is a dual sunroof with a powered sunshade and there’s a powered sunshade for the rear window.
In terms of front cabin storage, you’ll find a cooled glove compartment, door bins and a clamshell-lidded armrest (where you’ll find a bunch of dongles to attach media devices, as well as USB and 12V plugs). I love the bins that pop out from underneath the front of the seats.
Driver assistance tech comes in the form of a blind-spot monitoring system, front and rear parking sensors and cameras all the way around the car, front collision sensor, active parking assist and lane departure warning.
