The extended wheelbase Mercedes-Benz E-Class is quite certainly not a car to drive despite being quite luxurious. So what do you do when you spend a few days with itIJ
life as a car reviewer certainly isn’t bad. You get to travel to nice places, get wined and dined and then get to drive nice cars on some very beautiful and roads as well as racetracks. Back in your own city, you get to keep some of the latest and nicest cars all the time. It is nice, but there is something else. I would guess that the hippocampus of most car reviewers is better developed than the average human. You see, the hippocampus is the part of the brain responsible for spatial awareness. It is better developed because you are constantly changing cars, each with different sizes, and driving through crazy urban traffic. That can be stressful at times, especially when you consider you are driving very large and often very expensive cars.
So it was with the Mercedes-Benz E350d, the latest generation of Mercedes’ classic and best-selling sedan. When you mention Mercedes-Benz, it is the E-Class you think of, either this one or any of the eight generations that preceded it. But when Mercedes-Benz India brought the latest W213 generation of the car to India, they decided to bring in a long-wheelbase version. This is the first time a long-wheelbase version of the E-Class has been developed for a right-hand drive market and got its own special code V213.
Earlier this year, I had driven the E-Class at the time of its launch around Goa and really enjoyed being driven around in the back seat. The additional length of 205 of the long wheelbase really does make a difference to comfort. But back in Goa, we didn’t need to worry so much about the size or parking the much longer new car. But here in Delhi, parking this car at certain places became a challenge. You really don’t realise how big a car you have until you try and park it. The V213 is much bigger than its rivals, and I recently spent a week with the Volvo S90, which competes against the E-Class. It is the same with the Audi A6 and BMW 5-series.
The length also is a challenge in traffic and you remember the story of the battleship Bismarck in World War II. The gigantic battleship was alone as an armada of smaller British Cruisers and Destroyers attacked it from all sides. Similarly in traffic, the V213 feels like it is being assaulted from all sides as all the proximity sensors are going wild and you even see what is going on through the panoramic cameras. This is quite literally a battleship of a car. But you see, if you buy the new E-Class, you are almost certainly not going to drive it. And learning to master driving this car in a city is learning to become a limousine driver.
You see, while car reviewers could have a highly developed hippocampus, I would argue that a chauffeur would have an even bigger one. It is rather stressful at times, and you have to always drive with a soft pedal if you have a passenger onboard. It does make you a gentler, softer driver if not necessarily a better one. But then again, if you can find the time, there is also some time to have fun. After all you do have 258 horsepower to play with, as well as the fabulous Burmeister audio system. I would guess a passenger in the back would listen to their own music. Spending those few days with the V213 E-Class was intensive limousine driver training and if I had devised a test I would say I’ve passed.
The E350d is currently priced at Rs 67.5 lakh in New Delhi, which makes it more expensive than even its rivals. But there is no better car to be driven around in. And heck maybe one day, you could even hire me as your driver.