E-Class leads in technology

Would you prefer your Mercedes-Benz E-class with two doors or four? That's right. This summer, one of the company's most popular models comes as a traditional four-door sedan and a new high-fashion two-door coupe for the 2010 model year.

The E-class consistently generates a significant portion of the German company's volume. Mercedes claims that in its home country 40 percent of all models in the midluxury sedan bracket are displaying E-class badgery and that the car represents close to 20 percent of worldwide passenger vehicle sales.

Traditionally, E-class makeovers have been evolutionary. But with increasing competition from premium European, Japanese and North American (specifically Cadillac) brands, remaining cautious and conservative is apparently no longer an option.

The ninth-generation E-class manages to stake out a more ambitious and distinctive shape, yet remains instantly recognizable as a member in good standing of the three-pointed-star club. The grille now appears similar to the one affixed to the smaller C-class as well as the much pricier (by nearly $40,000) S-class sedan, while the angular headlight pods are a major departure from the ovoid lamps from the past. The new car's roofline also borrows from the more radical-looking CLS-class sedan, a car that is actually based on the E-class.

If the sedan's eye-catching silhouette doesn't set your pulse racing, the brand-new coupe just might do the trick. On the surface it seems as though Mercedes simply swapped four smaller doors for two larger ones, but the absence of a dividing post between the fore and aft sections of side glass adds the right touch of sleekness to the design. However, it's a toss up as to whether this first-ever E-class two-door is visually improved over the 2009 CLK-class design it replaces.

The new E-class shows off a cushier interior highlighted by redesigned seats with improved padding and an available massage feature.

E350-designated models come with the familiar 268-horsepower 3.5-liter V-6, while E550 versions offer a 382-horsepower 5.5-liter V-8. Both engines come from Mercedes' current stable of powerplants.

Seven-speed automatic transmissions handle the shifting duties for the two engines and both can be had in rear- or all-wheel-drive, although only the sedan can be had with the latter.

Later this year, the high-performance E63 AMG sedan will re-emerge featuring 518 fire-breathing ponies emanating from its 6.2-liter V-8. This will be followed in early 2010 by a fuel-sipping 210-horsepower 3.0-liter "Bluetec" turbodiesel engine clean enough to meet emissions regs in every U.S. state.

The E-class benefits from performance and safety technologies that are unique or have trickled down from the S-class line. Among the former is a camera-based Adaptive Highbeam Assist option that automatically varies headlight intensity, depending on the vehicle's proximity to oncoming traffic. The system will also gradually convert to high-beam mode when the road ahead is clear.

Other available techno-marvel content includes blind-spot and unintended-lane-change warning and Night View Assist Plus that can lock onto unseen vehicles or pedestrians and display them on an onboard screen.

The order form even offers a drowsiness sensor that detects inattentive driving and issues an audible wake-up alert. Then there's the radar-based emergency braking system that can foresee an imminent crash and apply the necessary braking force to avoid, or limit the severity, of impact.

Those are but the highlights, but the point is made that the E-class is in a class by itself in terms of safety, power and passenger-coddling luxury. To that you can add sparkling good looks that are standard with either sedan or coupe format.