E-class of its own

All the technological trappings are yours with the E500. Photo / Jacqui Madelin

Ordinary punters may see the Mercedes E-class as a class above, but for buyers it's just as much an everyday beast as your Corolla.

So we packed the E500 full with dad, two kids and grandma for a day in Wellington, then unloaded them for a blat up the Rimutakas, followed by some everyday tooling around.

In brief, I can see why the E-class is shortlisted for European Car of the Year. And why my 9-year-old passenger spent most of the next day boasting at school, for this car is a technological tour-de-force.

The clever bits might be out of that Corolla price range today, but some will filter down to everyday cars eventually.

The kids were most impressed with the cruise control, which maintains following distance. Set to 100km/h, the car maintains that speed or the slower pace of the car in front then, if that car slows for a traffic light, will decelerate to match and come to a halt. The car fires an alarm and flashing red light if your closing speed is too rapid, or just the light - even when cruise is cancelled - if it thinks you're too close to the car in front.

Great, but you soon get bored, then too easily distracted. After all, there's not much to do but trust the car in front is doing it all right. And other drivers are always perfect, aren't they ... So I wouldn't like to use it habitually.

Meanwhile, the steering wheel buzzes if you stray across a line and the car warns if you're getting drowsy. Seventy sensors read steering and other driver behaviour at highway speeds, and sound an alarm if your driving signature suggests you're sleepy.

I particularly like the voice control of stuff like satnav. Driving in an unfamiliar city you don't want to take your eyes off the road and with this, you don't need to. It's so intuitive to use that the 9-year-old could set the address. He also liked the air conditioned front passenger seat, while the car was so comfy everyone else fell asleep. So we dropped them off, and sampled the E500's performance.

Allied to the seven-speed auto this carry-over 5.5-litre V8 engine purrs effortlessly at cruise, with plentiful power on tap and air suspension isolating passengers from the road - there would be few nicer cars in which to travel long distances.

But pointed up the famous Rimutakas the 530Nm of torque came into play. Using the steering wheel-mounted paddles to hold the gears, settings in sport, I found the sort of body roll you expect in a comfort-oriented sedan, but it never corrupted the car's nice balance or its steering accuracy.

This isn't a sports car, but it is capable of more sporting a drive than I'd ever imagined. Altogether impressive.

Mercedes E500

We like

Effortless cruising, impressive handling, clever gizmos

We don't like

Engine too quiet even in go-hard mode, the $172,900 price puts it out of our range

Powertrain

5.5-litre V8, 285kW at 6000rpm, 530Nm at 2800-4800rpm, seven-speed auto drives rear wheels

Performance

0-100km/h in 5.2 seconds, 11.4l/100km

Safety

ABS, ESP, 7 airbags, reversing camera

What it's got

Heated/cooled leather seats, keyless entry and start, air suspension, TV tuner and much more

Vital stats

4868mm long, 540l boot, 80l tank