What's this all about?
It appears that Mercedes is getting in on the whole high-riding estate act, to better serve its customers in Alpine regions and those with 'an active lifestyle'... This jacked-up development of the E-Class Estate is called simply the E-Class All-Terrain and it makes its world debut at the Paris Motor Show before going on sale early next year.
How can I tell it apart from the E-Class Estate?
That's not difficult thanks to swathes of black plastic cladding on the sides, wheelarches and bumpers. Those bumpers have been restyled completely and the front one in particular looks quite distinctive, giving the All-Terrain a unique appearance. That's emphasised by a new grille design, one that's usually reserved only for Mercedes SUV models. Of course, no amount of rugged design would give the car credibility on its own, so the All-Terrain is also higher up than the regular E-Class Estate.
By much?
Not a lot on the face of it, at 29mm, though there's air suspension as standard that can raise the ride height by as much as 35mm when needs be, so that could be useful. That's combined with large wheels (minimum 19-inch), but Mercedes has cleverly fitted high-profile tyres to the car as standard, to both increase ground clearance and aid comfort. There's even a special All-Terrain mode in the driving settings to choose from to optimise the driver assistance systems for off-road driving.
And will it be able to go off-road?
It certainly seems that way. Mercedes has fitted 4Matic four-wheel drive as standard to that end, though we suspect that the All-Terrain was developed with snowy roads and car parks in ski resorts in mind rather than actually mixing it with the skiers on the slopes. And Europe appears to be where this car is aimed, too, if the all-diesel line-up is any indicator. A E 350 d version will come on stream in due course, but the sole launch model will be the E 220 d All-Terrain.
Got the vital stats on that?
Sure. It's powered by the new four-cylinder, 2.0-litre turbodiesel engine producing 194hp at 3,800rpm, with 400Nm available from 1,600- to 2,800rpm. It accelerates from 0-62mph in 8.0 seconds and has a top speed of 144mph. Emissions are from 137g/km and fuel economy is quoted as 55.4mpg.
So what will be the All-Terrain's rivals?
That's an easy one: Audi's A6 allroad quattro and the new Volvo V90 Cross Country.
Shane O' Donoghue - 20 Sep 2016