Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate Review & Prices

The Mercedes E-Class Estate has long been popular with anyone who wants a posh, comfortable car that’s capable of some serious work - whether that be munching up motorway miles or carrying massive loads in the boot.

The latest model is still great at both of those things, but as with the regular E-Class saloon it’s undergone a major update for 2024 making it among the most futuristic-feeling and tech-lead cars in its class. Alternatives include the brand-new BMW 5 Series Touring and the aged (but still impressive) Audi A6 Avant, though the new Volkswagen Passat is capable of giving the E-Class a run for its money while costing a lot less.

If the old E-Class Estate was a country manor on wheels, the latest model is a new-build that may look traditional on the outside, but once you get inside it hits you with everything from a video doorbell to a home theatre. 

But this is one new-build manor with a set of cargo doors round the rear. The E-Class Estate retains a vast boot, 615 litres in capacity - though unlike old models this isn’t quite the biggest load bay on sale - the Skoda Superb and Volkswagen Passat are both significantly larger, at 660 and 690 litres respectively. 

Boot space is also reduced to make space for the batteries in the otherwise hugely impressive E-Class plug-in hybrid models, though it’s far more neatly done than it is in the E-Class saloon. Rear legroom, meanwhile, is capacious - you might find yourself rethinking the need for that big family SUV.

Up front, the E-Class features Mercedes’ ‘Superscreen’ infotainment system on some variants. This means you get a 14.4-inch central infotainment screen flanked by two 12.3-inch displays - one for driver information, and one to entertain the front seat passenger. 

Combined with multicolour ambient lighting and a steering wheel positively riddled with buttons, the sheer amount of tech inside the E-Class can be almost overwhelming. Annoyingly, some of it works better than others, and there’s a fair list of items that you’re more likely to find irritating than helpful.

The engine range is extensive, with petrol and diesel mild hybrids, petrol and diesel plug-in hybrids (the latter is a real rarity), a powerful six-cylinder diesel and of course the range-topping AMG E53, which we’ve reviewed separately. There’s a mind-boggling array of trim levels too, with around £12,000 between the cheapest and the most expensive for any particular engine - though none are what you’d call Spartan inside.

Whichever E-Class you choose, you can be assured of a comfortable time. The E-Class Estate gets softer suspension than the saloon, and as a result rides bumps in the road beautifully even when it’s fitted with particularly large alloy wheels. If you want a car that’s engaging to drive, then the BMW 5 Series Touring is definitely a better bet - but the E-Class is much more relaxing. 

If refined, spacious and posh-feeling is what you really want from an estate car, then check out the best Mercedes E-Class Estate deals available now. You can see our best deals on other Mercedes models too, or browse for a used Mercedes E-Class Estate or other used Mercedes models. And remember, when the time comes for car-changing, Carwow can even help you to sell your old car quickly and efficiently.

The E-Class Estate kicks off in the high-£50,000 range, and we suspect most will pay the premium for the E220d diesel engine, which suits the car much better than the entry-level E200 petrol. Things quickly take a step up if you want one of the plug-in hybrids, which start in the mid-£60,000s.

A BMW 5-Series Touring is cheaper for a plug-in hybrid, but like-for-like when you spec the two cars comparably there’s not much in it. An A6 Avant is similar, though it’s possible to push the BMW or Mercedes into much higher territory than the simpler Audi.

Superbly comfortable and remarkably good at eating up long distances - so no surprises that alternatives are more fun in the corners

In town

The E-Class feels like a very long vehicle when you’re driving it through town. While that has some advantages - the effect of speed humps is minimised, for example - mostly you just feel a bit cumbersome, and unlike a similar-sized SUV you don’t get that nice high driving position to see over obstacles or lord it over other traffic.

Myriad cameras, sensors and pretty good all-round visibility do help with town driving, especially parking, but there’s only so much that these systems can do when faced with such a long car. 

The two plug-in hybrids are the natural choice for town driving, given their ability to drive on pure-electric power for smooth and silent progress. But the mild hybrid engines are very smooth too, with Mercedes’ nine-speed gearbox slurring ratios together nice and slickly. There’s none of the occasional hesitation you get with, say, a Volkswagen Passat PHEV with its dual-clutch gearbox.

On the motorway

The Mercedes E-Class Estate was made to be a motorway cruiser. First, there are the engines - all of them feel at home at the national limit, and in fact several of them are more economical driving at 80+mph on their home autobahns than they are at 70mph in the UK. The nine-speed gearbox has a very long top gear, which means when you’re at a cruise the engines are barely ticking over - this means they’re very quiet and running extremely efficiently.

So efficient, in fact, that with the E220d diesel capable of hitting more than 60mpg on the motorway, you’re looking at stretching nearly 1,000 miles from a full tank of diesel. That should make any mile-muncher squirm with glee. 

It’s not just the engines either. The E-Class Estate rides bumps very well on the motorway, seeming to float over them rather than crash into them. That’s helped by estate models coming as standard with air suspension on the rear axle - it’s designed to keep the car level when it’s heavily loaded, but as a bonus it improves comfort over the saloon no end.

Mercedes’ assisted driving features are among the better ones on sale - less twitchy than Volvo’s Pilot Assist, and on par with BMW. Even the lane assist systems are relatively unobtrusive, and you can turn the annoying speed limit alert off simply by long pressing the ‘mute’ button on the steering wheel.

On a twisty road

The E-Class Estate is by no means bad on a twisty road, but it’s less enjoyable to drive than a BMW 5 Series. The steering, though nicely weighted, feels a little lifeless and isn’t as direct or as communicative as the best-driving cars in this class. And while the body movement is pretty well-controlled, there is more lean in the bends than in some alternatives and the air suspension means the car can shimmy a bit if you hit a bump mid-corner.

Performance from all the engines is good - even the 220d diesel can get from 0-62mph in less than eight seconds - but in the upper rev ranges it can sound quite rough, spoiling refinement. The same is true of all four-cylinder E-Classes, in fact - though the six-cylinder E450d and E 53 AMG do sound better.

 Extremely capacious, though not the class-leader it once was

The Mercedes E-Class is a very long car and truly aims to pamper its driver, so it’s no surprise to find space for people of all shapes and sizes behind the wheel. There’s even a feature where you input your height and the car sets the driving position for you automatically - this might work if you’re of exactly average proportions, though our long-legged reviewer needed it set four inches higher than his actual height.

Regardless, electrical adjustment and very wide, comfortable seats make life easy for bigger drivers. There’s also a reasonable amount of storage with big door bins, a capacious glovebox and an ample under-armrest cubby. The centre console contains a sliding lid which covers two cupholders and a wireless phone charger - it can be a bit of a faff threading your phone into this, though, especially if you’ve also got drinks in situ.

Space in the back seats

Very tall passengers might find the E-Class Estate’s sloping roofline to impact headroom slightly, but for most people there’s ample room back here. There’s not too much of a hump in the floor so even the centre passenger has somewhere for their feet, and three adults can travel in pretty reasonable comfort thanks to the wide rear bench.

Rear passengers also get their own door bins, air-conditioning controls, USB ports and a fold-down centre armrest, while the panoramic sunroof on some models floods the interior with light. ISOFIX points are present and correct in both outer rear seats, with plastic tunnels to help you seat the fasteners more easily - though the plastic covers are easy to lose.

Boot space

At 615 litres, the E-Class Estate’s boot is pretty vast by any measurement. However, the previous model had the biggest boot of any estate car on sale, while the current one is bested by the Skoda Superb (660 litres) and Volkswagen Passat (690 litres). Even Mercedes’ own GLE SUV has a bigger load area.

The E-Class does still beat out the 570-litre and 560-litre BMW 5 Series Touring and Volvo V90, though.

The load area is wide, flat and unobstructed, and the rear seats fold down easily for a cavernous space with a flat floor. 

Opt for one of the hybrid models, though, and you lose a lot of space with the underfloor storage compartment eaten up by batteries and a slight hump in the floor to accommodate them. This means capacity is reduced to 460 litres, which is particularly poor considering the BMW 5 Series Touring and Volvo V90 don’t lose any capacity in their plug-in hybrid versions. The Passat plug-in hybrid has 510 litres of space, so the E-Class really loses out here.

Almost overwhelmingly techy, but the base package works well and build quality is better than we’ve seen in many recent Mercs

Every E-Class is pretty sumptuously fitted out. Leather upholstery and open-pore wood trim on the centre console with proper metal fixtures and fittings all come standard, and depending on model you can opt for faux-suede microfibre seats, or upgrade the black leather to brown or beige for a lighter-feeling interior.

While many recent Mercedes models have felt a little creaky and like they’re more glitz than substance, you can’t level that criticism at the E-Class. Everything feels very solidly screwed together, and the materials are luxurious and heavyweight. About the only criticism of the build is that this E-Class does still share components with models lower down in the Mercedes range - to be expected, but it’s still a sting when your £80,000+ E-Class uses the column stalks from a £30,000 A-Class.

All models get the 14.5-inch infotainment display in the centre. This contains almost all the car’s functions - there’s a shortcut bar underneath where you can adjust the drive modes, volume and quickly turn on the parking cameras - and works pretty well. We’d still always prefer a set of physical climate controls, but the E-Class’ on-screen ones are easy to hit.

Mercedes’ navigation system is one of the better ones, and high-spec cars get the clever augmented-reality navigation which can display directions on a camera feed of the road ahead. That same camera feed does clever things like automatically showing you the traffic lights if you’re at the head of a queue, so you don’t have to crane your neck.

The driver’s display is 12.3 inches across, clear and easy to read. There’s also an optional 12.3-inch passenger display where the front-seat passenger can enjoy playing with the car’s settings or even watching videos on the move - cleverly, the screen becomes invisible to the driver when they’re doing the latter. 

Once you’ve got the car set up how you like it, you’ll probably be happy - but the sheer levels of tech within the E-Class mean that might take a while especially if you’re not quite as down with the kids as your average Gen-Z-er. Even something as simple as the ambient lighting has four separate screens of settings, for example. You could spend a week playing with all the E-Class’ features and still not find them all - which makes us question if they’re all entirely necessary.

Mercedes E-Class mpg varies depending on which engine you opt for - and indeed, how you use them. The most popular engine is the E220d, which is a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder diesel. We found that mid-50s mpg was very easily achievable with this engine, with over 60mpg possible on a long motorway run - impressive for such a big, heavy car, and it means that you have an outstanding range on a full tank of fuel.

The E200 petrol is more likely to return in the low-40s mpg, but if your mileage is mostly round town this shouldn’t bother you too much. The range-topping E450d, meanwhile, is somewhere between the two - and like the 220, much better at a cruise than round town.

The two really interesting engines are the E300e and E300de - petrol and diesel plug-in hybrids respectively. They’re both capable of a claimed 68 miles of range on a charge, which is among the highest of any plug-in hybrid - it means that even the longest commutes can be tackled on battery power alone. They also fast-charge at speeds up to 55kW so can be topped up when you’re out and about.

When running with a flat battery, the 300e returns similar economy to the 200 petrol but the 300de, like the 220d, can top 60mpg. That means you truly get the best of both worlds - EV running costs around town, and diesel running costs on the weekend. What’s not to like?

Tax bills for the two plug-in hybrids are extremely low, thanks to CO2 emissions below 13g/km. Emissions aren’t too bad across the rest of the range either, but the two hybrids are the champions here. All E-Class models are more than £40,000 and so attract the luxury vehicle road tax supplement for the first five years of ownership.

When tested by Euro NCAP the E-Class scored the full five-star rating, with particularly impressive results in all four categories. All models are generously equipped with safety kit including nine airbags, autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assistance and blind-spot monitoring. The Driving Assistant Plus package adds more assisted driving features.

The maturity of Merc’s safety kit shines through, especially after testing some of the more hyperactive systems on sale. We noted very few false positives in the E-Class, and the lane-keeping systems in particular are notably less twitchy than some alternatives. This makes them much more useful for safety purposes, as you’re less likely to be annoyed into turning them off.

The previous-generation E-Class scored a pretty impressive 27th place in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, so we’d hope for a decent record for this new model too. Mercedes as a brand doesn’t perform the best, however, and there is a stunning amount of technology aboard the new E-Class - and complexity adds uncertainty. It’s too early to make a final call on the reliability of this brand-new model, though. Mercedes only offers a three-year warranty, though it is unlimited mileage.