MERCEDES-BENZ E-CLASS FACELIFT FOR 2013

Amid “Festive” cheer and noises, Mercedes-Benz revealed the new facelift E-Class. We were expecting the car much earlier in the year, but that it’s come in 2012 is still fine by us. South Africa, which will see its launch in 2013, could also benefit from the Hybrid model.

Said E 400 Hybrid looks like quite an exciting prospect as it uses a 3.0-litre V6 engine to pull out 245kW and 480Nm of torque, sprints from 0 – 100km/h in 5.9 seconds, while averaging a claimed 7.5 litres per 100km. These figures compare well against its natural rivals, namely the BMWActiveHybrid 5 and the Lexus GS 450h.

So where did the face lift, so to speak? First place is obviously the uhm, face. The E-Class has adopted the company’s latest look of a wavy front end featuring brand new lights shape and a new bumper. Elegance and Avantgarde models will not look the same however, with the latter getting a sportier feel overall. The rear end is also slightly redesigned.

Good to see that the cabin is also new and fresh, and dare we say, even more luxurious than before. Mainly the dashboard has benefited and now looks like something out of an S-Class. Finishing is of either walnut of something called black ash, depending on the option ticked.

As per Mercedes-Benz tradition, there are more safety-biased technologies to look forward to, including something called Stereo Multi-purpose Camera which uses two cameras set at 45-degrees to over a 3D view and “can detect vehicles driving in front, oncoming or crossing and evaluate this three-dimensional visual information to determine their speed and position.”

Apart from the hybrid, the engines will remain largely the same, although rumours suggest the 5.5-litre bi-turbo E 63 AMG will get a power boost. Otherwise we are looking at the E 200 with 135kW, E 250 making 155kW, E350 tuned to 225kW and E 500 good for 300kW as far as normal petrols go. Diesels include E 220 CDI (125kW, 400Nm), E 250 CDI (150kW, 500Nm), and an E 350 CDI (185kW, 620Nm).