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our test drives or view them all

Mercedes E220 CDI Avantgarde Estate auto

THERE’S something special about a Mercedes-Benz estate.

Nothing else quite fits the bill when it comes to elegant cargo transportation, and the new E-Class estate underlines that fact by marking the return of a high quality product from the German car-building master class.

The three pointed star has been winning its fight against accusations of falling quality for some years now.

It has regained the ground it lost in the 1990s and early noughties, and if any proof was needed you have to look no closer than the new E-Class family.

Saloon, coupé, cabriolet and now estate E-Class cars are back. And they are superb.

Quality is up, refinement is vastly better than it was, and there’s an undeniable feeling of solidity and weight to this premium range.

I do have an issue with Mercedes, though – the same one I have with BMW and Audi.

The emphasis is almost always on big, powerful performance engines. All too often the real "meat" of these premium badges is lost in the powerfest that has become the norm when showcasing their cars.

That’s why I was delighted to lay hands on Highlands and Islands main dealer John Weir’s demonstrator – a relatively modest BlueEFFICIENCY E220 CDI turbodiesel.

Here is the solid ground of Mercedes supremacy – a model territory where value, quality and ability eclipse the unnecessary race for more and more performance that no-one can realistically use.

Linked to Mercedes’s smooth-changing £1,490 optional five-speed sequential automatic transmission, the luxuriously equipped Avantgarde is a perfect estate car.

It’s elegant, relaxed, economical, clean-burning and, crucially, able to swallow an impressive load.

With all five main seats in use, the boot will swallow 695 litres of luggage – fold the rear seats flat and it will then gulp a huge 1,950 litres and still have enough grunt to tow a trailer weighing up to 1.9 tonnes.

Now THAT’S an estate car!

At £34,405 complete with automatic transmission, you might think it’s hardly a bargain.

But you get what you pay for – and what you get here is a satisfying and confident express estate that takes cargo, weight and poor roads in its stride with ease.

The test car was also fitted with a handy option for those with larger families – a pair of foldaway leather-clad rear facing children’s seats neatly built into the boot floor that boost passenger capacity to a magnificent seven for £960.

It’s strictly a young child only facility with no room for even gangly teenagers – but a real boon if you need space for some additional primary school age passengers.

What’s impressive is the foldaway design of the seat, its build quality and solidity of construction.

Access is through the tailgate which opens sufficiently to make climbing in and out a relatively easy exercise for the young and supple.

For the rest of the E220 CDI’s occupants, the seating is a bit more substantial and extremely comfortable.

The Avantgarde has excellent leather facings as standard, with front heaters and electric height and seat back rake adjustment.

Like Mercedes seats of the past, they are firm but guarantee perfect support on a long run – and are still among the best in the market.

The standard package is far more generous than you’d find on a Mercedes of the 1990s.

The car comes with xenon main lighting as standard, along with the current design fad – started by Audi – that announces your arrival with a string of bright LED running lamps built into the front spoiler.

The features list is extensive: beautifully weighted power steering, 17-inch alloys, climate control, sophisticated electronic stability programming with traction control, hill holder, cruise control, four electric windows, electronic radio display, extensive driving computer facilities, and a split and fold rear seat.

That’s not bad for a manufacturer where it was once a cynical joke among owners to suggest that they would not be surprised if Mercedes started charging extra for glass!

Today’s competitive market means that even the mighty MB cannot afford to be as stingy as it once was.

The standard warranty is a three-year affair with unlimited mileage – and with quality standards improving all the time, I doubt if reliability will be an issue.

Like all larger Mercedes, the E220 is rear-wheel-drive – only the A and B Class cars are front-drivers. That means the large estate drives beautifully.

I have a soft spot for rear-wheel-drive – both my cars use this conventional drive, on a 1999 SL280 and a 1936 Riley Kestrel.

Driven properly, they handle far more cleanly than a surefooted front drive car and reward a driver with better feel.

Sure, there’s an issue when you have come through the kind of snowbound winter we’ve just experienced.

But Mercedes employs an outstanding multi-link rear suspension that is the closest you’ll ever get to front drive low friction driving security.

As long as you fit the correct tyres, and the test car failed in this respect, a properly-driven rear drive Mercedes will be no more problematical in snow than its equivalent front-wheel-drive car.

So what’s wrong with the test car’s covers? They were slinky 45 section efforts – good-looking to the style conscious perhaps, but with their wide footprint and stiff sidewalls they compromised the car’s otherwise wonderful ride quality and introduced more harshness and road noise than the E220 deserved.

If it was my car, it would be the only feature I could not live with and would change at the first opportunity for something like a 50 or even 55 section tyre.

The refinement difference delivered by “fatter” tyres is substantial and, in my book, makes for more comfortable and satisfying motoring. Even my SL rides on 50 section covers – and that’s a sports car!

But there’s no criticism intended of the car’s suspension. Tyre profiles apart, it works exceptionally well and even with 45 section rubber does a magnificent job of insulating road noise and maximising the cabin’s undeniable comfort and relaxed air in a fast cruise, or when churning over the Dava Moor in a rain-lashed gale.

What makes this car special is not just its fine design, its stylishly elegant and modern lines, its outstanding comfort precision assembly – it’s the engine.

The 2.2-litre CDI has been around for many years – but in this 2143cc guise it is so different from the sluggish 2.2 CDI I once owned in a C-Class that you’d swear it is bigger and had two extra cylinders.

The truth is that it is a four-pot common rail unit that has come of age. Thanks to Mercedes’s BlueEFFICIENCY package, it not only produces 168bhp but also delivers sinuous 295lb.ft of torque from 1400rpm and emits at just 162g/km in automatic form while capable of returning 46mpg overall.

That’s impressive on a large estate that is almost 4.9 metres long and weighs in at 1.85 tonnes at the kerb!

On the road the E220 CDI estate is a willing and relaxed drive. It accelerates strongly through the gears and covers the rest to 62mph sprint in just nine seconds.

In the cruise it is virtually silent and even at idle the compression beat is little more than a soft purr somewhere between you and the Mercedes star on the bonnet.

This is a top quality and practical large estate that remains true to the Mercedes ideal of a competent and elegant cargo carrier that feels like a luxury car no matter what speed you are doing, and behaves impeccably no matter what you might throw in the back.

It’s a top class cargo ship from a justifiably proud manufacturer which no longer has to prove anything when it comes to quality.

Rating: 8.5/10

FINAL THOUGHT: Refined and useful premium estate with a modest turbodiesel that delivers excellent power and economy. Linked with optional five-speed automatic transmission, the E220 cements the high quality image that Mercedes-Benz is regaining. Good to drive, relaxing and very comfortable.

Mercedes E220 CDI Avantgarde Estate auto

• Price: £32,915 (£34,405 with automatic)
• Capacity: 2143cc
• Power: 168bhp
• 0-62mph: 9 seconds
• Maximum speed: 134mph
• Economy: Combined 46.3mpg; Urban 34.9mpg
• CO2 emissions: 162g/km
• ESP: Standard
• Insurance: Group 33 (in new 1-50 rating system)