Mercedes E Class review

You sit fairly high up in the E Class, but there’s plenty of front head room – even in versions equipped with a panoramic glass roof. The front seats also slide back a long way to accommodate those with longer legs.

Front storage space is decent, too. The gloss black centre console incorporates a lidded cubby that houses two cupholders, and there’s more stowage space below the front centre armrest. The door pockets are a good size, too.

There’s a lot of leg room in the back and, although foot space is a bit tight under the front seats, the rear footwells are big enough for this to not present too much of a problem. Head room is far more of an issue than it is in the front, though, and is certainly tighter than in key rivals, such as the BMW 5 Series and Jaguar XF. That said, all versions of the EClass we've tried so far have been equipped with an optional panoramic glass roof, which is likely to be partly to blame.

As is the case in most rivals, whoever sits in the middle seat in the rear has to straddle a hefty floor hump, and their slightly raised perch offers reduced head room.

Officially, the E Class has a slightly bigger boot than the 5 Series, if not the Audi A6. Still, we were able to fit nine carry-on suitcases into the E Class once we made use of a large underfloor cubby. That’s the same number that we squeezed into an A6 and one up on the BMW 5 Series. Well, that’s the case for the non-plug-in hybrid models; the E300e and E300de have significantly smaller boots because of their large battery packs. 

Whichever model you go for you’ll find the loading aperture is quite narrow, but 40/20/40 split folding rear seats are standard. The extended load bay has a slight hump in the floor but this doesn’t really get in the way. A powered tailgate is on the options list but is available only as part of the expensive Premium Pack for AMG Line trim.