The classic station wagon is an endangered species in America; its natural habitat is mostly taken over by taller SUVs. A handful of companies have enough of a faithful following among wagon buyers to continue offering longroof models. But they have to do it by dressing them up as quasi-SUVs.
The Mercedes E-Class is the latest example.
In April, the company unveiled an all-new E-Class sedan for the 2024 model year. It uses this week’s Munich Motor Show to follow it with a wagon version. But you could almost mistake it for an SUV.
All-Terrain Only (But an AMG May Be Coming)
Mercedes will offer its 2024 E-Class wagon to American buyers only in All-Terrain guise (though we expect a high-performance AMG model to appear later). Mercedes hasn’t revealed pricing. The 2023 version starts at $71,250, plus a $1,150 freight charge.
It will come in just one trim level. Known as E 450, it uses a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline 6-cylinder engine mated to a mild-hybrid system for a total output of 375 horsepower. All-wheel drive is standard.
Adjustable Air Suspension
Suspension upgrades set it apart from the sedan version of the E-Class. Mercedes says its Airmatic air suspension “combines air suspension bellows with adaptive ADS+ dampers for maximum responsiveness.” Sensors measure the quality of the road surface and adjust the damping automatically “to ensure that, for example, driving over a bump with one wheel is not transferred to the entire axle and interior.”
Ground clearance is adjustable. But in its normal Comfort driving mode, “the vehicle is automatically lowered by 0.6 inch at speeds above 75 mph to reduce wind resistance and improve fuel efficiency.”
An off-road driving mode creates a new “transparent hood” view that displays “a virtual view of under the front of the vehicle” on the central touchscreen “to enable the driver to better recognize obstacles in the vehicle’s path.”
In-Car Zoom Meetings
The interior comes wholesale from the sedan version, meaning a digital gauge cluster separate from the central touchscreen and new infotainment capabilities, including Zoom calls in the car. An optional Superscreen extends the screen surface across most of the dashboard, giving the front passenger entertainment shielded from the driver’s view.
From the outside, it mostly eschews the black plastic cladding common to off-road versions of wagons. So it won’t look like it’s wearing cargo pants to meet-the-teacher night. It’s almost an inch longer and 1.1 inches wider than the outgoing version, bumping cargo capacity up to nearly 22 cubic feet with all seats in place and 65 when the rear seats are folded.
