Every Photo of Our (Now Totaled) 2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
Life was good, until it wasn't.
Our long-term Mercedes-Benz wagon has left us, unfortunately far ahead of schedule. What follows is an account of a parking-lot incident and the damage it caused, which led to the untimely end of this long-term test.
We should have known that our local Buffalo Wild Wings was the wrong place to park such a sumptuous buffet of automotive virtue.
Two jokers in a moving van—they weren't even drunk yet!—luridly slid their vehicle's grimy back corner along the still subtle curves of the E wagon, marking its side glass with a full-length scar and turning our beauty into a hideous and deformed freak.
So we had to rush this wagon, which had a mere 7637 miles on it and had performed so perfectly for its first few months, to the ER. The diagnosis was not good. The destroyed windows would have been easy enough to replace, but there was structural damage, too, to the car’s C-pillar. Mercedes-Benz, which had loaned us this vehicle in the first place, determined that the cost of the repair—estimated at $9200—was so steep that the company instead opted to give us a new 2019 E450 wagon so that we could start a new long-term test with a clean slate.
The Mercedes-Benz E-class wagon may just be the most well-rounded new car on the market. Quick, comfortable, luxurious, beautiful, and practical, it really does do it all—and with oodles of elegance and flair.
The model has offered this rare combination of space and grace for decades, and the latest generation of the venerable E-class wagon, code-named S213 and introduced for 2017, fits into a long tradition of longroof excellence from the German automaker.
After awarding the entire range of V-6–powered E-class models a 10Best Cars honor for 2018, we unanimously decided to order the wagon variant for a long-term test.
As nice as the coupe, convertible, and sedan versions are, there’s no denying the appeal of an accomplished luxury wagon for the sort of day-in, day-out hard use that our long-term vehicles experience over 40,000 miles.
While the sedan comes standard with a turbocharged four-cylinder and wears an E300 badge, the wagon lineup starts off with an E400 4Matic model that combines a 329-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6 with all-wheel drive and a nine-speed automatic.
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
Our car’s as-tested price of $77,635 still includes the following extras: $720 for Lunar Blue Metallic paint; $1620 for brown and black leather upholstery; $150 for Black Ash wood trim; $500 for an AMG sport appearance package; $1770 for heated and cooled massaging front seats; $1900 for an air-spring suspension; a combined $1880 for all manner of other heated things such as the rear seats, armrests, and steering wheel; $1100 for an Acoustic Comfort package with extra sound deadening and thicker glass; and the $3700 Premium 1 package with features including parking assist, proximity entry, satellite radio, a Burmester audio system, and blind-spot monitoring.
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
With its huge fuel tank and good mileage—an earlier E400 wagon achieved 30 mpg in our 75-mpg real-world highway fuel-economy test, and our long-term car is averaging 22 mpg so far—we expect that this wagon will prove a popular choice for road-trippers.
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
2018 Mercedes-Benz E-class Wagon
And yes, if you were wondering, all E400 wagons come standard with a rear-facing third-row seat in the cargo area that increases passenger capacity to seven, but it’s a small-child-only zone back there.
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