The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is one of the Mercedes-Benz entries the open record knows by name and by date — in 1993, and by little else. That is not nothing: a name in the catalogue is where a car's story starts to be recoverable.
The background
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class is a range of executive cars manufactured by German automaker Mercedes-Benz in various engine and body configurations. Produced since September 1953, the E-Class falls as a midrange in the Mercedes line-up, and has been marketed worldwide across five generations. Before 1993, the E suffix in Mercedes-Benz model names referred to Einspritzmotor (German for fuel injection engine) when in the early 1970s fuel injection began to proliferate beyond its upper-tier luxury and sporting models. By the launch of the facelifted W124 in 1993 fuel injection was ubiquitous in Mercedes engines, and the E was adopted as a prefix (i.e., E 220). The model line is referred to officially as the E-Class (or E-Klasse).
All generations of the E-Class have offered either rear-wheel drive or Mercedes' 4Matic four-wheel drive system. The E-Class is Mercedes-Benz' best-selling model, with more than 16 million sold by 2023. The first E-Class series was originally available as four-door sedan, five-door estate, two-door coupe and two-door convertible. From 1997 to 2009, the equivalent coupe and convertible were sold under the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class nameplate; which was based on the mechanical underpinnings of the smaller C-Class while borrowing the styling and some powertrains from the E-Class, a trend continued with the C207 E-Class coupe/convertible which was sold parallel to the W212 E-Class sedan/wagon. With the latest incarnation of the E-Class released for the 2017 model year, all body styles share the same W213 platform. Due to the E-Class's size and durability, it has
Under the skin
The record carries the layout. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Where it sits
Its family tree is legible: it took over from the Mercedes-Benz W124 (pre-facelift models, 1984–1993). Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Subaru Impreza, the GM (General Motors) Hummer H1, the Subaru Outback — show what else the money bought that year. Its Mercedes-Benz stablemates include the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL and the Mercedes-Benz C124.
What it costs now
EPA combined economy is 27 mpg, about $4,000 a year in fuel at the EPA's assumptions. Condition, mileage and specification move any single car a long way from a headline figure.