2001 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Luxury Car Reviews & Ratings

You look out over the hood and can't see the fenders because they slope away so artfully, lending to the excellent 0.29 Cd aerodynamics. All you see is the big tri-star hood ornament, which may impress you with your own stature.

The leather interior in our E430 was a two-tone tan that stated dignity, dignity, dignity. As would be expected, the rear seat offers enormous comfort, legroom and ease of entry. The E-Class is one car that is truly about passengers.

Much effort has gone into making the cabin climate comfortable. There are dual temperature and airflow controls, an electrostatic dust filter and activated charcoal filter with smog sensor, and rear-cabin air vents. In cold weather, the climate control can recirculate warm air through the interior for up to 30 minutes while the car is parked, drawing on very small amount of coolant.

There are bunches of interior lights, from visor vanities to maplights to door handles, and all the pockets, compartments and cupholders you might imagine finding in a luxury sedan. Of course there's the burl walnut trim on doors, dash, console and shift gate, leather-trimmed steering wheel and shift knob, velour floor carpeting and floor mats.

More standard equipment includes 10-way power front seats and head restraints, a power tilt and telescoping steering column, a multifunction steering wheel, memory seating including mirrors and steering wheel position, an integrated garage door opener, and eight-speaker Bose sound system with optional CD changer.

If the leather says dignity and the cabin says comfort, the switchgear says confusion. An owner may or may not take the time to study the manual and master the controls through memorization and practice. Meanwhile, not much is intuitive. The sound and command systems include about 30 buttons the size of a Chiclet or smaller, and (to us) the only immediately identifiable one was the PWR button. The abbreviations or icons on many of the buttons are so small you have to take your concentration off the road to read them.

It's your call to decide if we're simply more stupid than most of Mercedes' intended buyers. But it might be a philosophical design debate. Should a control panel be designed for owners, or infrequent users? It would be interesting to test new E-Class owners on the function of those buttons.

Not surprisingly, you can be surprised by the speedometer-the car is so smooth and powerful you'll be going 80 mph before you know it, and not realize it when you are. That's good, of course; even better is the fact that the best acceleration begins at legal limits. This dignified sedan feels most impressive after it's already in outlaw territory. The 2.82 final drive ratio means the engine is barely loping at 65 mph. The E430 deserves to be on the Autobahn.

The torque chart prompts a double-take. Could the engine actually produce its maximum torque over a 1400-rpm range? No wonder acceleration is rheostat-like. Combine that with a five-speed transmission that shifts imperceptibly, and you feel as if you're sort of quietly and effortlessly slung along in this car.

Over the last half-dozen years Mercedes has greatly refined the handling of its sedans. The E430 is quite nimble, and light in its response. It handles smaller than it is, yet overall it feels bigger than it is. That's no mean feat, and takes masterful engineering. The rack-and-pinion steering is speed-sensitive, and includes a hydraulic damper.

The suspension is slanted toward the soft side so it swallows things like expansion strips, but it never feels too soft. The quality of the ride is consistent with the quality of the rest of the car. This isn't a car meant to be tossed through the curves, but the potential is there, which is where the E55 AMG comes from. And the E430 offers a Sport Package, which includes five-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels bearing low-profile W-rated tires.

The automatic transmission features Touch Shift, which allows the driver to play, by shifting the manually with a nudge of the lever to the left or right. There's also a Winter mode, which starts the car moving in second gear (including a special second reverse gear) to help improve takeoff on slippery surfaces.

The transmission's upshifts under acceleration are imperceptible, but it is possible to confuse the "driver adaptive control," that computer that shifts according to your style. Your style may need to change from moment to moment, and you can change your mind more quickly than the transmission. If, for example, you accelerate and then have to back off for a sudden new event, at lower speeds, the transmission will actually lurch trying to keep up with what it mistakenly thinks is your plan. The Mercedes engineer would say, "Ah yes, but you should drive more smoothly." Tell it to the traffic.

There are three E-Class models: E320 sedan ($47,850) and wagon ($48,650) come with a smooth and highly sophisticated 3.2-liter, 221-horsepower V6.

E430 sedan ($53,200) is equipped with the standard highly sophisticated 4.3-liter, 275-horsepower V8. And the E55 AMG ($70,300) boasts a whopping 349 horsepower from its hand-built 5.5-liter V8.

E320 4MATIC ($50,700) and E430 4MATIC ($56,050) models come with an all-wheel-drive system, which uses a 35/65 torque split in the dry and electronic apportionment when one or more wheels slip.