We check out a luxury sedan from Mercedes this week, and find that it offers a smooth and luxurious experience.
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Sedans have lost some market share over the past decades, but many drivers still like the compromise of convenience and connection to the road that a lower vehicle than a crossover or SUV offers. Here’s our take on the 2024 Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - What Is It?
The E is a Mercedes car line. The 450 denotes a 3.0-liter turbocharged liquid-fueled engine with a mild hybrid system added. 4MATIC means all-wheel drive. Sedan means this car has four doors and a conventional trunk.
The test vehicle we sampled had a consumer cost of $87,920, including the $1,150 Destination and Delivery charge. Shoppers would add to this any dealer costs such as Doc fees and added content.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - What Makes It Special?
It’s easy to find a great sedan for sale at nearly half this cost from many brands. Nearly. You won't find much justification for the nearly one-hundred grand price tag on the spec sheet. Toyota offers a sedan this size with more torque and significantly better fuel economy. What differentiates this Mercedes sedan is its many small touches. For example, when you open the trunk, it is smooth and silent. No “Clunk - whir.” It rises silently. Another example is the interior quality. The materials fit and finish are all top-notch. As a shopper, you need to decide if these matter enough to you personally.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - How’s It Drive?
We found the E450 to be smooth and satisfying to drive. The torque is more than adequate in all circumstances, but does not compare to that offered by EVs in this price range. The suspension was softer and more absorbent of impacts than we expected. Very comfortable.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - What’s Missing?
We noticed that the vehicle had no spare. The vehicle we drive also had Pirelli tires that we are 90% certain are summer-only. So an owner would need to buy winter tires or switch to all-season tires. There is no volume knob. Instead, one gets sliders.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - Notable Features
The E450 has an enormous trunk with a very large secondary storage space where the spare is in vehicles that have one.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - How Is the Infotainment System?
Our tester had a Pinnacle trim package that adds a premium Burmester sound system, which we found to be quite good. The center infotainment display is right-sized and very high in resolution. We connected to Android Auto instantly, and it worked wirelessly after the initial connection. There are USB-C ports all over the interior, part of another package. We understand the idea of deleting physical controls, but we didn’t like the climate control requiring three touches to adjust the temperature. We also missed the volume knob. Some habits are hard to break.
Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan - Conclusion
Those with a budget approaching six figures will find that the Mercedes-Benz E450 4MATIC Sedan offers many small details that elevate the sedan above the pack.
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John Goreham is a credentialed New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on Linkedin and follow his work on our X channel. Please note that stories carrying John's by-line are never AI-generated, but he does employ Grammarly grammar and punctuation software when proofreading.
Images of Mercedes E450 by John Goreham.
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