THE current Mercedes E-Class might have already had its big-mid-life face-lift, but September sees a further round of upgrades, with the focus on increased equipment and efficiency.
The biggest change is the adoption of the new nine-speed 9G-Tronic automatic gearbox on E 350 BlueTEC diesel models.
The adoption of the new gearbox sees CO2 emissions fall from 17g/km to 149 g/km for the Coupé, 154 g/km for the Saloon and Cabriolet and 159 g/km for the Estate model.
Mercedes has also given the E 350 BlueTEC a modest 6 PS power boost to 258 PS.
There are tweaks across the rest of the range as well. The E 220 BlueTEC diesel sticks with the existing seven-speed automatic, but gets more power (177 PS instead of 170) and CO2 reductions of up to 16 g/km (to as low as 116g/km).
The capacity of the engine fitted to the E 400 AMG Sport (renamed E 400 AMG Line) will be increased for both the Coupé and Cabriolet models to 3,498cc, with emissions reduced by up to 17 g/km.
Collision Prevention Assist Plus will be fitted as standard to every E-Class version to reduce the impact of rear-end collisions.
Premium and Premium Plus equipment packages are introduced and include bundles of options, at big savings compared with the individual prices of those options.
