South Africans’ paranoia about safety tends to make us streetsmart enough not to do stupid things, but we sometimes obsess about safety.
“Is this area safe? How many armed robberies have there been here this year?” are often the first questions we ask an estate agent when viewing a house as opposed to: “Are there any structural problems or rats in the roof?”. In much the same way this applies to cars. Car sales people are asked: “What are the safety features on this car and is it on the top of the hijackers’ list?”
None of these is a bad question, but they are distinctly South African.
So, when a vehicle manufacturer makes a point of highlighting its protective technologies we can’t help but lap it up. But this is not a uniquely South African approach as safety features and carbon emissions are what most vehicle owners across the globe think about.
The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan and coupé are all about the safety gadgetry — from the seemingly endless supply of safety sensors to the 36-million test kilometres, it seems Mercedes-Benz is hellbent on ensuring that the E remains a favourite mid-size luxury saloon in most international markets.
Brake Assist Plus is a system that is active at all speeds and is constantly measuring the distance between your E-Class and the cars in front of you. If for some reason you’re not paying attention — busy giving that taxi driver a zap sign — and the system detects that you’re approaching the car ahead too quickly, it will warn you as you get closer to the car. If, at 0.6s before a possible collision the driver has still not braked or swerved the car will use 100% of its braking force to minimise impact severity.
If your E-Class has Distronic Plus cruise control and you’ve activated it, then it will stop the car before a collision.
One of my favourites of these new technologies is Lane Keeping Assist, which will vibrate the steering wheel if you drift across lanes without indicating and, given how many Saffers don’t have the basic civility to indicate when changing lanes, this feature will hopefully encourage drivers to be a tad more considerate.
Then there’s Blind Spot Assist, which uses sensors in the side mirrors and will warn you if you’re trying to change lanes while a vehicle is passing you on either side.
Adaptive High Beam Assist will automatically adjust the headlights to your surroundings to give you optimal illumination. This system even has a sense of etiquette and will lower the beams when coming traffic is detected.
Attention Assist, which is fitted to all E-Classes, constantly monitors the way you drive and when it thinks your reaction time has slowed down or that you might be falling asleep, it will use visual and audible warnings to tell you that you need to take a break.
And, if all else fails, there’s Pre-Safe. When the car has done everything to prevent an accident, but detects that a collision is inevitable, Pre-Safe closes the windows and the sunroof while tightening the seatbelts, moving the seats (if they’re electronic) to what it deems is a safer area as well as the headrests to minimise whiplash.
The only drawback — and it is a significant one — is that most of these cool gizmos are pricey optional extras.
The E-Class is available with two V6 and one V8 petrol engine, whereas smaller petrol and diesel engines will arrive later in the year.
The E350 sedan felt exceedingly comfortable as the airmatic suspension did a great deal to ensure we felt few of the imperfections on our roads. It did feel a little out of sorts when twisty sections were tackled with gusto, however the coupé felt a great deal sportier and more responsive than the sedan.
The coupé is a new introduction to the E range and is meant to replace the CLK-Class.
The E-Class’s catchphrase — Welcome Home — is meant to make drivers feel that their cars are as pleasant and hospitable as their homes, but the new model surreptitiously achieves the converse as it had most of us lowly scribes wishing our homes were more like the E-Class — not opulent or fancy, but safe, comfy and with a little zhoosh.
Pricing:
E300 sedan (170kW, 300Nm) R558 000
E350 sedan (200kW, 350Nm) R634 000
E500 sedan (285kW, 530Nm) R788 000
E350 coupé (200kW, 350Nm) R670 000
E500 coupé (285kW, 530Nm) R820 000
Q&A with Mercedes-benz cars Divisional Manager Eckart Mayer
Why no new, more fuel-efficient engines in this range?
The engines aren’t old by any means. They are all recently developed engines with very good fuel efficiency. We can’t always have new engines for every new model released.
Why do politicians favour Mercs over other German cars?
I think politicians are not unlike entrepreneurs. They work hard and they want the best money can buy. Like any successful businessperson, they want to feel that they are driving a good product.
Aren’t you guilty of over-pricing? Shouldn’t you be developing cheaper cars?
Our prices are competitive, but you can’t look at just the price of a Mercedes-Benz car. You have to consider everything else that comes with the car like its reliability, the safety features, its good resale value, Mobilo Drive, which takes care of servicing costs, and so on.
It’s difficult to create cars for everyone, but we think we’ve done well with our Smart range of small, fuel-efficient cars as well as our other models, which are always developed with efficiency in mind.