Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate practicality & boot space

• One of the safest cars on sale
• Self-driving function works reliably
• Overtake without touching the wheel

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class scores five stars in Euro NCAP crash testing.

As well as all-round airbags, LED lights front and rear and a variety of different electronic stability equipment, you can upgrade your E-Class further with the comprehensive Driving Assistance Plus package, including Mercedes’ innovative Drive Pilot system.

It’s not quite a fully-autonomous system, but it’s not too far off, as it accelerates and brakes depending upon the speed limit and steers itself along clearly marked roads, with engineers claiming it works almost as well on unmarked roads as typically found in the British countryside – something our testers agree with following testing on UK highways. 

The system further relieves the stress of motorway driving with an overtaking function: hold the indicator for two seconds and when the car’s checked its path is clear it will steer itself into the overtaking lane, returning to the left when you indicate left.

With cameras, sensors and monitoring equipment all over the car you have a significant degree of crash-prevention technology protecting you, but remember from a legal perspective, you are still in control of the vehicle.

• Five seats with option to extend to seven
• Huge boot, even compared to direct rivals
• Large footprint but shouldn’t be difficult to park

Whether you have the rear seats up or folded flat, practicality is at the heart of what the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is all about.

There’s easily enough room for four adults, with five fitting for shorter journeys, and since 2016 there’s also the option of a third row of seats for smaller children, making the E-Class Estate an occasional seven-seater.

Elsewhere the cabin’s dotted with sensibly-sized slots and lidded cubbies, including a large central bin under the armrest.

Cars in this class are large vehicles with a big footprint, but parking is made easier thanks to the inclusion of acoustic sensors and a parking camera as standard on all models. Automatic parking is available as an optional extra. 

At 640 litres up to the window line the Estate’s cargo bay is 100 litres larger than the E-Class Saloon’s, but this can be increased by 30 litres simply by having the rear-seat backrest 30 degrees more upright.  Instantly the Audi A6 Avant’s 565-litre offering and the boots of the BMW 5 Series Touring and Volvo V90, both at 560, look small by comparison.

Tumble the 40:20:40 split seat over – it folds virtually flat with the boot floor – and again the Mercedes leads the way with 1,820 litres, trouncing the Audi, BMW and Volvo with 1,680, 1,670 and 1,526 litres respectively.

Cleverly the luggage cover rises electrically up the rearmost pillars out of the way as the tailgate opens and the controls for folding over the seats are in the boot. Just be wary of specifying one of the paler interior colours as some of the test cars we sampled had boot carpets lighter than you’d dare have in your house.

At 640 litres up to the window line the Estate’s cargo bay is 100 litres larger than the E-Class Saloon’s, but this can be increased by 30 litres simply by having the rear-seat backrest 30 degrees more upright.  Instantly the Audi A6 Avant’s 565-litre offering and the boots of the BMW 5 Series Touring and Volvo V90, both at 560, look small by comparison.

Tumble the 40:20:40 split seat over – it folds virtually flat with the boot floor – and again the Mercedes leads the way with 1,820 litres, trouncing the Audi, BMW and Volvo with 1,680, 1,670 and 1,526 litres respectively.

Cleverly the luggage cover rises electrically up the rearmost pillars out of the way as the tailgate opens and the controls for folding over the seats are in the boot. Just be wary of specifying one of the paler interior colours as some of the test cars we sampled had boot carpets lighter than you’d dare have in your house.