Mercedes Benz E 450 long term review, 5,800km report – Introduction

I have to say this right at the beginning: our long-term Mercedes-Benz E450 is the car I’ve enjoyed the most this year. It’s the one I kept reaching for without thinking, the one that quietly became my default choice – whether it was the daily Mumbai slog, a late-night airport run, or that familiar weekend drive to Mahabaleshwar. And on that road especially, the E450 reminded me time and again why it’s such a brilliant long-distance cruiser. It crested every speed breaker and dived in and out of potholes with such aplomb that it felt like the road surface didn’t matter. And inside, it simply shut out the chaos of Mumbai streets. That alone made it a car I looked forward to driving.

What really surprised me was how enjoyable it is from behind the wheel. I absolutely love the steering – it has a good feel yet remains nice and light, the sort of balance you only appreciate once you live with a car for months. The 4Matic system is invisible in the best way possible. There’s no interference of the front driveline on the steering. Yet, on a wet, monsoon-soaked stretch to Mahabaleshwar, I felt the surefootedness working quietly in the background. You don’t sense it; you just know the car is planted. That’s all the confidence you need.

It even ended up playing support car at the Mercedes-Benz Classic Car Rally recently, where it looked almost comically dwarfed by a magnificent 1000 SEL. But that’s the thing about the E450 – it’s stately enough to blend in at a classic car event and still agile enough to dart around town when needed.

Over the months, two very different personalities of the car stood out for me. The first, and no surprise, is the back seat. Everyone knows the long-wheelbase E-Class has the best rear seat in the business. But the second personality – and the one that caught me off-guard – is the driver’s car hidden underneath all that chauffeur-driven luxury. The 3.0-litre straight-six is a gem. Smooth, quick, quietly muscular and always effortless. I didn’t expect a long-wheelbase E-Class, packed with back-seat pampering, to also be something I’d genuinely enjoy driving. Which is why I ended up spending nearly 80 percent of my time in the driver’s seat, and that tells you everything.

And yet, every time I did slip into the back seat – usually chauffeured runs to places where there is no parking – I was reminded instantly why the E-Class is the benchmark. Why it’s the bestseller. Why, frankly, nothing else at this price point comes close. The recline function (a miss on the 5 Series) is superb, the pillow-soft headrest is the kind you can actually use like a pillow and not just for crash protection, and the ambience is right up there with the S-Class in terms of comfort. The 5 Series might have a softer edge to its ride – dare I say, even cushier – but the rear seat ambience in the BMW simply doesn’t come close.

What really impressed me were the small but meaningful touches. From the back, I can open both rear windows, operate the sunroof shade and even the rear blind. The electrically operated sunblinds – which the 5 Series shockingly misses – have become the new must-have feature in our harsh sun, and Mercedes absolutely nails the execution. These little conveniences make daily use far more pleasant than yet another inch of touchscreen ever could.

Ride quality, of course, is classic E-Class. The way it absorbs Mumbai’s roads is honestly phenomenal. I’ve taken it through the worst patches in the city, and the car simply glides through them with that big, comforting long-wheelbase lope.

There is, however, a trade-off for that incredible rear legroom: the boot. It’s fine for medium-sized bags, but if you are going to the airport with your full business-class two big bags per passenger allowance, the E-Class can’t cope, and you’ll have to draft in the family Innova runabout as the baggage van.

Another bit that I wished was better – the rear air-con isn’t as effective as I’d like. On a warm but not particularly hot November afternoon, with the sunroof blind open, the back seat became a bit of a pizza oven and took its time to cool. And further, if I had to nitpick (and long-term tests are exactly for that), the swipe-style steering controls and the seat adjusters are fiddly and lack the reassuring click that the newer models have thankfully returned to. And the turning circle – well, let’s just say the long wheelbase doesn’t always love tight U-turns.

But honestly, these quirks feel minor when I look back at the months spent with the car. The E450 has been a joy – a car I always looked forward to driving, and a car that felt equally special to sit in and be driven around in. That duality is rare.

Yes, at Rs 1.1 crore, it’s not cheap. But if you can afford it, I can say without hesitation that there is nothing better for the money. It’s perfect for Monday to Friday in the back seat, and still fun from behind the wheel on the weekends. It’s the car I reached for most this year, and the one I’ll genuinely miss now that it’s leaving the garages.