The freshly-facelifted Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet builds on the familiar strengths of its predecessor, while adding a pint of more style, better efficiency and improved handling. The new headlights and reshaped front fascia are the highlight of the facelift, while the rest of the car gets only minor alterations.
Still, as British magazine AutoExpress found out in their recent review of the car, it’s still good at its intended purpose of being a comfortable cruiser. It also uses wind deflectors to limit buffeting inside the cabin, at reasonable speeds, and this coupled with the quiet engines provides a very relaxing driving experience.
Where the E-Class Cabrio loses out is in the dynamic department, where its comfort-tuned setup betrays itself. There are adaptive dampers that can be specified on the car to tailor it to different situations, but even so, it will not worry other German competitors with serious handling credentials.
As a car to pose in, then, it’s great, and the new styling tweaks really turn back the years on the car. However, Mercedes is clearly not aiming this model at young people, as its design and overall appearance are a bit too serious and grown up – the A-Class takes things too far in the other direction for it to have mass appeal, but a middle-ground approach based on both styles could prove interesting. It is more or less, what they did with the new S-Class.
By Andrei Nedelea
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