2025 Mercedes Benz E 450 long term review, 3000km report

What perfect timing! A few days before my mother-in-law’s 75th birthday, the Mercedes-Benz E 450 entered our long-term fleet. Naturally, I grabbed the keys to chauffeur her to and from the party. Plus, with my sister-in-law coming down for the celebrations, I would have a nice car to do an airport run in.

Seats are comfy but miss out on heating, ventilation and massage.

The stretched wheelbase really makes an impression, but what really wowed my mother-in-law was the rear seats. They have long been a hallmark of an E-Class, and on this version too, that remains the case. They are comfortable and reclinable, and there’s ample room to stretch out.

Motorised AC vents work well with very precise airflow control.

And for the icing on the cake, I showed her how I (thoughtfully) matched the entire car’s ambient lighting to her lovely vivid blue outfit. With 64 colours, I found a perfect blue match, and what’s nice is that you can set it bright enough to show easily during the day, which was handy for me as the celebration was at lunch. What also helped was the car’s exterior, which is a shade of blue as well.

Boot is large at 510 litres, but fitting three massive check-in bags was pushing it.

The other bit that impressed was the ride; the steel springs do a fine job of cushioning out the potholes and ruts. I actually prefer these to air springs, as you don’t end up with a wallowy ride, and that’s something my mother-in-law did notice, too. “It’s so smooth over the bumps,” was how she described it. Over medium speed breakers, too, it does just fine. Even loaded four up, we managed to clear all the speed breakers in and around Bandra and Mahim, barring one, which, despite doing a crab crawl, scraped the underside.

The Burmester system is superb and comes with seat bass exciters.

I also scored points with my sister-in-law and her husband; after all, who doesn’t like stretching out in a limo? They rode with us to the party, and I also picked them up from the airport. But they don’t travel light. Three full-size check-in bags did not fit in the boot, despite its decent 510-litre capacity. It was very handy on other runs with normal-sized suitcases, though; later on, we did manage two of the large ones along with one cabin suitcase and a few backpacks, too.

There is a middle seat, but the E-Class is best enjoyed four up.

On a few occasions, ferrying five, we had to use the centre seat. In most cars, this seat has an armrest integrated into it, but in the E-Class, the seat is essentially the armrest. Clearly, four-up comfort is what this car is focused on.

When pressed, switches do not move as before; not intuitive to use.

That said, though, the E 450 has the more powerful M256 engine, putting out 381hp and 500Nm of torque. Along with a mild-hybrid system that adds a 23hp boost, the E 450 can go from 0-100kph in a very quick 4.5 seconds. But it does not belt it out, and power delivery is very refined and strong. In any case, I wasn’t going to belt it out; not when I’m vying for the ‘favourite son-in-law’ tag. So a nice, steady pace was the order of the day, and the regular drive mode made it pretty easy. All in, the car was perfect; made mum feel special, just like a good son-in-law.

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