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Mercedes-Benz E-Class gets a new facelift for 2013

Mercedes-Benz has spruced up the E-Class for 2013. The newly nipped and tucked saloon and estate cars will feature an updated physical design, new high-end driver assistance systems and a hyper-efficient new engine option.

The next E-Class has an improved front end, more technology and more efficient engines.
The next E-Class has an improved front end, more technology and more efficient engines.

The most obvious change is to the car’s looks. It has a completely revised front end with new headlamps that feature angular LED lights – partial LEDs come as standard, with full LEDs available as an option. These are housed in two separate lenses, but clever partitioning of the light elements helps the E-Class retain that familiar ‘four-eyed’ look its predecessors are famous for.

The rear lights and bumper have had a touch up, with new two-tone, red on white lenses and horizontally-structured LEDs to help accentuate the width of car. 

There are a few interesting interior tweaks, including a redesigned centre console that does away with the gear selector lever, replaced by a gear selector stalk on the steering column. The dashboard has been slightly changed, too. The E-Class now comes with a 3-circle instrument cluster and a more modern-looking centre infotainment display.

Tech has been ramped up significantly, which is saying something. The new E-Class will feature a technology called “inteligent drive”, which incorporates a suite of new or improved systems from the next generation S-Class. Of note is a new stereo multi-purpose camera that monitors the road ahead. It passes that data to an onboard computer, which creates a three-dimentional image of the area up to 50 metres in front of the vehicle. Objects inside this 3D image are then monitored and classified according to the accident threat they may pose to the vehicle.

If someone or something is about to collide with the E-Class, collision prevention assist activates the brakes to prevent impact. The updated junction assist feature can detect crossing traffic as well as pedestrians that may emerge from around a blind junction, while brake assist will help you apply additional brake force if you’re not braking hard enough to prevent a crash.

The E-Class gets an even broader range of engines, thanks to the addition of a new 2-litre four-cylinder, turbocharged petrol unit with spray-guided direct injection. This engine, available in 184hp and 211hp guises, uses a fancy stratified lean-burn process, which alters the air-fuel ratio to use considerably less fuel. As a result, it’ll return 48.7mpg and emit CO2 at a rate of 135g/km. Performance isn’t too shabby, either. The 184hp version will hit 62mph from a standstill in 7.9 seconds, while the 211hp unit shaves a further five tenths of a second off that time.

The new E-Class will hit our streets in January 2013.

 

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