Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is a very practical estate car that has an upstanding, almost classless image, despite its premium price tag. It leans on decades of heritage to offer a package that stands apart even from its direct rivals. 

An SUV might offer more flashy style, but the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is the load-lugger that you’ll always be able to depend on. That’s particularly so with this version, which offers such a wide variety of engines. The array of trim levels is comprehensive, as are all the high-tech options – if your wallet will allow, that is…

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is available with a comprehensive range of engines. The regular mild hybrid petrol and diesel choices are fine, and are great choices for those who value the traditional traits that have been present in the E-Class Estate for decades. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate plug-in hybrid versions, denoted by an ‘e’ in their model name, are currently extremely popular. This is thanks to their company car tax-saving ability. Mercedes-Benz is one of the few companies to offer a choice of diesel or petrol plug-in hybrid – either the E 300 e or E 300 de. 

There is no longer a wild V8-powreed Mercedes-AMG E-Class Estate. The Mercedes-AMG E 53 Hybrid is a greener alternative, with a six-cylinder plug-in hybrid powertrain that combines stonking power with a surprising all-electric range. 

As for trims, it’s a matter of taking your pick from six core variants. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate Urban Edition is the well-equipped entry-level version, and is well worth checking out, while others will prefer the sportier look of the AMG Line versions. Exclusive models are lavishly-equipped, but have the price tags to match. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has two very clear rivals – the BMW 5 Series Touring and the Audi A6 Avant. The BMW is also available in pure electric BMW i5 Touring guise, while the Audi has an all-electric sister car, the Audi A6 e-tron. 

The Volvo V90 is another premium alternative, now solely offered in plug-in hybrid guise. It will eventually be replaced by the new Volvo ES90 electric crossover. 

Smaller – but still roomy – alternatives costing less than the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate include the Volkswagen Passat Estate and Skoda Superb Estate, both of which are available with petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrid engines. There’s also the Volkswagen ID.7 Tourer, for those who may prefer a fully electric estate car. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is fundamentally a very well-built car. It has all the Mercedes-Benz integrity and solidity, and you’ll feel very safe and secure in it when on the move. You sense it is a solid, tough car that’s built to last. 

However, some aspects of the interior don’t quite have the solidity you’d expect. Those touch-sensitive buttons feel cheap, and the electric window switches on the doors are a bit flimsy. Such details let the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate down. 

From the outside, though, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate looks very well-finished indeed. Paint quality is superb, panel gaps are smooth and the whole car has a quality appearance. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate comes as standard with the fully-digital display. This comprises a 12.3-inch instrument cluster and 14.4-inch central media display that runs the latest MBUX infotainment tech.

This is a comprehensive system that includes Linguatronic voice control, which is able to understand different accents – and will get better at understanding you over time. It understands indirect commands too. Drivers can say ‘I feel cold’ and MBUX will turn up the heating. 

The entire system can be fully personalised, with profiles able to be saved in seven different profiles. The tech will learn and adapt over time, too – for example, predicting navigation for frequently-driven routes or the radio station you always listen to on your way back from work. 

Along with touch and voice control, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate’s infotainment system can also be controlled via the steering wheel. However, the two layers of touch-sensitive buttons on each side of the wheel are very fiddly to use. They rarely seem to do what you expect and will be the source of much frustration. Even simple things like adjusting the stereo volume are harder than they should be. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has a smartphone app that lets you control some car functions remotely. There’s also a built-in app store, so you can download third-party apps into the MBUX system. The icons on the latest MBUX system are now more smartphone-like, so they’re simpler and easier to use. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is also available with an MBUX Superscreen system. This is standard on AMG Line Premium Plus and Exclusive Premium Plus. It comprises an additional passenger screen, with the full display encased beneath a single piece of glass. It even includes a selfie and video camera on top of the dashboard. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is all about space and practicality. Its extra boot space and enhanced practicality is the reason why customers choose it (and pay extra) compared to a Mercedes-Benz E-Class saloon. 

In regular petrol and diesel guise, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has a huge 615-litre boot with the rear seats up. This vast space extends to 1830 litres with the rear seats folded – they electrically drop down via handy remote control buttons in the load compartment. 

However, it is important to note that plug-in hybrid models, such as the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate E 300 e and E 300 de, have a significantly smaller boot. This is because the large plug-in hybrid battery takes up a lot of space under the boot floor. 

It means plug-in hybrid versions have a raised boot floor, partly disguised with an odd-looking deep-pile carpet mat on top. Space is reduces to just 460 litres with the seats up, and 1675 litres with them folded. While regular models have a flat load floor, the step up near the boot opening, and step back down as you meet the fold-flat rear seats, could be awkward with longer loads. 

The rear seats split and fold in a 40:20:40 ratio. The middle section can be folded down individually, or in conjunction with the outer section on the driver’s side. The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has a clever retractable luggage cover that slides back automatically when the boot is opened. There’s a standard dividing net behind the rear seats that can be pulled up, stopping bulky items (or dogs) from entering the passenger compartment. 

We found the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate was a very easy car to live with. It has an automatic tailgate as standard, and the raked shape of the rear pillars mean it’s easy to lean in and retrieve items that have slid to the rear of the boot. The shape itself is superb – wide, square, intrusion-free and exceedingly easy to use. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has a braked towing capacity of up to 2100kg (it’s over two tonnes in all models). It also has a tongue weight of up to 84kg, which means it is able to carry e-bikes. An optional Trailer Manoeuvring Assyst system is standard. 

The regular petrol and diesel engines in the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate will be familiar from other models in the range. The E 200 and E 220 d are both 2.0-litre turbo engines with 204PS and 197PS respectively. They have standard 48-volt mild hybrid technology, for extended engine stop-start and a small electric boost when accelerating. 

Performance is similar and both will be fine, particularly the E 220 d which has notably more pulling power at lower revs. Like all Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate, they have a nine-speed automatic gearbox, controlled by a lever on the right-hand side of the steering column. 

The four-cylinder engines are smooth enough, but can get a bit vocal when worked harder. The diesel engine also has the familiar clatter in the background, particularly when cold. If you want a smoother diesel, pick the six-cylinder E 450 d. 

The plug-in hybrid Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate E 300 e and E 300 de are increasingly popular thanks to their company car tax efficiency (the long electric range helps here). They use the same 2.0-litre engines, combined with an electric motor that delivers 122PS in the E 300 e and 129PS in the E 300 de. Both have a similar total system output of around 320PS. 

The plug-in hybrids are a second quicker than the regular models, accelerating from 0-62mph in 6.4 seconds. The extra-large 19.5kWh battery gives an all-electric range of up to 70 miles, meaning you’ll be driving in ultra-refined electric mode if you still have charge in the battery. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate plug-in hybrids will travel even at motorway speeds in pure electric mode, and acceleration in EV mode is punchy too. If you’re cruising on the motorway, you’ll barely hear the engine start up when the battery is flat – there’s just a bit of diesel vibration in the E 300 de. And even when the battery is empty, the two cars will operate as regular hybrids in town, regularly shutting the engine down to save fuel. 

The Mercedes-AMG 53 has a plush 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine in combination with the hybrid drivetrain. It’s extremely powerful and serves up 0-62mph acceleration in under four seconds. The 21.2kWh battery gives an EV range of up to 62 miles. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is generally very refined. At motorway speeds, there’s impressively little wind noise (higher-spec models even have acoustic glass), and inner-city bumps and potholes are absorbed well at lower speeds. 

We did notice a bit more echo from the rear in the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate, compared to the saloon. Its more open estate car rear seems to provide more space to let road noise through, although it’s not exactly intrusive – you’ll probably only notice it at higher speeds. 

The big wheels fitted to most Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate mean there can be a bit of tyre roar on the motorway – we noticed it could be a bit surface-sensitive, becoming louder and quieter as the type of road surface changed. 

The four-cylinder engines can drone a bit when worked harder, but they’re all turbocharged so you’ll have decent pulling power without having to rev them. And, of course, the plug-in hybrids will waft along in beautiful electric car silence when the large battery is charged – this makes for a special sensation that’s very much in keeping with the E-Class Estate’s upstanding nature. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate is very safe indeed. Like all the firm’s cars, it has a huge array of standard safety equipment, with plenty of airbags including a central airbag and driver’s knee airbag. The amount of safety assist tech is comprehensive too – and it’s easy to disable the lane keep assist and speed limit warning noise, by pressing the ‘car’ icon next to the volume control and tapping the touchscreen. 

All Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate have blind sport warning, pedestrian protection and even a standard fluorescent jacket. Naturally, a high-resolution reverse parking camera is standard (but we did find the door mirrors were a bit on the small side). 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate was rated very highly by Euro NCAP in 2024. It scored a full five stars, with 92% for adult occupant protection, 90% for child protection and 84% for vulnerable road users. All the standard safety assist tech earned it an 87% rating – and it also has Euro NCAP Advanced accreditation thanks to the firm’s Car-to-X Communication system. 

A neat safety feature is the ambient lighting system which flashes red when it detects a car or cyclist approaching from behind. The panel of each door lights up as a warning, even those in the rear. This could be a life-saving feature. 

Mercedes-Benz is one of the worst car brands for reliability, according to the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index. It ranks 30th out of 33 brands, well below its rivals from Audi and BMW, which both finish mid-table. 

It seems to be smaller models such as the Mercedes-Benz A-Class that are the root cause of this. While the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate doesn’t rank in the top 20 most reliable models, it also doesn’t feature in the least reliable bottom 20, either. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has a three-year, unlimited-mileage warranty. It also has up to 30 years’ warranty against rust from the inside out. Similarly, it even has Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance which provides cover for up to 30 years of pan-European breakdown assistance.  

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate has high insurance groups, for potentially high costs. Both the E 200 and E 220 d start from group 41, moving up to group 44, while the E 300 e goes straight into the top group 50 insurance rating. The E 300 de and E 450 d 4Matic are likely to be similarly expensive. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate also probably won’t be the cheapest car to service. However, as we explain in the warranty section, there are benefits to having work carried out at the Mercedes-Benz dealer network, not least the potential to have up to 30 years’ breakdown assistance. 

Thanks to their extra-low CO2 figures starting from 14g/km and 12g/km respectively, both plug-in hybrid Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate E 300 e and E 300 de have extra-low first-rate road tax of just £10. However, because all E-Class Estate cost more than £40,000, they are all subject to the £425 ‘expensive car supplement’ in years two to six. This is on top of the standard £195 rate. 

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate range opens with the great-value Urban Edition trim level. Even these versions have sporty AMG Line exterior styling, plus large 20-inch alloy wheels (they shrink to 18 inches on standard AMG Line). The LED high-performance headlights are ultra-bright and rear privacy glass gives an upmarket appearance. Metallic paint is standard on all Mercedes-Benz E-Class, too. 

Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate customers can move up through AMG Line Premium, AMG Line Premium Plus, Exclusive Premium and Exclusive Premium Plus. Instead of an array of individual options, these trim levels allow people to get a model with all the features they want as standard, making it a simpler way to buy a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate. 

Some of the features really are amazing, including heated armrests, digital headlights, Burmester 4D surround sound, acoustic glass and a head-up display. 

The Mercedes-AMG E 53 also has a high spec in regular Premium guise, along with even higher-specced Premium Plus and Edition 1 versions.