Should you prod the E400 to move out in a hurry, it will. Catching glints of sunlight off the wood and chrome on the dashboard and hearing the gentle burble of the 329-hp twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V-6’s exhalations only reinforces the nautical sensation. With the top and side windows lowered and the speedometer reading a steady 50 to 60 mph, the Mercedes feels like a small, upscale speedboat. Benz’s Air Body Control air springs (a $1900 splurge that came fitted to our E400) allows a gentle bob or two from the body over big pavement heaves, no matter what setting the driver has selected. Thumbing the console-mounted driving-mode switch to the Sport or Sport+ settings hardly degrades the ride, even though the adaptive dampers firm up in those modes. Leave the thickly padded, fully headlined top up, and you’d swear you were in a fixed-roof coupe, so quiet is the cabin at highway speeds.Īnd even riding on its available 19-inch AMG-branded wheels wrapped in summer tires ($500, along with the required $2500 AMG styling package), the cabriolet floats down the road in its default Comfort mode. Take, for example, the Benz’s stout underlying structure, which survives the cabrio’s roof scalping with minimal flexion even when negotiating steep driveway entrances. (One of those roads does run alongside a river, briefly.) These more taxing environs might not have the E400’s glamour, but they certainly provided ample opportunity for the E-class’s fundamental excellence to shine. Since there are no rivieras near our Ann Arbor, Michigan, headquarters, we cruised a lot of battered roads instead. With its blue-colored soft top-another no-cost option red, black, and dark brown also are available-our Iridium Silver metallic E400 looked French Riviera ready. Surely owners will be a cleaner bunch than the grubby ranks of auto journalists, anyhow. Although we noticed the light-colored leather on the seats and steering wheel was already suffering some discoloration in this low-mileage test car, it unquestionably pops next to the navy blue leather lining the upper door panels, rear parcel shelf, and dashtop pad. Skip right past a boring black leather interior to the two-tone options such as the Designo Macchiato Beige and Titian Red nappa scheme ($4200, plus $3250 for the required Premium 1 package) or, as our car came optioned, the no-cost Macchiato Beige and Yacht Blue layout with $150 light-brown elm trim. Buyers’ ordering choices have an outsize effect on the visual wattage, of course. Lower the cabrio’s roof, however, and they’re on full display for everyone. On other E-class models, Mercedes’ gorgeous interior design and fit and finish are private enjoyments for their occupants.
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