This is in no way "dissin" you wagon owners as the E-class is a beautiful one overall. But frankly, I am curious as to why get a E-class wagon?? What other purpose does it serve as compared to say the M-class or G-class or any other SUV out there?

 

I considered, and test drove a lot of mid-sized SUVs, including the ML350, Lexus RX330, Acura MDX, the BMW X3 and X5, the Volvo, Toyota Highlander, and a few others. I also test drove various sedans. Initially, I was looking for an SUV for the increased cargo room and sitting higher. I nearly settled on the ML350, but I was never really satisfied with the driving and ride characteristics of any of the SUVs. Besides, I was never going off road anyway. And, the poor mileage bothered me a little. So, when the dealer offered me a great deal on the E320 Wagon, I took it, realizing that no vehicle is perfect and the E320 wagon was the best choice for me. I'm happy, and that's what really matters.

 

For me it's simple. If you want the comfort and performance of an E, but need more cargo room, say for a dog, then the E500 wagon is a good choice. I had an 02 ML500. It was awful.

 

I wanted a wagon for hauling lots of things to my weekend house, and the dog. I don't like SUVs. They are trucks. But I did want 4wd. The wagon is a car. If it were my only car I would have gotten an E500. since it isn't, I went with an E320 4matic, which has been just fine. I also have a 1992 300TE 4matic wagon that has become the "beach car". It has 95,000 miles and logs about 5,000 a year. Eventually, I fugure the new E320 will replace it. But I didn't want to drive a wagon as my daily driver, so when my current lease (01 S500) is up, I am getting an E500 sedan (its on the boat and I will hopefully have it in a few weeks).

 

If you don't think much of the E320/E500 wagon - what about someone who buys an E55 wagon :-). . . . DOesn't make much sense, but there is obviously a market for it. . .

Personally I prefer SUV's. I've had an ML and it was not a pleasant experience. The G500 is ok, but its on a 20 year old chassis. My opinion of the best SUV out there is currently the Range Rover. Some minor issues of reliability but nothing different than anything that MB has right now. But this truck just eats up highway miles - its head and shoulders above anything else.

 

My wife needed a car drive, car feel and room for extra kids in the back. She hated the stigma of a mini van and found SUVs too big for her. Easy decision for her at the time (2000 E320 wagon). This time around we went SUV because we couldn't stomach our kids trashing another mercedes.

 

Yet she accepted the stigma of a station wagon?

 

I guess you're not a family man, I have a Volvo AWD Wagon for that my wife uses, she was tired if driving a "truck" and wanted something more car like, and the cargo room is about the same as any mid sized SUV. So tio answer your question , the wagon serves the purpose of an SUV but not of the expense of having to drive a truck,

 

I guess you're not a family man,
I have a Volvo AWD Wagon for that my wife uses, she was tired of driving "truck"like SUVs and wanted something more car like, and the cargo room is about the same as any mid sized SUV. So to answer your question , the wagon serves the purpose of an SUV but not of the expense of having to drive a truck

 

I guess you're not a family man,
I have a Volvo AWD Wagon that my wife uses, she was tired of driving "truck" like SUVs and wanted something more car like, and the cargo room is about the same as any mid sized SUV. So to answer your question , the wagon serves the purpose of an SUV but not of the expense of having to drive a truck

 

odd, the edits came up as new posts. sorry

 

Just out of curiosity, aren't the car and the wagon identical in interior dimensions until (using the car as an example) from the top of the rear windshield glass to the bumper, the roof continues above trunk lid height to roof height, thereby putting the sedan's trunk & the air space above it "inside"? Passenger room thereby remains the same, but taller cargo can be put inside, right? Someone with kids always has a ton of stuff they drag along. The driving experience, as long as you don't look in the rearview mirror is the same as driving a sedan!

 

the wagons have their origins in europe, especially in germany. here some models are more ordered as wagons than sedans. in most cases there are used for familiy and business issues.

some pros for wagons over SUV´s:
+ weights only a few kg´s more than sedans
+ nearly the same handling as sedans
+ high top-speeds (important for our autobahns)
+ very good milage
+ good/popular image (in contrast to the USA)

 

Most people buy an SUV because they carry more cargo and handle snow better than sedans. Yet an E-class wagon has more cargo space than most SUV's and with 4matic, is just as good in the snow. You get car handling, ride comfort, gas mileage and acceleration. Oh, and you don't have to climb up to get into it. As Car & Driver magazine said in their test report of the latest E-class wagon, "...who needs an SUV?" The only advantage of an SUV over a wagon is in off-road capability. But then, when was the last time anyone took their SUV off-road anyway?

 

RANGE ROVER? I traded my RR in for my ML350 and have been a very happy camper. The RR cost me thousands to keep on the road. Major electrical gremlins and the thing leaked oil from every orifice and from a few places that should not have oil in them! It had an alarm system with a mind of it's own - nightmare! Not what I remember as "minor issues of reliability".

 

Probably previous model RR (which desperately needed more power along with some other things). . Comparing the current model year RR to the current model year ML is not even close. . . . I've had an ML as well, and it has jst as many issues as the rovers do (loss of power steering, etc).

 

Couple of other factors - most SUVS (not jacked up station wagons) have several more inches in ground clearance. Besides off-road capability, its much better handling in snow than even 4matic station wagons. . .

that and the stigma of driving a station wagon. I'm a family man as well, but my wife won't buy a minivan or a station wagon. . . She'd much rather drive the E55 or Range Rover than a Siena or E wagon.

 

1. Much better handling than most SUV due to lower center of gravity, better performance due to lighter weight thus superior power/torque to weight ratio.

2. Easier to park.

3. Easier to get in and out.

4. Wife prefers loading baby stuff into a wagon than a high SUV.

5. SUVs are not as safe as they tend to flip over very easily. With their poor handling, if you blow a tire or hit a curb, a minor incident turns into a major accident.

Personally, I care little about the image and would pick a mini-van over an SUV.

Having driven many SUVs and 4matic/quattro vehicles, I find the latter group much more secure in the snow.

 

No dispute there. The wagon has less weight so has a higher power to weight ratio.

Really depends on your own ability here. Also, is this psychological or actual difficulty ? I agree with you against a sedan, but the wagon is about the same as most SUV's. Actually the MB wagon is LONGER than an ML. Granted that most SUV's are shorter heightwise, but that usually doesn't factor into difficulty to park. . .

No argument there, but a minivan would be even easier. . .

Like I said, to each their own. My wife prefers the E sedan or the range rover SUV.

You have to use both sides of the equation here. There are SOME SUV's that are not safe due to a tendency to flip over. Most SUV's in the MB class and up are more than safe enough. Will they tip over more so than a sedan, no doubt about it. But you should offset that by my SUV's generally tend to be safer than sedans when in an accident with other cars. Many people quote that SUV's have a tendency to be in more fatal accidents than others - but they fail to point out that in that biased survey, that it frequently is the passengers in the other car, not the heavy suv. Not the best scenario to be in, but if you're going to play the safety car, look at all angles.

Also, if you hit a curb at enough speeds to turn over an SUV, your sedan won't be far off the mark hitting the same curb. ..

You should also include a few other items - its generally safer to be higher up in the road to see ahead of other cars. If the world was ideal, then there might not be any higher cars that you would need to see over, but that obviously isn't the case.

To each their own. A 4matic wagon might be fine in 3-4" snow, but anything in the 6-12" and higher and it doesn't perform as well without the higher ground clearance.

 

I really don't think the slightly higher ground clearance makes any difference in most snow conditions. Last winter, we had a 12" snowfall, and my neighbor picked me up in his Audi A4 AWD. That car has very low ground clearance, but we had no problem whatsoever. I think the only time the added ground clearance of an SUV would make a difference would be in a slushy sort of snow where a low-clearance car might sink into the snow like a beached whale and just spin all 4 wheels, whereas an SUV with high clearance might be able to keep its wheels on the ground and get you goind.

As to "stigma" of a wagon, what stigma? I can see the stigma in the case of a minivan -- the message is slow, overweight, sloppy-handling, boring, inexpensive, high on practicality and low on fun. But a European wagon, especially a MB or BMW wagon? The message is style, speed, handling, comfort, luxury, sportiness. And yes, I'd take a Range Rover over a Sienna minivan any day, but I'd still take an E-class wagon over a Range Rover.

 

As to ease of parking, I think there's more to parking than just length. Any vehicle that has you sitting higher also gives you a higher "horizon." That results in not being able to see what's immediately in front of you and behind you, which is critical to parking -- especially backing up. It's harder to back up with precision when the closest thing that you can see to your rear bumper is the roof of the car behind you, rather than its front bumper.

As to safety, I suggest you read Keith Bradsher's book, which I did when it first came out. I belive the title is "SUV's: The Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way." It's over 500 pages long and chock full of facts. No need to speculate. As a passenger in a mid-sized SUV like an ML, you're more likely to be killed than in a comparably-sized passenger car like a Taurus.

 

Couldn't agree more. And as to the arlier post re "stigma", I don't see how driving a Mercedes wagon could carry a stigma as opposed to a Ford Explorer, fo example, or perish the thought, an Expedition.

 

I knew someone would reference Bradshers book.. . which is why I made the annotation from above about traffic deaths related to SUV's. Keep in mind the following:

-Bradsher is an unabashed critic of SUV's and has been for a long time.
-SUV's are 6-8% more deadly than cars. Strictly related to rollover, not impact related. This statistic is significantly skewed by 'cheaper'/compact SUV's that don't have emphasis on safety (read narrower cars like the Rodeo/Blazer, etc). Since we're comparing the topic to MB wagons vs things similar in the luxury class - most of these cars are not anywhere near their cheaper brethen for rolling over. ..
-SUV's passengers are significantly safer in similar situations for passengers within the SUV. However, passengers in OTHER cars are NOT which is Bradsher's big gripe on safety. Yes, perhaps one is selfish in getting an SUV which is 6x more likely to kill passengers in other cars on a side impact (with the car). But as I said before, remove the 'other car fatality' numbers and use only SUV car numbers. . It's selfish, but there are too many SUV's out there for you to ignore anyway.
-your stretching your analysis a bit with the reference to ML vs taurus. His comparisons do involve a 'mid-size SUV', but the SUV he references is almost always the much maligned Ford Explorer. So no matter what you think of the slighly less maligned ML, you can't really compare the two, much less other SUV's like the G, X5, Range Rover, ets. C'mon you can do better than that.

In terms of ease of parking - well, to each their own. It might be a little easier with the lower wagon, but not that much. It's still just as long. So I think its a wash, you lose ride-height safety by not being able to see as high as a SUV, but you gain a little in parking ease. . .

We shouldn't use 'stigma' as loosely we all are, but what the heck. If you want to define 'stigma', I think it ties into a 'coolness' factor. It's not as bad as a minivan, but its still associated with more 'family-related and that is the stigma that we are talking about. If you want 'trendiness', i see a helluva lot more 'trendy' people driving SUV's than station wagons. . . Lets use some age groups : Although I'm far from a teenager, the likelihood that a teen will choose a MB/BMW station wagon over an X5/ML/G is not very likely. . . Single people - almost definitely more likely to choose an SUV over a station wagon. Married people - only place the station wagon has a chance, but SUV's far outsell station wagons. Yes, station wagons are making a comeback, but nowhere near SUV's right now in the 'hip factor'. . . So, yeah, there might not be a stigma associated with it, but it surely isn't 'hip' either.

 

Like I just posted, maybe we should redefine stigma. There may not be a stigma, but surely not as hip. Besides, why are we comparing a MB wagon to a ford explorer ? Why not lets say the G wagon vs the Ford Taurus wagon ? ? ? If we're going to compare apples to apples, compare the MB wagon to the G500, or at worse the ML (although the X5 is in my view better). If you're going to say the Ford Explorer vs the Ewagon, then even a pro-SUV person like me is going to choose the E-wagon, but its not really a fair comparison. . .

 

I used to drive a big SUV and found I just liked driving a car better. I have 4 children and the 3rd row seat comes in handy for shuttling them and/or their friends around just on short trips. My wife has a minivan and we use that for longer trips with the family. It's nice to have 2 vehicles that can hold everyone though which is why I went with the wagon. Even some of the more car-like SUVs such as the XC90 or SRX weren't really the same driving experience to me.