Tested: 1986 Mercedes-Benz 300E Was a Superbly Competent 140-MPH Transportation Tool (2024)

From the May 1986 issue of Car and Driver.

When a three-pointed star rolls by, ev­eryone from Palm Springs heiresses to Camp Lejeune pump jockeys perks up and takes notice. To most Americans, a Mercedes-Benz is the rolling equivalent of a Russian sable coat—an unmistakable symbol of luxury and status. To a few oth­ers, Mercedes are juggernauts of the auto­bahn and masters of the Alpine pass—in other words, the world's premier sports sedans. In our view, however, Benz­-mobiles are neither status symbols nor sports sedans. They are simply outstand­ingly competent transportation tools, designed for comfortable travel over the wid­est possible range of road conditions.

Our view is well supported by Mercedes' new mid-sized sedan, the 300E, which fits into the lineup between the small 190-class and the larger S-class. Its $33,900 price tag immediately suggests luxury, yet the car's exterior is as unadorned as a government­-motor-pool special. The only chrome parts decorating the coachwork are the radiator shell, two obligatory Mercedes stars, and some identifying badges. The 300E also lacks trim around its side windows, and the few moldings that it does have are starkly black. Even the door han­dles are gray plastic. Obviously, the Mercedes stylists feel that typical automo­tive ornamentation serves no important purpose. We don't disagree, but the Mercedes approach is certainly at odds with conventional luxury-car design—and, we suspect, with the expectations of many luxury-car buyers.

The shape of the 300E does little to re­assure traditional luxury-car customers, for it eschews the long, low, wide look. In fact, the new Mercedes is slightly shorter, narrower, and taller than its predecessor; for that matter, it's taller than nearly every other sedan on the market. And while many high-buck cars are still formally at­tired in sharply sculptured sheetmetal, the 300E wears a more avant-garde, molded-­soap-bar look. What's more, its tapered and rounded rear quarters conspire with the diagonal cut-lines of the trunk-lid opening to produce a distinctly unusual rear appearance.

Such departures from popular styling themes are to be expected from Mercedes-Benz. At this company, the engineers hold sway over the bean counters, the market­eers, and the stylists, and they naturally give a higher priority to performance than to the design expectations of well-heeled buyers. In the case of the 300E, one of the engineers' principal goals was to enhance all aspects of its performance with an aero­dynamically efficient design. As a result, the new Mercedes slips through the air with an outstandingly low drag coefficient (0.31), which combines with a modest frontal area to minimize air resistance. The 300E's high tail section may look ungainly, but such a design serves a dual purpose: it helps smooth the airflow into the wake of the cars, and it allows for a large cargo vol­ume. The usefulness of the cargo hold is also aided by a low liftover height and by a lid that swings open to an unusually high position.

Like the trunk, the 300E's passenger compartment is spacious and practical. The two front occupants are treated to bucket seats that offer excellent support, usefully shaped side bolsters, and a full range of power adjustment by means of Mercedes' door-mounted seat controls. These best-in-the-industry controls are supplemented by electrical adjustments for headrest height and steering-column extension. In addition, two sets of driver's-­seat and steering-wheel adjustments can be stored in and recalled from a memory.

The rear seats are every bit as comfort­able as those up front, but the accommo­dations are a bit tighter. Six-footers have adequate legroom even when the front seats are far back, but their headroom is limited. Their feet may be a bit crowded, too, because of the sheer bulk of the seat-­adjusting machinery under the front seats. When three passengers occupy the rear, width is also on the tight side.

The 300E's interior space may not be quite on par with larger luxury sedans', but its creature comforts leave little to be de­sired. In addition to power seats, standard equipment includes electric assists for the sunroof, the windows, and the door locks; the trunk and fuel-filler lids are also se­cured by the power-lock system. Cruise control, automatic climate control, an air bag for the driver, and an elaborate Becker Grand Prix Electronic sound system are all included in the base price.

The 300E is luxurious, but its list of amenities stops short of the frivolous. There isn't an automatic headlight-control mechanism or electronic message center to be found. For convenience's sake, the passenger-side rear-view mirror is electri­cally operated, but the one on the driver's side is manually controlled—supposedly to provide more fail-safe operation.

The styling of the interior follows in this serious vein, with function definitely receiving more emphasis than form. All of the materials seem to be durable and of the highest quality. The dashboard and the console are free of vibrations and squeaks, no matter how hard a bump the car en­counters. The seats are so rigidly framed that they won't flex a bit, even if you shift all your weight suddenly to one side. The door panels remain flat and still when the power windows are operated.

The 300E's interior, in short, is all smoothness and efficiency. But something seems missing. The combination of clean­ly sculptured shapes and cold man-made materials produces a feeling of starkness, particularly when everything is dressed in the light-blue color of one of our test cars. Except for a token strip of artificial-looking wood on the console, this interior offers about as much warmth as the eyes of a Swiss banker.

Of course, those who regard Mercedes as sports sedans will point out that such pure functionalism is in keeping with the marque's serious driving nature. In the case of the 300E, that nature is very serious indeed. With a top speed of 140 mph, this is the fastest Mercedes we've ever tested. And the 300E can lunge from rest to 60 mph in eight seconds flat and sprint through the quarter-mile in 15.9 seconds at 87 mph. Those acceleration figures are just a few ticks of the clock slower than those of Mercedes' full-out 16-valve 190E sports sedan.

Despite its impressive performance sta­tistics, though, the 300E doesn't feel par­ticularly hot-blooded. One of the reasons for this is that the ratios in its five-speed gearbox are tall and very widely spaced; in fact, the 300E's lofty top speed is achieved in fourth gear, not fifth. Although the overhead-cam, 3.0-liter in-line six pro­duces a healthy 177 horsepower at 5700 rpm and 188 pound-feet of torque at 4400 rpm, it feels strong only in the lower gears. Fifth is strictly for highway cruising, as the slug­gish top-gear acceleration times show, and even fourth is often too tall for urban use.

Furthermore, shifting the 300E isn't very satisfying. The clutch is certainly smooth enough, and we can't fault the transmission's light effort or precise action, but the motion is rubbery; it lacks the positive, snick-snick feeling that can make shifting a sensuous pleasure. We did try a 300E with the four-speed automatic and found it to be faultless. Because of its smooth, positive shifts and rapid response to manual inputs, we would probably choose it if we bought a 300E. The other side of the coin is that the manual gearbox offers better EPA highway fuel economy: 25 mpg, versus 22 for the automatic. Both are rated at 18 mpg in the EPA city cycle; we recorded 21 mpg in our testing with the manual-transmission 300E.

If the powertrain's soulless competence leaves you confused about the 300E's sporting nature, the car's suspension char­acteristics throw little light on the subject. The 300E's suspension has an uncanny ability to cope with any road surface. On smooth pavement, its front struts and multilink rear suspension (a scaled-up ver­sion of the 190 design) provide a well­-controlled ride; when the road deterio­rates, the 300E never loses its cool. No matter how bad the bumps and holes are, the suspension keeps all four wheels plant­ed and the car never crashes into its bump stops. Over rough surfaces, the ride is nothing short of magical. Such compe­tence is no surprise in a Mercedes, but the 300E also deals with sharp little bumps, such as expansion joints, less harshly than other models from the same maker.

On winding roads, the 300E reveals a shift in Mercedes' handling philosophy. Instead of cornering with steady under­steer, as its predecessors typically did, the 300E is very neutral; it never grinds its front tires very hard, yet its rear end always stays in line. As a result, the 300E gets the most from its high-performance tires (195/65VR-15 Goodyear NCTs on our test cars), and it develops 0.79 g of grip without any white-knuckle driving. That's a commendable performance for a large sedan, and it represents a tremendous im­provement over previous Mercedes.

The 300E's capable handling is backed up by superlative brakes. The four-wheel discs are both powerful and fade-resistant. And thanks to their anti-lock control, driv­ers of any caliber can extract the car's best stopping performance.

With a well-controlled ride, lots of grip, stable and neutral handling, and confi­dence-inspiring brakes, the 300E can cov­er ground very quickly. Even so, it does not kindle a strong sporting flame in its driver. When pushed hard in the turns, the 300E leans more than most aggressive drivers would like, and its steering lacks the sharp off-center response of a high-strung speedster. The 300E is designed to behave benignly and to give its best while placing only modest demands on its driver.

These contradictions in character, how­ever, are apparent only if one insists on fit­ting the 300E into a luxury niche, or a sporting niche, or any other kind of niche. If one instead regards the 300E as the Mercedes engineers do—as a transporta­tion tool—the contradictions vanish. And the engineers gave their new car the means to be an outstanding transportation tool. Since efficient transportation requires speed, the 300E was given the ability to go very fast. Since roads come in all combina­tions of straight, curved, rough, and smooth, the 300E has a suspension that can cope very capably with any road at high speeds. Since transportation often re­quires several hours, the interior was made spacious and comfortable for its occu­pants. Since there is a failure to transport if the occupants don't survive the trip, the 300E was equipped with excellent active and passive safety features. Since a car can't convey anyone if it doesn't run, the 300E was built solidly and from the most durable materials. And since fuel is often scarce and expensive, the 300E was engi­neered to do all of the above relatively economically.

A warm, cozy interior, a slick-shifting gearbox, delightfully close gear ratios, and elegant designer bodywork would not help the 300E to achieve these functional goals; therefore, it does without them. After all, while some people buy Mercedes to main­tain their status among their neighbors in Beverly Hills, others depend on them to live through the harsh driving environ­ment of war-torn Beirut.

This kind of multifarious competence comes at a dear price—especially when less expensive sedans, such as the Audi 5000 Turbo Quattro and the Saab 9000 Turbo, can equal the 300E's speed and spaciousness while offering additional fea­tures to boot. But buying a Mercedes-Benz is like buying an IBM computer. Some competitors may have an edge in technolo­gy or price, but the Merc and the IBM will deliver long-term satisfaction, great de­pendability, and a maximum return on in­vestment at resale time. As a bonus, the 300E will even deliver your neighbors' envy and admiration.