2017 Mercedes-Benz E Class interior emulates S-Class
Axel Catton
Star European Correspondent
It was probably just about time. Ahead of the new 2017 E-Class launch at the NAIAS in Detroit, Mercedes invited The Star and other international magazines to its design headquarters in Sindelfingen near Stuttgart for a preview of the new car’s interior. You only have to google “2017 E-Class Interior” to see why: hundreds of spy pictures of a black taped-up interior don’t tell the story at all. Equally, there is so much to say about the interior that it makes sense to cover this important area of the new E well before its launch.
While the exterior of Mercedes-Benz’ mainstay sedan range looks like it has been adapted carefully, it is the interior where the Stuttgart brand intends to leap ahead of its rivals. Hartmut Sinkwitz, Head of Interior Design at Mercedes-Benz, made his intentions clear when talking to the Star: “We made the E-Class the most intelligent car in its segment but also the most emotional”.
Most striking is the “double-S” shape that the designers started with, a flowing rounded impression that swings from the dash uninterrupted into the doors and contains four large round vents as its center piece. No less than 64 ambient light choices are available to customize the E-Class interior to your own taste. The main difference to its predecessor is also the strongest link to its “bigger brother”, the S-Class. Almost floating above the dash is a new double-screen layout with two 12.3 in LED screens transmitting all information to driver and passenger (Sinkwitz: “those are bigger than many laptop screens”). Gone are the analog instruments and in comes a totally adaptable instrument cluster with three different styles to choose from: Classic, Sport and Progressive. In classic mode, the instruments, although digital, look most familiar to existing analog ones. In sport, yellow lettering and red lines dominate, while Progressive mode is the most, er, progressive, with a 3D-look and one single speedo surrounded by two fields where the driver can choose which information to display, i.e. the nav screen or the trip information. All three styles accommodate a host of new information, especially the possibility to include a navigation screen right in front of the driver’s line of view.
The right-hand screen displays of course the nav screen, but also information about the music system and the car’s various settings. For the first time, the driver can control both screens without taking his hand off the steering wheel. The new (exclusively three-spoke) arrangement includes touch sensitive pads on the right and left spokes. You flick through the menus with just a swipe of your thumb while choosing a menu needs a tactile press of the center button. An actual test drive will have to show how this works in real life and the chance of accidentally sending an unintentional command.
But dashboard and screen are not all that is new. I rarely find the time to speak about seats but furniture in the new E is superb. Slim, slender, even sensual, are words that come to mind by just looking at them. “They are styled after the human body”, explains Sinkwitz with obvious pride. The narrow backrests form a wonderful hold for the upper back, with seams incorporated into the lower, wider bit to create an almost bucket seat-like experience. Again, we reserve full judgement until our first test drive earlier next year, but for now they are simply the most gorgeous seats to look at in the mid-luxury market segment right now.