In 8.2 seconds you’ll be doing 60mph, in 24.1sec 100mph and you’ll run out of steam at 135mph. The BMW, Audi and Saab rivals manage sixty in around 9.0sec; the Volvo and Renault ten-plus.
These figures show that you can have diesel economy and low-end lug without sacrificing any performance. Nor do you have to tolerate poor manners; the E270 sounds clattery from without but from within there’s no vibration through the pedals or steering wheel.
The SBC brakes stopped the car from 70mph in an impressive 50.6m without fuss. The Softstop function takes some getting used to – as you feel effort decreasing your instinct is to brake harder, which makes your stop anything but soft.
For your first fifty yards in a new E-Class you’ll think about nothing other than its immensely impressive filtration of surface and suspension noise and vibration, which immediately makes the ride seem very good indeed.
But from the way the body jiggles slightly over poor surfaces and bump-thumps noisily into the biggest potholes you can tell that its pure glide has been wound back slightly in favour of injecting some dynamism at bigger speeds and on more challenging roads.
As a balanced package for lesser-powered E-Classes, it’s pretty good. If we had to make a criticism it would be that the driver can feel slightly removed from the action.