Currently reading: New Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate to take on Audi A6 Allroad
Mercedes’ new E-Class All Terrain is set to rival the Audi A6 Allroad; more crossover models to follow

The upcoming Mercedes-Benz E-Class Estate will spawn a high-riding Audi A6 Allroad rival when it goes on sale later this year.

The E-Class All Terrain is set to be the first in what a high-ranking source has described as “a range of new crossover models” that will be added to Mercedes’ line-up in the coming years.

Due to be launched in October, the plush new four-wheel-drive estate will be pitched as an alternative to Mercedes’ dedicated SUVs. A £40,000 price for an entry-level E200 model is expected.

The starting point for the E-Class All Terrain is the yet-to-be-revealed fifth-generation E-Class Estate. Both models will share the same aluminium and steel body.

Recent spy photographs confirm that the E-Class All Terrain is visually differentiated from its regular estate sibling by a series of unique exterior styling touches, includingmore rugged front and rear bumpers with plastic bash plates, additional cladding within the wheel arches, integrated roof bars and an individual wheel design.

Also planned is a series of unique interior trim combinations, according to insiders privy to early production examples of the new estate.

Read: Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet breaks cover

The E-Class All-Terrain will initially be offered with the same limited range of turbocharged four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines as the latest derivatives of the more traditional E-Class saloon, which was revealed at the Detroit motor show earlier this year. A petrol-electric plug-in hybrid version is also planned.

All engines will be mated to Mercedes’ 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic gearbox. Drive will be apportioned to each wheel via the same four-wheel drive system as that of more road-biased versions of the E-Class 4Matic.

In an effort to match the variable ride height properties of the A6 Allroad, Mercedes plans to equip the E-Class All Terrain with its latest air suspension, the so-called Air Body Control system.

Featuring two chambers of varying size within the spring struts on each of the front wheels and three chambers on the spring struts of each rear wheel, Air Body Control will enable the driver to choose between different levels of ground clearance while providing automatic self-levelling, along with a highway function that lowers the body at high speeds to increase aerodynamic efficiency. 

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5wheels 26 March 2016

Now now girls and boys

Put the handbags away! You know where I live and may even have some idea whats required to fight the weather and the conditions here. People have moved away from the ubiquitous Passat estate which ruled these northern hemispheres for years and bought SUV's. But many do hanker for the solid 4wd estate. Reasons are not just crap weather, we also have a lot of crap road surfaces and many many of us have our happy little dacha and need to lugalot (my own word) every weekend and half the SUV's cant hold it. That said - The Allroad will be an impossible act to follow for MB. Having driven many of them I always came away wanting one for myself.
chandrew 22 February 2016

I'm a huge admirer of these

I'm a huge admirer of these vehicles. They give you all the height that you need for bumpy, non-tarmacced roads or to get across a muddy field yet don't have the compromises of an SUV. This in E400 / E500 form would tick so many boxes.
Campervan 22 February 2016

Attractive to me

A car like this, or the A6 allroad, is very attractive to me,
I am not interested in how fast a car can go round a race circuit but want an estate for my camping hobby with 4wheel drive as I live amongst the Welsh hills where there is snow and ice every year. I use bumpy grass fields for camping and often drive on single track roads with a grass hump in the middle so extra ground clearance due to height adjustable air suspension is useful. But I do not want the bulk and height of a SUV nor the extra fuel consumption of a SUV.
Thank goodness manufacturers give us the choice of different vehicles.