2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain - first passenger ride

Our route around a former army training ground about an hour’s drive south of Stuttgart, Germany, takes in a variety of different road surfaces, including loose chip, gravel, the obligatory sludge and a couple of moderately deep water crossings.

The new E-Class All Terrain takes it all in its stride, traversing them with surprising authority for a car eningeered primarily for road use. Given the fact the prototype is running the standard road-biased tyres, not the optional snow and mud suited rubber, it's a particularly impressive performance that fully underlines the car's ability on the rough stuff.

With the four-wheel drive system doling out power to either the front or rear depending on prevailing grip, the E-Class All Terrain makes light work of the variety of different roads. Traction remains strong despite challenging conditions, allowing us to retain good momentum even when we’re faced with steep inclines, muddy holes and, at one point, an creaky old bridge once used for military rescue training.  

With limited ground clearance and an obvious lack of scratch production along its flanks, however, the E-Class All Terrain is never going to forge its own progress across uncharted territory in the way a tougher and truly dedicated off-roader like its stablemate, the iconic military-grade G-Class, might.

An optional digital display within the E-Class All Terrain's vehicle settings menu provides information on the angle of attack, which at one point reaches more than 50deg on a particularly slippery incline of wet, hard-packed gravel. As if to highlight the traction generated by the new car’s four-wheel drive system, Schneider stops before the summit and then, relying on the strong torque characteristics of the diesel engine, slowly creeps forward in first gear. There’s some whirring sounds from underneath but little slippage before traction is regained and we surmount the crest of the hill.

Progress on more demanding trails is aided by the All Terrain driving mode. It can be activated at speeds of up to 22mph, providing the car with an additional 20mm of ride height via the Air Body Control suspension for a total of 160mm of ground clearance. Thus configured, the E-Class All Terrain has respective approach and departure angles of up to 18deg and 17 deg as well as a maximum fording depth of 300mm, which is sufficient for it to easily handle our series of water crossings.

It doesn’t take long in the off-road conditions to come to the conclusion that the E-Class All Terrain will go places that would stop the standard rear-wheel drive E-Class Estate dead in its tracks. Even with only a moderate increase in ride height, the changes to the All Terrain's four-wheel drive system allow a full apportioning of available power to the front or rear wheels rather than just a partial sharing of drive, endowing it with the ability to take you places most potential buyers would never dream of tackling.

The E 220 d 4Matic forms is entry-level model in the new All Terrain line-up, and is expected to account for the majority of sales in the UK. Later, we'll also get to ride in the more powerful E 350 d 4Matic All Terrain. It has Mercedes-Benz’s familiar turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 diesel and, by dent of its extra power and torque, is even more capable off the Tarmac.

At the moment, this is the extent of the E-Class All Terrain range planned for the UK. Citing a lack of demand, Mercedes-Benz says it does not plan to introduce petrol or petrol-electric hybrid variants of the Estate-based model here, at least in the short term.

Visual differences between this model and the standard E-Class Estate all provide it with a more rugged appearance than its more on-road biased sibling. It gets a re-profiled, two-tone front bumper, a prominent twin blade grille, wheel arch cladding, roof rails, chunkier doorsills and a two-tone rear bumper with integrated trapezoidal shaped tailpipes.

Following our off-road excursion, an extended on-road route in the E 220 d 4Matic All Terrain takes us on a combination of multi-lane autobahns and smoothly paved two-lane country roads. You get a slightly more commanding view thanks to the nominal 20mm increase in ride height, but apart from this it's virtually indistinguishable from the standard E 220 d Estate from a passenger's point of view.

The interior and all its key appointments, including an optional 12.3in high definition instrument screen which incorporates the infotainment monitor in one single panel, are carried over from the latest E-Class with only subtle changes, including new trim applications, stainless steel pedals and floor mats with All Terrain identification. The build quality inside the All Terrain, even on this early example, is excellent and the materials used throughout are first-rate.

In terms of accommodation, there’s also little to fault. Space up front is generous and there’s also more leg room in the rear than in the GLE SUV. With 670 litres of boot space with the rear seat backs in their most upright position, the E-Class All Terrain has just 50 litres less than this larger off-road sibling.  With the standard 40/20/40 rear seat folded away, this increases to 1820 litres.