2016 Mercedes E350 d Estate AMG Line first drive

This is the new Mercedes E-Class in one of its most convincing forms: with a strong, decently economical and refined V6 diesel in the front, and up to 1820 litres of immaculately managed carrying capacity inside its estate-car hind quarters.

The E350 d comes along as Mercedes fleshes out the E-Class Estate offering at both ends of the model range, after introducing the car only a few months ago. A 148bhp 2.0-litre E200 d slots in alongside the 191bhp E220 d, bringing the wagon’s pecuniary entry point down below £37,000 – while the 396bhp Mercedes-AMG E43 pushes the range’s upper price threshold close to £60k, with a full-flooded E63 shortly to come in above that.

Four-cylinder petrol and ‘plug-in’ petrol-electric derivatives are on offer too, of course - making this ‘W213’-generation version of Mercedes’ long-lived mid-sized executive option more various in its engine options than any before it.

But Mercedes’ decision to offer the tax-saving E350e in saloon-guise-only means the 350 d Estate’s existence isn’t threatened by its petrol-electric sibling quite as directly as its four-door equivalent. Something which, for those who care more about how well a car works in the real world than how much appeal it may have on the order form, is to be welcomed.

By comparison with some of the high-performance multi-cylinder diesel engines recently offered by Audi, BMW and Porsche, the decade-old ‘OM642’ V6 diesel in the E350d isn’t exactly headline-grabbing. And yet it remains so good at ushering the car along that it seldom really needs to break a sweat, and perfectly suits the brisk but relaxed stride that so much else about the car encourages you to adopt.

Weighing close-to two tonnes, the E-Class Estate depends on torque for that sense of easy pace – and the E350d has 457lb ft of the stuff from just 1600rpm. That’s enough to make a heavy car seem surprisingly light, and to put meaningful extra potency under even smallish accelerator pedal extensions.

The car’s nine-speed automatic gearbox is also tuned very cleverly to keep the crankshaft operating along its torque peak, and shifts more quickly and intuitively than Mercedes’ auto boxes used to. The upshot is simply that, while other manufacturers are desperate to convince you that their latest big diesel engine is as exciting as a petrol, Mercedes seems happy to continue to let this one stick to what it’s good at: lazy-revving, laid-back, smooth muscularity.