Fully loaded

摘要

The Mercedes E-class estate is the definitive large luxury wagon, but can it fend off the newer, sharper BMW 520d Touring? Matt Saunders loads up. However hard they try, and however many niches they invent along the way, car makers just can't supersede the traditional mid-sized executive estate. Audi can come up with as many 'Sportbacks' as its design department can conceive. Ford and Citroen can tempt us with MPVs that drive like sports saloons, or that look like Martian landers, with greater interior flexibilty than a contortion artist. The Japanese contingent can give us 'crossover 4×4s' until there are no more market boundaries left to cross. And yet the appeal of the five-seat, two-box, premium-brand wagon remains as strong as ever.