This is a short story of how we sometimes arrive at the truth. Letting go of deep-seated childhood emotional responses is hard. Growing up in the fifties in Austria, Mercedes was my true God. My father had a friend with a 300 SL Gullwing, and I spent hours walking around it, absorbing each detail. There was an old Tatra streamliner in the neighborhood. Aerodynamics, efficiency, and speed are my triggers. In 1985, I bought one of the first W124 300E sedans in LA, in part because its Cd. of .28 was the best in the world then, as well as its 140 mph top speed. Just yesterday, in Part 3 of the History of Automotive Aerodynamics, I concluded the survey of current production car aerodynamics record-holders with the 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe, honoring its widely disseminated Cd of .24, lower than even the 2010 Prius. Looking at the picture of that E Class coupe this morning triggered a totally unexpected upsurge of that old lust, something that I thought was long extinguished, and I actually went to the Mercedes web site for strictly personal reasons. I expected that Mercedes would be trumpeting the coupe’s .24 Cd proudly. Not so, and for a good reason.
In fact, there was no reference to it anywhere. I remember how proudly Mercedes was of the W124′s sleekness in its ads and brochures. What gives? I had to download a pdf with technical specs, and there it was, buried in small print: Cd of .28. It’s 1984 all over again.
I found the answer buried deep on Mercedes’ German web site: the .24 Cd only applies to the E 220 CDI Blue Efficiency model, that isn’t even going to be available until later this spring, and in then in Europe only. It must be lowered and have lots of aerodynamic tweaks. Google “Mercedes E-Class Coupe coefficient of drag”, and you’ll see that every magazine, web site, newspaper and of course wikipedia has repeated Mercedes’ Cd of .24 virus endlessly.
I’m still surprised with that unexpected surge of Mercedes lust; but it came for a reason: I’m totally over Mercedes now, and I’m here to proclaim to whoever listens: the 2010 Mercedes E-Class coupe has a Cd of .28, the same as a 2001 Camry, a 1995 Mitsubishi Diamante, a 2003 Saab 9-3, and a 1998 Chrysler Concorde.
2010 Mercedes Benz E-Class
Mercedes-Benz E-Class MercedesSport variety of exclusive products including front apron and spoiler, and side edges, and optional rear roof spoiler, a diffuser-look rear apron insert grille and fog lamps, 18-inch light alloy wheels in painted version in high-bicolor black luster is protected by a clear lacquer coating and the bear logo MercedesSport, with a stiff sporty suspension damping and stabilizer transversely and shorter springs to lower the suspension up to 15 millimeters, sport braking system with perforated brake discs and brake calipers gray Mercedes-logo Benz, and others.
In the interior, features more than MercedesSport E-Class is a sport grippy four-spoke steering wheel with perforated leather and contrast the silver lining is available with optional paddle shift and a heater, a stainless steel pedal cluster, stainless steel entrance panels illuminated by white and bearing the logo MercedesSport , and black velours floor mats with silver borders and contrast stitching, logo also MercedesSport.
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