Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain (2017 – 2020) Review

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain is a tougher version of the regular E-Class Estate, designed to compete with similarly ‘lifestyle’ semi-off-road machines like the Audi A6 Avant and the Volvo V90 Cross Country.

That the All-Terrain is actually quite capable off-road is something of a moot point; this is a car for people who want the look and the ability, but don’t want an SUV and probably don’t plan to go off-road a great deal either. Just as lovely as the standard car inside with a bit more visual muscle outside, the E-Class All-Terrain comes in a single model and engine guise with a large price tag to match, but it is a very capable and impressive machine.

The laziest way to introduce the E-Class All Terrain is to call it Mercedes-Benz’s posh answer to the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack. There, we said it.

So what we’re looking at here is an E-Class Estate that’s raised a bit and has a four-wheel drive system of sorts – 4Matic simply directs the torque between front and rear axles depending on grip conditions – ergo giving it limited off-road capability and improved towing ability, although it’s worth noting that in terms of physical mass it can’t tow any greater loads than the standard E-Class wagon.

However, the four-wheel-drive system is a boon, and if you are the kind of person who doesn’t want something as frightfully gauche as a full-sized SUV, the All-Terrain combines the extra sure-footedness of something like that but wrapped in the more acceptable bodyshape of an estate.

So if you want to tow a horsebox across an occasionally muddy and bumpy field, the All-Terrain can do so happily but still cruise comfortably and quietly on the motorway.

There’s nothing on the inside to distinguish the All Terrain as anything other than a very well specced E-Class, though on the outside you’ll notice the model-specific three-piece rear bumper, as well as, perhaps, the thicker sidewalls of the tyres – that’s where a good half of the extra height comes from, as it happens. But the message is clear; this is an E-Class Estate with some kind of fancy hiking boots on.

Unfortunately this approach comes with some downside; 65,495 of them to be precise, which is what you’ll have to shell out in pounds Sterling to get your own example.

Sure, it comes specced to the max as standard, and you get the pokiest diesel engine and four-wheel-drive as standard. There are effectively no options you can get for this car, other than choosing the exterior colour and interior trim schemes. But this is still a whole heap of money.

And that causes a few problems. For a start, the Audi A6 Allroad has a choice of two engines and two trim levels within the Allroad package, and you can get into one for close to £10,000 less than the Mercedes.

The Volvo V90 Cross Country offers a similar take, with a choice of two petrol and one diesel engines and three trim levels - all costing less much less than the Mercedes.

To match the All-Terrain spec for spec you may need to spend a bit more, but the fact that you don’t have any choice means you really need to be sure this is exactly what you want; if you want to slum it (relatively speaking) the Volkswagen Passat Alltrack can tow 100kg more than the All-Terrain but will cost you £25,000 less...

The good news here is that there are no compromises in terms of boot and cabin volume with the All-Terrain compared to the regular E-Class Estate, so you know you’re going to get plenty of space. There’s 1820 litres available if you fold the rear seats, with a flat boot floor and enough width to take a standard pallet. 

There’s also a false floor with a good space underneath, or optionally you can swap this for an extra pair of child seats - although it is important to remember that they are only suitable for younger children and cannot accommodate adults.

Room in the rear is excellent too, so you can carry taller adults with ease. The centre seat is a little compromised on account of the transmission tunnel, but four adults can travel in complete space and comfort, with five perfectly possible if your fifth occupant is willing.

The vast majority of the time, when you’re not doing the over-the-hills-and-faraway stuff, this is a beautifully composed estate that has mastered of all the trades it’s a jack of..

The specification includes all the stuff that turns the E-Class from a nice car into a truly luxurious one, including twin 12-inch colour displays, the one nearest to you acting as a digital instrument panel, as well as a top end Burmeister surround sound system, proper LED headlights, and a panoramic glass sunroof.

The All-Terrain is a model in itself - and an expensive one at that - but the good side of this is that you get the higher specification Premium package as standard.

That means you get DAB, Bluetooth for telephony and audio streaming, sat-nav via SD card and the touchpad controller, USB input, the Comand Online system with integrated wifi and connected services.

It’s a clever and attractive system, almost looking like the flight deck of a modern airliner. It can be a little intimidating at first and requires a little time to work out where everything is, but the choice of input methods - touchpad controller, steering wheel controls or voice - means you can use what suits you best.

The All-Terrain is a single model line that exists within the regular E-Class range, so there are no trim levels or much in the way of options. The list price is a substantial £65,495, which compares to £57,570 for the Audi A6 Allroad 50 TDI - although the Mercedes has a more powerful engine - while the Volvo V90 Cross Country ranges from £46,420 up to £57,935 for the top-spec T6 petrol version.

That makes the All-Terrain comfortably the most expensive offering compared to its rivals, but it does have a very high standard specification so you should take this into account when making a buying decision.

As for used examples, the All-Terrain E-Class hasn’t been on sale as long as the regular E and because it’s an expensive and relatively specialised single model there are fewer examples to choose from - although they are out there if you’re patient. Also, because it is so expensive to buy in the first place, depreciation is quite heavy and means there are bargains to be had.

A search through the classified ads turned up quite a few examples, many 2019-registered examples with low mileage, several having fewer than 10,000 miles on the clock so still likely to have some manufacturer warranty left.

We found a 2019 car in black with less than 6000 miles on the clock for £43,000 - a saving of almost £20,000 over the list price of a new car. The earliest car we found was from 2018, had less than 30,000 miles and was selling for £35,000.

The claimed consumption figure for the All-Terrain is 38.7mpg, so it’s going to be an expensive car to fuel however careful you are, and that’s before you start going off-road or towing anything.

As for insurance, similar logic applies in that the All-Terrain has no engine or trim options to vary the insurance cost - it comes in at group 44, only six groups away from the maximum and the same as the high performance E53 AMG model.

So even if you are 50-plus years old and have an immaculate driving record, you can still expect the All-Terrain to be costly to insure.

Thanks to the selectable driving modes of the All-Terrain, it both rides like a luxury car and can make a decent fist of being sporty. It’s quick - going from 0-62mph happens in 6.2 seconds, but more importantly, there's 620Nm of torque.

Instead, this is an E-Class Estate whose ride height is 29mm higher than standard, and which will raise a further 20mm upon selecting the ‘All Terrain’ setting of the (also standard) switchable air suspension. It does that at speeds of up to 19mph, above which it’ll lower itself on the go, presumably to prevent the car bouncing around the streets like a runaway Swiss ball.

In case you didn’t already know, the All-Terrain is only available with a single engine option, the most powerful diesel engine that’s also available in the E400d.

It’s a very impressive unit, and is more refined than the 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel on account of an extra pair of cylinders. It’s smooth at idle speeds and impressively quiet when cruising, but probably the most impressive aspect is the performance.

It has a mighty 700Nm of torque available from low engine speeds for you to call upon, so acceleration is effortless and readily available.

With the reassurance of the four wheel drive system too, you have maximum traction in all weather conditions so you can use the performance with confidence. This also makes the All-Terrain an exceptionally capable towing car - it is one of the few cars available at any price that comes with a tow bar as standard.

Euro NCAP tested the E-Class in 2016 and awarded it five stars, including an impressive 95 per cent score for adult protection and 90 per cent for child protection. The pedestrian rating was 77 per cent and safety assist 62 per cent.  

All E-Class models are fitted with front chest and side airbags, a knee airbag for the driver and curtain airbags, an active bonnet, blind spot assist, the Mercedes-Benz Pre-Safe system, traffic sign assist, and ESC.

The Driving Assistance Plus package can be added, which includes active blind spot assist, active braking assist with cross traffic function, Pre-Safe Plus and active emergency stop assist amongst other features, but this can only be specified on the AMG Line Night Edition Premium Plus, the All-Terrain Edition and the Mercedes-AMG E53 model.

The All-Terrain does not offer any additional towing capacity over the regular E-Class Estate, offers the same 750kg unbraked, 2,100kg braked as all versions of the regular car, although it is still arguably the best version for towing. It comes with a tow bar as standard as well as the superior traction of four-wheel-drive, while the additional ground clearance could be also useful if you have to cross uneven fields whilst you tow.

There’s not a great deal to think about here, as the All-Terrain is essentially a trim level of its own, with no choices of trim or engine or options from the options list. The flip side of this is that the All-Terrain is loaded with equipment - it’s the only E-Class Estate that comes with a tow bar as standard, and the only option on the price list is a monthly subscription to a service plan.