Driving Experience
Of course, Mercedes isn't the first to bring a diesel hybrid to market. That honour, in the UK at least, goes to Peugeot, who developed a compact, modular electric motor that could easily be engineered into different models in their range. It looks as if Mercedes are taking a similar tack with the E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID. The combustion engine is the 2.1-litre four-cylinder unit much as you'd get in the E 250 CDI, which means there's a useful 204bhp right off the bat. Add in the benefit of a 20kW electric motor and you have a vehicle that can accelerate to 60mph in 7.3 seconds and record a top speed of over 150mph, yet when driven a little more modestly will deliver class-leading economy and emissions figures. Moving off and driving at low loads, you'll be in purely electric mode. Accelerating from a standstill is particularly powerful, since the full torque of up to 250 Nm is available from the electric motor. Likewise, low speed manoeuvres such as parking see the electric motor take over. The car can 'sail' at speeds of less than 160km/h, where the diesel engine switches off and speed is maintained chiefly by using the electric motor, until the batteries need to be recharged, whereby the diesel will quietly thrum back to life. Because so many of the ancillary components such as the steering, brakes and air conditioning compressor operate electrically, engine restarting is quick and efficient.
Design and Build
The compactness of the E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID's electric motor means there's no real penalty to pay in terms of practicality. Pop the boot of the saloon or the tailgate of the estate version and you get exactly the same amount of carrying capacity as you do in their more conventionally powered siblings. For the record, that's 540 litres of boot space in the saloon and 695 in the estate, expandable to 1,950 litres in the estate should you start folding seats down. There's also just as much rear legroom on offer. Mercedes claim that their own testing procedures have shown that it takes a relatively short time for genuine fuel savings to be achieved as drivers learn to make increasingly deliberate and effective use of this Hybrid car's efficiency technology. They are supported in their use of the features by the display panel of the E 300 BlueTEC HYBRID. The central display provides information on the current energy flow and the charge status of the batteries, as well as a top view of the vehicle, depicting the drivetrain and coloured energy flow. The driver is able to monitor fuel consumption via energy/time graphs.