Mercedes E200 Elegance

The E 200 Kompressor is powered by a supercharged 1.8-litre in-line four cylinder engine that produces 135kW at 5500rpm and 250Nm at 2800-5500rpm. I have found that to extract any decent performance from the car, I need to keep the revs up to about 3000-3500rpm when accelerating.

It also seems to hold on to lower gears going uphill, so the revs stay up at around the 3500-4000rpm range, giving an impression that it’s struggling.

It isn’t slow, but it does feel somewhat underpowered. In ‘Sport’ mode (the 5-speed automatic transmission has a selector for ‘Comfort’ and ‘Sport’ modes) the car accelerates from standstill in first gear, and generally holds onto gears longer than in ‘Comfort’ mode, where the car would start from second.

It’s not a deal breaker, but if I had an opportunity again I would try to look for an E 280 or E 350.