But step inside and it looks as if all the money has gone to interior design and quality materials - granted the lower priced E320 benefits from much of the expense. The previous car wasn't poorly laid out, but the new E is stunning. Imitating its larger and more expensive S-Class brother a softer, more sensuous design incorporates warm colors, fluid shapes and surfaces that are soft to the touch. A single horizontal strip of high gloss wood begins at each door panel and stretches across the dash bending toward the seating area at its center. It bisects the interior's darker shaded plastic from its lighter shade too - straight black is also available. The center stack and connected console is an exercise in continuity, flowing from its integrated dual opening leather and wood accented armrest, into the wood covered shift lever surroundings and then bending upward toward audio and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) controls. The new 4-zone climate control interface is purportedly more intuitive and therefore easier to operate than the outgoing system as is its Harmon Kardon Logic 7 stereo - a $1,150 option.
Other options include Distronic adaptive cruise control at $3,660, a tire pressure monitoring system at $930, a power trunk lid at $790, integrated roller blinds for the rear side windows at $470 and a $720 power rear sunscreen. Its $1,850 panoramic sunroof is a must have, while the $1,810 Keyless Go, a touch sensitive entry and engine start option, $1,120 solar panel, and $1,600 infrared reflecting multilayer glass all around with break in resistance might seem over the top for some.
A host of additional features including parking assist, heated and ventilated front seats, a split rear folding seatback, Nappa leather upgrade and much more, including a $2,500 Sport Package that adds a sculpted skirt kit, ivory-color gauge faces, birds-eye maple wood trim and chrome dashboard moldings, P245/45WR17 tires and 17-inch 5-spoke alloy rims to the E500, dressing it up further inside and out, can up the E500's $81,500 standard price to a stratospheric $109,020!