2011 Mercedes-Benz E350 BlueTec Diesel – Short Take Road Test

The Mercedes-Benz diesel-powered mid-size sedan is as durable a notion as you’ll find in autodom. Mercedes created the world’s first production diesel-powered passenger car in 1935 and began putting oil-burners in its mid-sizers (a.k.a. Pontons) in 1955. The very words “Mercedes diesel” conjure all kinds of associations, from college professors who have forsaken their Peugeots, to wiry German mechanics, to cab drivers in Kabul. It’s an archetype; a 911 Turbo for meerschaum-smoking squares, a Shelby Mustang for people who got beat up in high school. Let’s see how this newest one, the E350 BlueTec, stacks up, shall we?

Stirring Diesel into the E-class Formula

In every regard save for its powerplant, the E350 BlueTec is a regular E350. It shares the mainstream sedan’s body, seven-speed manumatic transmission, coil-spring/multilink suspension, long-haul seats, and no-BS interior. But the car’s 3.0-liter diesel engine drastically alters the nature of the beast.

Unlike the gas-powered E-class’s 3.5-liter 90-degree V-6, the diesel mill is smaller by half a liter and keeps just 72 degrees between the banks. This engine first came to the U.S. under the hood of the 2006 E320 diesel, but it's now fitted with Mercedes’ urea-injection system, which scrubs the exhaust clean of almost all of its NOx emissions and makes the car 50-state legal. Producing just 210 hp, the diesel V-6 packs a 400-lb-ft wallop; that’s more torque than the E550 sedan’s 391 lb-ft rating.

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