Mercedes takes the 2025 MotorTrend Car of the Year award

Our 2025 Car of the Year is far from the sexiest choice. It isn’t a sleek, high-powered electric German sport sedan, nor is it the long-anticipated rebirth of a ’60s cult classic. Instead, it’s a car that has been molded and refined since the 1950s with a clear purpose to make it just plain better. Smoother. Quicker. More efficient. More comfortable. Better at anticipating driver needs. And more luxurious — not in a trashy, in-your-face way, but quietly. Confidently.
It’s a dependable constant, always what you need when you need it, nothing more, nothing less. For those reasons and more, this year’s Golden Calipers go to what might just be the best midsize luxury car of the 21st century: the 10th-generation Mercedes-Benz E-Class.
The E-Class has long lived in the shadow of the larger S-Class and has increasingly been squeezed from below by the C-Class. For the past several generations it’s often felt torn between the two camps — mixing exterior styling cues from its big sibling with the interior build and features of the cheaper C-Class.
The new-for-2024 E-Class, available as a sedan and station wagon in pseudo crossover E450 All-Terrain form, finally feels like its own thing. Its styling is unmistakably Mercedes, but it’s no longer the same sausage cut in different lengths. “The sedan’s side view is simple yet elegant without being flashy,” guest judge and automotive engineering legend Chris Theodore said. “Subtle longitudinal strakes near the top of the front and rear fenders kindle a reminder of the classic Gullwing while visually lengthening the sedan’s appearance.” The wagon, despite riding on the same wheelbase and with the same overall length as the sedan, is visually lengthened thanks to a tapered daylight opening, lending the All-Terrain a shooting brake profile.
The new nose and tail treatment don’t advance much in the broader sense of automotive design, but in the strict confines of the Mercedes lineup, they’re an evolutionary step forward and a preview of things to come from Stuttgart. Its scalloped glass headlights are a subtle homage to the marque’s late 20th century designs and indirectly pay a tribute to the rival Chris Bangle–era BMWs from the early 21st century — cars that arguably reset the styling standard for what a large executive sedan should be in the modern era.
Efforts were also made to visually link the new gas-only E-Class with recent all-electric models such as the Mercedes EQE sedan. Up front, this approach, featuring a black surround to the three-pointed-star-filled grille, was less successful, drawing comparisons to a racoon’s snout. The rear-end treatment, however, was executed better. An LED lightbar links two scalloped, tri-star-filled taillights, visually connecting the tail with the nose of Mercedes’ most successful car with its less successful EVs.
Evolutionary steps were made to the interior, as well. The large, 3D-capable digital instrument cluster, central infotainment display and optional, passenger-facing “Superscreen” distract at first from what’s a remarkably cohesive interior design. We were particularly fond of the attention paid to the air vents, which coolly blend their function with aesthetic purpose by visually linking the left and right sides of the cabin to the neat floating door pulls, which not only look great but also allow for increased storage in the door pockets. At night, new LED colors combine with the passenger screen’s various screen savers to create a surprisingly beautiful aesthetic. It’s a lovely place to spend some time, especially when considering how nearly silent the cabin is while traveling at highway speeds.
Practically speaking, the new E-Class is more thoughtfully designed around people and their things than before. The center console, for instance, features a hidden wireless phone slot and foldaway front cupholders, allowing more space for various odds and ends. The back seat is roomier than before thanks in part to scallops in the front seat backs. The trunks of both the sedan and the wagon are also more usable than before, with the sedan now offering up compact SUV levels of cargo volume and the wagon matching some midsize SUVs.
That intention of making the E-Class more of its own thing pays off in other ways, too. The previous generation, exceptional in its own right and so good that it scored our 2021 Car of the Year award, tried to be all things to all people. There was a sedan, yes, but also a wagon, a crossovery lifted wagon, a coupe and a convertible. The pure variety meant perfection was next to impossible; a coupe, for instance, fundamentally should drive differently than a lifted station wagon, and a sedan much differently than a convertible — and that’s before getting into the dizzying array of powertrains on offer. The compromises meant some versions of the E-Class were just plain better than others.
For 2024, Mercedes liberated the E-Class from its coupe and convertible duties, breaking off those models (and the equivalent C-Classes) to make a dedicated line for those purposes, the CLE-Class. That in turn has allowed Mercedes to engineer the new E-Class with a renewed focus on its bread-and-butter sedan and wagon variants. (Some readers may recall that the last-generation E450 All-Terrain competed at SUV of the Year; Mercedes, however, now more-correctly classifies this E-Class variant as a wagon instead of a crossover, hence its inclusion at Car of the Year now).
It started by stretching the wheelbase of the new E-Class by nearly an inch over the prior version (which would have been a no-no for the coupe and cabriolets) for increased straight-line stability, ride comfort and interior volume. Suspension revisions, such as combining springs and dampers into a single assembly that separates them from steering motions, further work to isolate the cabin from the noise and vibrations drivers of coupes and convertibles often prefer. Further improvements were made thanks to an updated single-chamber AirMatic air suspension.
Paired with four-wheel steering (optional for the sedan as part of the Technology package), the air springs continuously adjust the spring rate as the car reads the road surface, further protecting the cabin from impacts. The four-wheel steering, meanwhile, reduces the car’s turning circle by 3 feet, to 36.4 feet. Although it isn’t available with four-wheel steering — the hardware would impinge on its trunk space — the E450 All-Terrain gets its own unique tune of AirMatic. It also has a higher default ride height than the sedan and an Off-Road mode that boosts the Mercedes wagon up to a respectable 7.0 inches of ground clearance.
Anchoring these changes are revisions to two familiar engines. The base E350 sedan sees the biggest change, pairing a 2.0-liter turbocharged I-4 with a new permanent-magnet motor that functions as an integrated starter generator, boosting efficiency and drastically smoothing out power delivery. The new engine/motor mild hybrid makes a stout 255 hp and 295 lb-ft, reaching the wheels via Benz’s ubiquitous nine-speed automatic transmission. The E350 is the sole E-Class variant to feature rear-wheel drive; all-wheel drive is a $2,500 extra.
The E450 sedan and All-Terrain, meanwhile, continue to source their power from the automaker’s buttery smooth 3.0-liter turbo I-6 and permanent-magnet mild hybrid setup. Further refined for efficiency, the combo is essentially a carryover from a power perspective, making 375 hp and 369 lb-ft of torque. All E450s also use the nine-speed and feature all-wheel drive standard. (We expect the engine lineup to grow once the AMG variants come online.)
Thanks to the addition of electric motor assist across the lineup, all new E-Classes are capable of gliding with the engine off, backfilling the internal combustion engine’s power delivery with the electric motor and recovering otherwise wasted energy under braking. Even better, they now have a nearly imperceptible stop/start mode.
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The new E is more frugal than before as a result, with the E350 EPA-rated at up to 25/33/28 mpg city/highway/combined, while both the E450 sedan and All-Terrain wagon net 22/31/25 mpg. More impressive is that these aren’t cars even tuned specifically for big numbers on the EPA test cycle; both E450s showed 30 mpg during sustained 80-mph cruising, while the combined figure was a rounding error away after a full day of hard driving during our finalist loops.
As is increasingly the case with modern cars, Mercedes also relied on software engineering to bolster its hardware. Anchoring the revisions is the latest version of its MBUX user interface, which now uses a single powerful processor to control the system’s functions versus the multiple, less powerful processors found in the previous generation. This makes it much easier for Mercedes to update the car’s infotainment systems via over-the-air updates and add third-party apps such as Zoom (via an optional dash-mounted cabin-facing camera), TikTok, YouTube and the Vivaldi web browser, all of which are already available on the E-Class.
The system, aided by artificial intelligence software developed in-house, allows for some innovative new features that aim to make an E-Class owner’s life as easy as possible.
Today, the system is capable of basic contextual recommendations (such as asking if you’d like to turn on the seat massage function after a prolonged period behind the wheel), as well as a handful of simple driver-curated “if this, then that” settings under the Routines apps. For instance, you can set the E450’s parking cameras to turn on when near a specific high curb or turn on the heated seats after you leave the gym. You can also set the car to turn on the cooled seats automatically if the outside ambient temperature exceeds a certain threshold or automatically drop the driver’s window when pulling up to a certain gate. Mercedes promises future updates will allow its AI to fully automate future routine tasks without driver intervention and further anticipate E-Class driver needs by suggesting new routines to them based on the car’s actual use and your habits.
The infotainment itself was also redesigned to mimic a smartphone’s interface, easing use. Various apps are now color coded, based on their function and their tiles are larger and easier to operate while driving. Unfortunately, the number of hard buttons in the cockpit has been reduced to just a small bank below the central infotainment display, though thankfully they continue to work far better than the haptic touch “buttons” Mercedes insists on using for its steering wheel controls. We continue to also have mixed feelings about MBUX in a general sense. Several judges reported spending far too much time with their eyes off the road while using it, and with Mercedes’ voice assistant currently incapable of conversational dialogue, there’s room for improvement.
Other than our small quibbles with some interior controls and software, the overall results of the engineering work done to the new car speak for themselves. “Mercedes has been refining the E-Class for a long, long time, and it’s clear it has honed it to the point of being an executive sport sedan out of central casting,” director of editorial operations Mike Floyd said. The narrowed focus on the new E-Class has allowed Mercedes to build one of the most convincing luxury midsize sedans ever, with all its various parts and pieces working singularly toward the goal of refinement, precision and class-leading performance.
The updated turbocharged and hybridized I-6 in the E450 deserves its fair share of the credit. Despite no overwhelming stats on the spec sheet, it’s a severely understressed and effortless engine that fires up and idles so smoothly it sometimes took a peek at the tachometer to verify the car was running. “We should have tried the Lexus Champagne glass test with the E-Class,” associate editor Billy Rehbock said. “It would have aced it.” Beyond idling, the E450’s engine doles out its power progressively; the electric motor’s backfill works perfectly to eliminate turbo lag as the nine-speed seamlessly ensures forward progress.
Although Mercedes was unable to provide a four-cylinder E350 for Car of the Year evaluations, previous experiences with that car point toward drastic improvements versus the non-hybridized version of that engine. “The E350’s little 2.0-liter turbo engine goes about its business like an old-world butler: quietly and efficiently,” technical director Frank Markus wrote in a previous test of a 4Matic-equipped model.
The ride and handling characteristics of the E-Class are similarly sublime. “Credit to Mercedes in following its gut (and brand image) when tuning this car,” deputy editor Alexander Stoklosa said. “It’s not sporty — distinctly not so — but offers great acceleration and competent handling, along with a suspension that keeps things just buttoned down enough to handle the power on hand, and not an ounce of starch more. There is lean, there is dive, there is squat, but there also is a payoff: The ride is serene, wheel motions are well-managed and the car doesn’t fall apart when driven hard.”
Both E-Class models we evaluated steered crisply, without much effort but with plenty of feedback from road surfaces. And although we have no complaints about the way the E450 All-Terrain handled, thanks to the sedan’s four-wheel steering system, we detected a noticeable difference in its maneuverability; it felt nimbler in the tight confines of the city and more agile when unleashed on a great back road.
On the plus side for the wagon, unlike the sedan, we found that the E450 All-Terrain can handle a step beyond a back road. Given its dedicated Off-Road drive mode and extensive cladding, we decided to put it through its paces over some of the Mojave Desert scrub at Hyundai’s proving ground. Despite the obvious issues of its low breakover angle and soft underbelly, the All-Terrain will happily go most anywhere any light-duty crossover can. It rode fantastically over both hard and soft-packed sand, picked a wheel up while it motored up a 30-degree concrete ramp, and had no trouble routing power where it needed to be. “Traction is great,” Stoklosa said. “After billy-goating into a ditch that we’d need to rub some paint to get out of, we threw the All-Terrain into reverse and backed up an uneven, potholed grade. There was barely any unwanted wheelspin and no rubbing.”
A great ride isn’t just a wagon trick — the street-oriented E450 sedan was equally superb. We especially loved how both cars would “learn” harsher terrain at the proving ground and on our drive routes, flagging these locations in the onboard navigation system and audibly warning the driver ahead of them.
And lest we forget, the best part about the E-Class drive experience is that sometimes you don’t have to drive at all. Although it doesn’t get Level 3 semi-autonomy via Mercedes’ new Drive Pilot 95 system (currently limited to the S-Class and EQS in Germany), we were blown away by how humanlike its Driver Assistance package is. Combining both adaptive cruise and lane keep functions, the new system allows the E-Class to automatically change lanes (drivers can also trigger lane changes via the turn signal) and both accelerate and brake more like your average driver would. What that means to owners is a trustworthy system that capably tracks lanes, doesn’t leave massive gaps in traffic and performs more like how they would. This ultimately reduces the workload on long highway journeys to simply monitoring the road and keeping a hand on the wheel, allowing drivers to feel more refreshed upon arriving at their destination.
Backing these systems up are all the active safety measures one would expect in any new car, including automatic emergency braking, a system designed to protect occupants while mitigating damage when rear-ended, and lane keep assist — the latter of which was so transparent most judges didn’t feel the need to turn it off on winding back roads. Should these active safety measures fail, the E-Class sports 5-Star overall Euro NCAP ratings. (Neither NHTSA nor the IIHS has crash-tested a new E-Class.)
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Mercedes-Benz products have a reputation for being expensive (that’s the reason your postal service Metris wears a USPS logo instead), but the new E-Class remains a good value in the context of its luxury midsize sedan segment, especially when considering the long list of standard equipment and the drive experience on offer. Prices for the “entry-level” E350 start at $63,600, the E450 at $72,000 and the E450 All-Terrain at $77,250. Although pricier than both the Audi A6 and new BMW 5 Series (which was unavailable for our Car of the Year evaluations beyond the electric i5 variant), we feel the Mercedes is a step beyond in its cohesive quality to what either of its rival automakers currently offer.
The Mercedes-Benz E-Class might not have been the flashiest pick as our 2025 Car of the Year, but like the best luxury products, the E-Class doesn’t derive its intrinsic value from its popularity. Instead, the new E exudes a quiet confidence and capability that doesn’t need to impress. It’s neither ostentatious nor showy, showcasing its worth to you rather than telegraphing it for the world to see. More than that, it excelled in our six criteria to a greater extent than any other contender, and that’s the biggest reason why it took home the Golden Calipers, its second win in less than five years.
Photos by Evan Klein, Illustrations by Alan Muir