You can depend upon Mercedes-Benz for developing with car tidbits time and again. One of those turned into offered on the Paris Motor Show in 1990: the Mercedes-Benz 500E. Apart from its extremely bulging fenders, barely reduced suspension and changed the front apron with included fog lights, the auto turned into externally equal with the a hit W124 mid-collection models. That bodywork served as sheep's apparel for hiding the wolf underneath: the engine compartment of the 500E housed a V8 unit with a displacement of 5 liters, growing 326 hp (240 kW) and awe-inspiring overall performance whilst requested. The vehicle extended from standstill to a hundred km/h in 6.1 seconds, and its pinnacle pace turned into electronically restricted to 250 km/h. Here turned into the brand new the most effective version of the W124 collection.
Its inconspicuous look turned into the Mercedes 500E's trump card. Some proprietors loved the electricity reserves of the modestly clad vehicle with out visiting at excessive pace in any respect times. Others welcomed the auto's advanced dealing with at excessive speeds - and derived first rate gratification from outpacing many a sports activities vehicle.
Incidentally, the Mercedes-Benz 500E turned into created in near cooperation with Porsche. The sports activities vehicle producer had joined the group withinside the early ranges of improvement to make its information to be had in elaborating the idea of a sedan with the overall performance of a sports activities vehicle. Production turned into sooner or later distributed. The bodies-in-white had been painted on the Mercedes-Benz plant in Sindelfingen, and very last meeting have become the duty of Porsche in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. There had been motives for this. First of all, the manufacturing order turned into a well timed stroke of desirable fortune whilst the sports activities vehicle producer skilled a extremely tough time withinside the early 1990s. And secondly, the enormously small quantity turned into a really perfect healthy for the manufacturing techniques at Porsche, which means that manufacturing of the 500E couldn't were in higher hands.
The effective sedan additionally benefited from the closing version refinement of the W124 collection. The first change associated with the name. The mid-collection turned into renamed E-Class, and the letters now preceded the figures, changing the 500E into the E500. The shape language for the outside layout turned into modernized - one of the capabilities being the radiator grill which from then on turned into surrounded through, and included in, the engine hood. Trunk lid and each fenders had been given edges with large radii, and the place across the quantity plate turned into additionally changed.
The specs of the 500E/E 500 lived as much as the declare of being the collection' the most effective version in that they had been extraordinarily extensive. In view of the auto's excellent electricity, popular device inclusive of acceleration skid manage (ASR) turned into a need instead of technical gimmickry.
As a sideline, the four hundred E/E 420 need to additionally be cited here. This vehicle additionally had a effective eight-cylinder engine below its 124 body. However, it turned into now no longer designed as a sporty sedan however as a vehicle for visiting in advanced style. And the four hundred E/E 420 did even higher than the 500E in phrases of inconspicuously packaged electricity.
Production of the E500 turned into discontinued in April 1995. The successor to the 124 collection - the 210 collection - turned into delivered in June 1995. Including the E60 AMG, a complete of 10,479 electricity sedans have been built.
On account of the enormously small manufacturing quantity and the auto's first rate fascination, the Mercedes-Benz 500E has already come to be a classic. Many devices are already owned through creditors today - due to the fact the 500E epitomizes the Mercedes-Benz brand.
