German Car Zone

My initial impression is very mixed - Most of the car looks good, but the greenhouse shape is very conservative, and the rear lights appear incongruous with the rest of the car.

Need some time on this one. Presuming there's another CLS coming down the pike I think MB did a good job here.

Best detail is the rear flank.

I agree with Osna...gonna take a bit of time for this one, especially considering the now-previous E-class was my favourite MB model.
First impressions aren't too favourable..the rear seems plain and boring, while the front seems to be the only part of the car which has a sense of character and style. The side profile isn't all that flashy, but then again it isn't trying to be an all-out sexy sports car or coupe..so I understand why it looks the way it does.

In my opinion, MB purposely made the E-class more boxy, elegant and MB-old-school because the new CLS will cater to those who want something sporty, sleek and new-age. MB's continuing their 2-pronge strategy, except this time around they're clearly going to be differentiating the 'personality' of the E and CLS.

My initial reaction is utter disappointment. Nevertheless, I'm going to wait for better pictures before condemning it.

I think Xenon could be standard on both Elegance and AVG (it is already standard on AVG in France, since the W210), thus LEDs for them.
If not, well, I think every model without Xenon will have the double fogs, because the LEds stripe comes with Xenon-ILS (like the rear blinker-LEDs in the W204).

I really am starting to love it. Looks powerful and elegant. Very promising. Only the stupid double fogs, what were they thinking?

Eh....Seems like the designers at Mercedes are too afraid to come up with new ideas for their cars unlike BMW. Its the same ole' rehashed design that started with the S-Class, C-Class, and their SUVs. (Its not like their design language is perfect. So why rehash it?...unless your Aston Martin ) Its just boring. I mean..look at the rear? Very cheap looking.

The more I look at the Red E Class the more I like it. It looks very powerful and the rear quarter reminds me of the S class...

I also think that we won't see any more pictures of the car like these for a while, unfortunately.

Cant wait to see some killer interior shots though! And of course an AMG version

Sorry, didn`t mean to ignor ya.. It appears we might get the coupe before the Estate.. not to sure though.

This W212 is in fact, like many underlined, the continuation of a NEW design theme started only by the very recent W204 C-Class. It's quite different from the softer, more organic W221 S-Class or W164 ML... And the rear fender can't be described as something old, boring and already seen in many other Mercedes.

And cheap-looking or not, the rear is by no mean a rear we are used to see in a modern MB. It is, indeed, quite new for an MB (thus needs to grow on many of us), as their sedans didn't had horizontal rear-lights going on in the boot since quite a long time.

I still am trying to figure out how this rear will look IRL; I don't find it to be the strongest part of the car, but I like it and am sure the more pics of it I'll see, the more I'll love it. Here we have low-res pics, and can't really appreciate the design especially of the stylish rear lights and their LEDs.

Love the front but not so sure about the rear. We need bigger pics and a lot of them!!