Estate of the Air

摘要

Estate cars enjoy strong popularity and today's top wagons are far from being the brick-shaped workhorses they once were. Here we discover how Mercedes' new E-Class Estate measures up against its Jaquar XF Sportbrake rival. Estate cars, wagons, shooting brakes, sports tourers, sportbrakes, or whatever other tag their manufacturers choose to hang on them tend somewhat inevitably to be life stage vehicles. They are rarely the prime choice of perky young singletons, nor do they usually appeal to the majority of later-life empty-nesters. For everyone in between, there are inevitably times when an estate car would be a hugely practical choice for whatever is going on in life. So, unsurprisingly, many estates can be seen in parent-and-child parking bays at the supermarket, being loaded with home improvement paraphernalia at the local DIY store, or being unloaded with bulky leisure kit at a sports club. The best estates pack in as much carrying capacity as possible, within reasonable dimensions that facilitate ease of parking in an urban environment. They also serve up a healthy dose of driver enjoyment, which is an essential requirement of any decent modern car, but which was somewhat alien to many older estate cars, that were shaped like bricks and often had dynamics to match. The two estate cars in this back-to-back test are all-round premium models in looks, cabin style and driver appeal.