New Mercedes E-Class All Terrain revealed ahead of Paris debut (+ E-Class All-Terrain Video)

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New Mercedes E-Class All Terrain – the Mercedes take on cars like the Audi A6 Allroad and Volvo V90 Cross Country – has been revealed ahead of a Paris Motor Show debut.

The 2016 Mercedes E-Class Estate has only really just arrived, and Mercedes hasn’t even worked out what they’re going to charge for two-thirds of the UK range yet. But despite that, there’s a new Mercedes estate on the way – the Mercedes E-Class All Terrain.

The name’s a bit of a giveaway (although we rather doubt its competence on all terrains) because this is the Mercedes take on the Audi A6 Allroad, a high-riding, butched-up premium estate car with off-road pretensions, entering in to a market that was just the Audi but which has just doubled with the arrival of the Volvo V90 Cross Country.

As it seems to be taking Mercedes for ever to get their regular E-Class estate out in the wild – so far you can only actually order an E220d estate – we’re guessing it’ll be well in to next year before you can order an All Terrain, but when you can, what will you get?

Just as you’d expect, it’s the rugged look for the All-Terrain, with an SUV-look grille, butch bumpers, plastic cladding on the sides and wheel arches and a raised ride height, partly from a higher setting for the air suspension (15mm) and partly from the higher profile rubber (14mm).

The All-Terrain also comes with Dynamic Select as standard, which offers five driving modes including an off-road mode (derived from the GLE) which raises the suspension  by a further 20mm (but only for slow off-road stuff) with the option of raising it further still if needed.

The only version of the All-Terrain you’ll be able to buy for now is the E220d 4MATIC (although eventually there will be at least a 350d All-Terrain) and it comes with a 0-62mph of 8.0 seconds, official economy of 55.4mpg and emissions of 137g/km from its 194bhp 2.0 litre diesel.

That pitches it quite close to the 218PS Audi A6 Allroad which, despite its 3.0 litre diesel, isn’t a lot less economical, and is quicker, and the new Volvo V90 Cross Country which, if it has the D5 as the entry-level model, will be quicker and more economical than the All-Terrain.

The Mercedes E-Class All-Terrain is expected to go on sale at Mercedes UK dealers in Spring 2017.

New Mercedes E-Class All Terrain video tease