Mercedes-Benz E450: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Cars
It’s everything a luxury sedan should be.
The E450 wraps its occupants in a warm, luxurious embrace and delivers them to their destination feeling better than when they left. That should be the goal of a luxury sedan, and the E450 does it better than its competition.
This isn’t the first time we’ve had the E-class on our 10Best list; its predecessor won the award in 2018 and 2019, but this is the first time the new W214-generation car has received the honor. We’re limiting the award to the E450 model, though, since we didn’t have an E350 for 10Best testing.
The E450 is a refined mid-size luxury car, offering a comfortable ride and a hushed cabin at highway speeds. The inline-six is smooth, is powerful, sounds terrific, and is always at the ready to deliver sports-car-like acceleration. At our test track, the E450 sailed to 60 mph in 4.4 seconds and completed the quarter-mile run in 13.0 seconds at 109 mph.Car and Driver
That agility extends to the handling. The E450 will bend into a corner and provide the sort of sporty handling and feedback that used to make BMWs famous. Dial it back to Comfort, though, and the E450 cruises serenely. The ride is delightfully well damped, ironing out road imperfections with ease even when rolling on large 21-inch wheels.
When you want an isolation chamber, the E450 relaxes and erases big-mileage days with its mix of refinement and comfort. It’s a pleasure to drive it for the entirety of a tank of fuel, which in the E450 will last a long time. The E450’s 35-mpg result in our highway fuel-economy test combined with its 17.4-gallon fuel tank means it can cruise for more than 600 miles between fill-ups.
View PhotosMarc Urbano|Car and Driver
Time behind the wheel had us appreciating the cabin’s high-end materials and exacting fit and finish. We’ll admit that some of the technology facing the driver is overwhelming, but if you look past the digital distractions, you’ll find supple leather seats that coddle and massage, generous passenger space, and a car that will always improve your mood.
The E450 is a return to form for the mid-size Mercedes-Benz sedan. It provides the hushed comfort of the larger S-class with the nimble sportiness of an AMG-badged C-class. It’s the right size, has the right mix of attributes, and is made of the right stuff. The E450’s breadth of talent means it does it all. As a result, you’ll arrive feeling relaxed, happy, and satisfied no matter how and where you choose to drive it.
Specifications
Mercedes-Benz E450
Base: $71,900
Power: 375 hp
PERFORMANCE
60 mph: 4.4 sec
EPA Combined: 25 mpg
Managing Editor, Buyer’s Guide
Drew Dorian is a lifelong car enthusiast who has also held a wide variety of consumer-focused positions throughout his career, ranging from financial counselor to auto salesperson. He has dreamed of becoming a Car and Driver editor since he was 11 years old—a dream that was realized when he joined the staff in April 2016. He’s a born-and-raised Michigander and learned to drive on a 1988 Pontiac Grand Am. His automotive interests run the gamut from convertibles and camper vans to sports cars and luxury SUVs.
Lucid Air: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Cars
A luxury sedan from the future that you can buy today.By Caleb MillerPublished: Dec 3, 2024
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View PhotosMichael Simari|Car and Driver
Over 400 miles of EPA range combined with smooth, silent, and quick performance makes the Lucid Air a great EV. But the Air—which earns a spot on the 2025 10Best list in both the base Pure and upper-level Touring trims—is more than that. The Lucid Air is also an excellent luxury sedan.
The exterior is sleek, modern, and stately without drawing undue attention to itself. It’s aerodynamically efficient yet looks distinctive. Inside, the cabin is, unfortunately, overreliant on screens and has minimal physical controls. Yet the displays are crisp and well organized with a stylish interface, making the Air easier to interact with than the screen-heavy EVs from Tesla and Rivian. Driver and passengers enjoy a high-quality environment with an interesting mix of materials, from cloth to leather, to genuine metal accents.Car and Driver
The packaging of this luxury EV is also impressive. Unlike the Porsche Taycan, the Lucid has a cavernous back seat and interior room that feels more like a Mercedes-Benz S-class despite its E-class-sized exterior dimensions. And the trunk opening is basically as wide as the car itself, with testing editor David Beard exclaiming, “You can launch a golf bag in there.”
View PhotosMichael Simari|Car and Driver
The electric powertrain makes for a serene driving experience, but when you reach a curvy section of pavement, the Air shows off its sporty side. Even in its least expensive and least powerful form—the single-motor, rear-drive Pure model—the Air scoots from zero to 60 mph in a brisk 4.3 seconds. Upgrade to the Air Touring—unlocking an extra 190 horsepower and all-wheel drive—and that sprint drops to a mere 3.0 seconds. That’s rapid enough to rival sports cars. The ride and handling makes the car feel planted through corners, while the steering moves the nose deftly and returns pleasing feedback.
While the Lucid isn’t exactly what we’d call affordable, the Air Pure’s $71,400 starting price represents good value. The Pure nets 420 miles of EPA-estimated range, 430 horsepower, and a cabin that feels nearly identical to the pricier models. The Lucid Air feels like a sports luxury sedan for the future, a future that has arrived.
Specifications
Lucid Air Pure/Touring
Base: $71,400–$80,400
Power: 430–620 hp
PERFORMANCE
60 mph: 3.0–4.3 sec
EPA Combined: 116–146 MPGe
Associate News Editor
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Hyundai Ioniq 5/5N: Car and Driver 2025 10Best Trucks
Wherein Hyundai does not leave well enough alone.By Joey CapparellaPublished: Dec 3, 2024Save Article
John Roe|Car and Driver
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 won our EV of the Year award not once but twice, so its continued inclusion on our 10Best Trucks and SUVs list may seem like a foregone conclusion. But Hyundai isn’t resting on its laurels. Even though the Ioniq 5 has been our most decorated electric SUV since its debut, in the spirit of continuous improvement, Hyundai treated the 2025 model to numerous updates.
Hyundai fixed flaws big and small. The 2025 model now has a rear wiper, a feature missing on our 2023 long-term car. It seems like a minor change, but without it, the rear glass became grimy enough to block the rear view in winter. Inside, several interior controls are now easier to use. Range is up too, with the longest-range version now hitting an EPA-estimated 318 miles.Car and Driver
In addition to those various improvements, Hyundai has also broadened the Ioniq 5’s lineup. There’s a new rugged-looking XRT trim, although it doesn’t suddenly turn the 5 into any sort of rock crawler. You’ve surely heard of the other addition to the Ioniq family, the Ioniq 5 N performance model. It is a transformative effort from Hyundai’s N division. The 641-hp dual-motor powertrain is just one element of the character swap. The N’s performance is hugely entertaining. It gets to 60 mph in 3.0 seconds, making it the quickest Korean car we’ve ever tested.
But lots of electric cars are quick. What sets the Ioniq 5 N apart is its commitment to driver engagement. The various drive-mode configurations can seem overwhelming at first—and they are, with settings for everything from engine noise to gearshifts. Some staffers decried the N as a faker, given that it has neither an exhaust nor gears. But ultimately, the whimsy and fun factor of an EV that drives like a powerful gas car won us over. The Ioniq 5 N succeeds because it layers these fun elements on top of an already stellar package with solid chassis tuning and a stout powertrain.
The same idea applies to the entire lineup. The Ioniq 5 is a practical, usable, well-built EV with an extra measure of appeal thanks to its smart, distinctive design inside and out. It’s that winning combination that helped the Ioniq 5 secure its third 10Best trophy.
Back to 10Best
Specifications
Hyundai Ioniq 5
Base: $43,975–$67,495
Power: 168–641 hp
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST)
60 mph: 3.0–7.8 sec
EPA Combined: 78–114 MPGe
Deputy Editor, Rankings Content
Despite being raised on a steady diet of base-model Hondas and Toyotas—or perhaps because of it—Joey Capparella nonetheless cultivated an obsession for the automotive industry throughout his childhood in Nashville, Tennessee. He found a way to write about cars for the school newspaper during his college years at Rice University, which eventually led him to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan, for his first professional auto-writing gig at Automobile Magazine. He has been part of the Car and Driver team since 2016 and now lives in New York City.
