Description: Mid-Size Luxury Sedan and Wagon
Base MSRP Range: $50,050 - $82,600
Invoice Price Range: $46,546 - $76,818
Where built: Germany

Mid-size luxury cars from Mercedes include four-door sedans and five-door wagons with powertrains extending to a high-performance V8 and a turbo-diesel V6. E320 CDI is the diesel-powered sedan, available in 45 of the 50 United States. It totes a 3.2-liter in-line-six with common-rail direct injection (CDI) and turbo-charging. The plant produces 201 hp plus substantial torque, and fuel economy scores run well above 30 mpg for highway cruising.

The E320 becomes E350 in 2006 due to a new 3.5-liter twin-cam V6 added with 268 hp. 4Matic AWD equipment is available on E350 sedan and wagon or E500 sedan but it's standard on E500 wagon. The E55 performance sports sedan totes the AMG 5.5-liter V8 with supercharger and inter-cooler to deliver 469 hp.

Active head restraints for front buckets appear on every E Class car in 2006, while E350 and E500 roll on new 17-inch wheels.

Mercedes-Benz with headquarters in Germany makes luxury and performance vehicles that span the scale in size and type with multiple options for power and traction. The vast collection includes souped-up performance variations in many categories built by the Mercedes super-tuner AMG. But there are three new Mercedes classes for 2006 -- the elegant CLS Class of four-door coupes, the large-scale R Class sport tourer wagons and a new generation of designs for American-built M Class of sport-utility vehicles.