Mercedes E Class Sedan Spied with Interior Shot

But yes the car is not very sexy these days.

This is the first time I noticed that the sedan has the rear fender flourish (on the rear door). Needless overstyling, imho... an SUV cue on an otherwise clean (if plain) sedan and svelte coupe. Not as bad as the cartoony fender flares on the S, though. Those will look evenmore ridiculous as time goes by.

I agree, the W123 and W124 are among the most timelessly attractive cars ever. They still look good, and like MBs.

For the past few years everyone, especially the Germans, have been trying to be more like everyone else. The result is that the cars are more similar to each other and yet further from their true brand identity. Is this a good thing? It's not like an MB handled poorly, or that the steering in a 5-series was unpleasantly heavy. They just had their own character.

Yes, it's nice that MBs handle better now and BMWs ride better now and Audis, well, do something better now (it used to be style and value but then the grille ate the car, and the new A4 costs as much as a 3 or C).

But I kind of miss when each brand had its own look and feel. And there was always something cool about seeing an AMG DTM racecar with a stand-up star hood ornament, or the feeling that every BMW drove just like a roomier 2002 with its soul intact.