Mercedes-Benz E 450 All-Terrain Cargo Test: How Much Has Changed in 12 Years?

• The Mercedes-Benz E-Class All-Terrain has 33.1 cubic feet of cargo space.
• It does not, however, have a fold-out third row of seats anymore. (Boo!)
• We compare its cargo capacity to the E 350 wagon from over a decade ago. 

Here is the current E-Class wagon's cargo area. I'll give you a second to figure out what's missing from the latest generation. And not just versus the S212, but the S213 that's between them as well. 

And here is the S212’s cargo area. Have you figured out what's missing in the new one yet?

For those of you who answered "the third row," you are correct. The new S214 does not have the rear-facing third row seat that's inhabited E-Class-equivalent Mercedes wagons since … well, at least the 1980s. Now, is this third-row seat particularly useful, especially when kids stay in car seats longer than ever? Honestly, I could see why Mercedes killed it, but my wife is 5 feet tall and sits back there whenever we take the grandparents out for dinner. This was literally a factor in why I bought the car. 

This is what you get instead. A bin, which is big enough to store the Edmunds Golf Classic duffel bag (20 x 10.5 x 10.5). That's not nothing, but there's actually another thing missing: a spare tire. To be fair, that disappeared for the previous generation. 

So what's going on down there now? Curiously, there's a good 3 inches between the forward floor section and whatever's down below. That forward-most floor cannot be lifted, though, so if you wanted to squirrel a pizza box or something in there, you'd need to slide it under. Lifting that square flap area reveals the battery is now occupying some of that real estate, but I'm not sure what else is. I'm also curious to see how the AMG E 53 wagon's hybrid battery affects this space. I doubt it will affect the cargo area above.

One thing that has survived all these years is a brilliant feature common to wagons that should 100% be common in SUVs. The E 450 not only has a roll-out cargo cover, but a roll-up cargo net that attaches to the roof. Using it negates one of the reasons I never load to the roof: the possibility of luggage flying into the cabin. It can also keep pets in the caboose. 

In my old S212, the cover and net rolls are encased in a single unit, which may be some clever engineering, but holy moly does it weigh a lot. Considering I have to climb way into the car to reach it (and not get it caught in the third-row seat belts), removal can be rather difficult. 

The S214 has two separate units that neatly sandwich together on separate brackets. This is what Audi does. The individual units themselves are also much much lighter. It's also worth noting that the cargo cover still automatically slides up the rearmost pillar when you open the liftgate and slides down once closed. The BMW M5 Touring does not do this.

This photo is the best demonstration of how much has changed over the years: Note the slope of the hatch. The E-Class wagon's roofline has gotten less boxy with each generation, culminating in the admittedly much sleeker rear end we see today. 

This is unquestionably where the shrinkage has occurred because the cargo area's floor space is similar, if possibly even a bit better. My old S212's cargo area is basically a square at 44 inches long and wide. The S214 is 45 inches long and 43 inches wide, with a larger indentation on the left side that's useful for stuffing bags into. 

Here's some nice boilerplate information about their dimensions. There are two bags you'd definitely have to check at the airport: Big Gray (26 inches long x 16.5 inches wide x 12 inches deep) and Big Blue (26 x 16.5 x 10). There are three roll-aboards that usually fit as carry-on: Medium Tall (24 x 14 x 9), Medium Wide (23 x 15 x 9) and the smaller Green Bag (21 x 14 x 9.5). Finally, there's everyone's favorite Fancy Bag (21 x 12 x 11), a medium-size duffle.

As always, I first load with the cargo cover in place. Sure enough, everything fits easily with room to spare, so obviously, they'll still all fit once I remove the cargo cover and cargo net. Let's just dispense with the photographic proof of that and move on. 

This would be the standard bag set, plus a 38-quart cooler (23 x 16 x 13), the Blue Duffel (21 x 12 x 11) and two Edmunds Golf Classic duffels because, remember, an extra one is still lurking in that bin under the floor. 

That extra duffel is enough to better the BMW M5 Touring, but that's not the end of it. Note the empty area behind the Fancy Bag next to the Green Bag. You see, I ran out of bags, and that void is equal to another Medium Wide bag (23 x 15 x 9). As such, the Mercedes E-Class All-Terrain and (likely) the AMG E 53 wagon can fit an extra roll-aboard suitcase and duffel bag beyond what the BMW M5 Touring can manage. As that had (briefly) been the leader in the wagon clubhouse, having bested the Audi A6 Allroad and Volvo V90 Cross Country, we have a new leader. By a lot. 

That said ...

Here's the S212. I've removed the Blue Duffel bag from atop the cooler so you can see there are now two voids left unfilled. As such, the E-Class wagon has lost the equivalent of my Green Bag (21 x 14 x 9.5) in the course of two generations along with a third-row seat, a spare tire and some residual space. 

Now, fully loaded with the Blue Duffel, you can better see the difference in liftgate angle and cargo area height. I could put the cooler right up to the sill in the S212 but not in the S214, nor could I put a roll-aboard on its side. 

So, things have gotten better-looking but less functional over the years, but the E-Class wagon remains incredibly functional. That's a ton of stuff that blows away a lot of SUVs. Also, remember the cargo nets. I safely could've put even more stuff in both. Yay, Mercedes wagons!