The next generation of Mercedes-Benz’s perennial bread-and-butter sedan also happens to be a good snapshot of how the automobile market has evolved.

The 2017 E-Class -- W213 in Mercedes-speak -- is the 10th evolution of a line that started in 1953 with the W120. The new E will launch as the E300 and E300 4Matic equipped with a four-cylinder engine only (the model's first gasoline four in the U.S. since 1977). Chief engineer Michael Kelz calls it “one of the most intelligent machines ever made.”

It’s slightly larger, more richly appointed and maybe better-looking than its predecessor, but if there is an overriding theme to the new E300, it’s probably “stuff.” It debuts with an unprecedented level of safety and autonomous operating technology.

Its wheelbase increases 2.6 inches to 115.7, and its length 1.7 inches to 193.8, with essentially the same width and a slightly wider rear track. Dimensionally, the E300 sits precisely midpack in a competitive set that includes the Audi A6, BMW 5-Series, Cadillac CTS and Lexus GS. Its unitbody has more aluminum and high-strength steel, and its front fenders, hood, trunk lid and large sections of its rear panels are sheet or cast aluminum. As a result, the E300 weighs up to 150 pounds less than its predecessors, though it’s still heavier than any of its four-cylinder competitors.

The E300 brings a best-in-class coefficient of drag of .23, even if it doesn’t necessarily look it. It’s cast in new Mercedes design language established by the S-Class and GT sports car, and it’s also a bit of a throwback, as demonstrated by the slightly convex flow of its beltline. It’s classic but also manly -- maybe even rugged -- with different grilles and badging for sport and luxury packages. We like.

The engine comes from Mercedes’ new line of gasoline fours, here displacing 1991cc with a single turbo. MB’s third-gen direct-injection operates at up to 2,900 PSI and allows five fuel pulses per power stroke, while the ignition delivers as many as four successive sparks in a millisecond. The point is maximum fuel atomization and combustion efficiency.

The output payoff is 241 peak hp and 273 lb-ft of torque. That leaves the new E300 61 ponies shy of the old E350 V6, though its torque is identical with 43 less displacement. Compared to other 2.0 turbos in its class, the E300 is surpassed in both horsepower and torque only by the Cadillac CTS.

The E300 tops the class in available gear ratios. Mercedes’ homegrown 9Gtronic torque-convertor automatic delivers nine, up from seven in the previous E. Variable all-wheel drive will be offered at launch.

The standard suspension uses steel springs and electronically managed, variable dampening shocks. The upgrade is Air Body Control -- Mercedes’ brand name for its class-exclusive, multi-chamber air suspension. The springs at each corner can adjust individually, with rates varying according to road conditions and driving demands. Ride height adjusts automatically depending on surface and road speed.

As for the stuff -- where to begin?

With Drive Pilot with Active Lane Change Assist. Drive Pilot will work the gas, brake and steering at speeds up to 130 mph, without driver intervention. It will even change lanes by itself. All you do is hit the turn signal. The cameras and radar sensors will do the rest.

Active Brake Assist with cross-traffic function will slam on the brakes at an intersection if it sees cross traffic the driver misses. Evasive Steering Assist essentially assumes steering control when the driver deliberately or instinctively jerks the wheel in a potentially hazardous situation, then guides the E300 around whatever obstacles lie ahead and manages the counter-steer to avoid a skid.

The new E300 will eventually be offered in North America with Car-to-X Communication -- the first fully integrated, series-applied car-to-car and car-to-infrastructure link. It will report accidents or road hazards to the cloud, and pull data back from the cloud, essentially allowing it to see beyond human sight lines -- including, say, an accident obscured by trees or a building just around the next right turn. Car-to-X’s effectiveness will be directly related to how much data is amassed in the cloud, and therefore, to how many other vehicles are similarly equipped.

Remote Parking Pilot allows the E300 to be moved into or out of garages and parking spaces autonomously, initiated with a smartphone app, after the occupants have climbed out or before they’ve climbed in. Here, car! We’re waiting. The same app can be used as the vehicle key.

Passive safety enhancements include rear seatbelt airbags and Pre-Safe Sound and Impulse. If the E300 senses an impending collision, Pre-Safe Sound emits an electronically generated frequency to trigger the “stapedius effect” in the human ear -- a natural defense mechanism that limits ear drum damage during the bang and crash of collision and airbag deployment. Pre-Safe Impulse instantly and forcefully inflates outboard front seat bolsters to shove occupants a few inches toward the center of the car and further out of harm’s way.

The ’17 E300 debuts in June -- price TBA, but close to the current E350 (which starts at roughly $54,000). Next in the next-gen E-Class line will be the AMG-branded E43, with 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 and something like 362 hp, 384 lb-ft. The E43 could arrive in December, followed by a full E63 V8 and an E-Class wagon early in 2017. Given fallout from the VW scandal, there is no diesel in the E-Class plan, and a hybrid isn’t likely in the United States before the end of the decade.

With upwards of 13 million deliveries worldwide, Mercedes’ midsize sedan has been its cumulative best seller since its launch 63 years ago. Yet the automotive world is different from how it was 1953, or even 2003.

Consider the new, Alabama-built Mercedes GLE SUV. It launched last year with seven different models in the plan and seven powertrain options, as opposed to a single variant with optional all-wheel drive for the new E-Class. Even the smaller C-Class, now Mercedes’ best-selling sedan, was launched with more choices.

While E-Class remains important to Mercedes’ brand and heritage, it’s far less important than it once was to the bottom line.

How’s it drive?

Well enough, to be sure, but the new E-Class presents an interesting cultural or philosophical question. Does one evaluate it first on the performance of its four-cylinder drivetrain, chassis tuning and other conventional measures, or are its self-driving potential and autonomous features the more important measure? We’re not sure we know the answer.

The 2.0 turbo isn’t bad, and it’s anything but weak. With its nine-speed automatic, the E300 delivers forceful acceleration from any road speed. Its 0-60 mph times will easily settle in the mid-six-second range, and that’s nothing to sneeze at for a 2.0-liter engine in a car just shy of 2 tons.

The turbo four isn’t overworked or loud, either. At freeway speeds in top gear its turning in the low-2,000 rpm range. It just seems quivery to the seat of the pants -- a bit un-luxurious, maybe, and out of sync with the established E-Class data base. Its stop/start engagement is also rough, compared to other MBs with V engines.

The payoff for the downsized, mega-ratio powertrain should be better fuel economy, of course, but EPA mileage is pending. The E300’s EU score in liters/100 km converts to about 34 mpg combined, but that’s rarely an accurate barometer of U.S. government ratings.

Mercedes’ 9Gtronic automatic is better sorted than FiatChrysler’s nine-speed. At a casual pace it short shifts in soft, quick-fire succession, always in pursuit of the tallest possible gear. Yet under hard, rapid throttle changes, it’s decisive and fairly quick in gear selection, and it will usually hold a lower gear when you want it to.

The E300’s steering is accurate, and it feels better compared to its competition than E-Class steering of yore. It’s hard to gauge how much steering feel matters anyway, because in a lot of typical circumstances the E300 can drive itself.

Enter the freeway or pull onto a swaying two-lane, engage Drive Pilot and set the speed, and off this Mercedes goes. The E300 will track curves, adjust speed to maintain appropriate spacing, and slow immediately if whatever’s ahead dictates such -- all without driver participation, even when lane markings are worn away. It will switch lanes by itself if the driver tells it to by turning on a blinker. After two seconds, the cameras and radar will look, measure and then guide the E into the next lane in an appropriate gap in traffic.

The “semi” in semi-autonomous applies not to how Drive Pilot operates the car -- it will do everything on an interstate as long as the driver wants it to, from crawl speed to the legal limit plus 50 -- but rather to how long it operates that way. Autonomous operation is supposed to work only when the driver is attentive, and it safely disengages after a series of a warnings if he or she isn’t. But it only takes a hand resting absently and occasionally on the steering wheel, or a periodic swipe at the thumbwheels on the spokes, to keep the E300 driving on its own devices. So prop your phone against the rim and text away, if that is what you want to do.

Where will you find yourself as you’re sitting in the driver’s seat, doing a lot of nothing? In the best-finished, best-appointed E-Class so far, with few exceptions. The open-grain wood trim is fabulous, and there’s a lot of it. Overall richness may be best in class. The connection to various operating functions is as easy to learn as any, with multiple paths into most control menus, and there are hard buttons for climate control and driver-assistance functions.

Of the two available gauge/information displays, we’d probably go with the base package (though we didn’t actually try the base package on the road). It has a conventional tach/speedo cluster behind the steering wheel and a 12.3-inch touchscreen at the top of the center stack. The screen is better-integrated, and better-looking, than we’ve seen with Mercedes’ recent fondness for screens that look like iPads perched somewhere on the dash.

The upgrade is a single video screen that spans nearly two-thirds of the dash. It offers more configuration options for the gauge portion behind the steering wheel, but it may disturb a traditionalist’s sensibilities.

It looks better from the driver’s seat, where the steering wheel and site lines create some visual separation between what’s behind the wheel and what’s at the top of the center stack. From the passenger seat, it looks like a 3-foot slab of glass stuck on the dashboard.

This E-Class is the first car with thumb-sized touch pads on the left and right wheel spokes. They work better than we’d guessed at moving the figurative cursor on the touchscreen and selecting an option. The favorite E300 feature for cold-hating drivers everywhere will be the Warmth and Comfort package. Rather than heating just the seats and steering wheel rim, it warms the armrests, center console and just about every touch surface within the driver’s reach.

Do I want it?

Beyond its level of autonomous operation, the next gen E-Class feels something like a placeholder -- a sedan in a class where Mercedes has long been king, keeping things warm while U.S. dealers focus on selling more-profitable SUVS. Or maybe it is, as launched, something like a Camry or Accord at a higher price point, with more content, real wood and the potential to let owners more safely surf the Internet at the wheel.

That might be the general trend, anyway.

If you’re raring to get out there to let your luxury car drive itself, then yes, you want the E300. If you are looking for a bit more verve or anger, and you’re not overly concerned about fuel mileage, you might want to wait another six months for the E43.

Merc’s new 604bhp saloon revealed, and it uses 4WD and RWD at the same time

AMG, our favourite peddler of gratuitously powerful cars, has outdone itself once again. This is the new Mercedes-AMG E63 S 4MATIC+ saloon (wagon version to follow shortly), revealed ahead of its physical debut at the LA Motor Show in mid-November, and it touches new heights of insanity for the AMG brand.

Nestled under that heavily-domed bonnet is AMG’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 running through a nine-speed dual-clutch and turned up to 604bhp and 627lb ft of torque in the maximum-attack ‘S’ model, or a more sedate 563bhp and 553lb ft in standard trim. And before you get your calculators out, yep, that 604bhp figure is 27bhp more than the very angry, very green AMG GT-R. It’ll also crush 0-62mph in 3.4 seconds (3.5 in the non ‘S’), 0.2 seconds faster than the AMG GT-R.

How on earth can a supercar have its backside handed to it by a chunky four-door saloon? Well, it’s all down to a completely new and fiendishly clever AMG Performance 4MATIC+ all-wheel drive system with fully variable torque distribution between the front and rear axles. The idea is that when you want limpet-like grip you can have it, but when you’re in the mood for destroying tyres, the E63 is happy to oblige.

Select the ‘Race’ driving mode, deactivate the ESP completely, switch the gearbox to manual and pull the shift paddles. This engages Drift Mode, but unlike its namesake in the Ford Focus RS that only sends 70 per cent of the grunt to the back tyres, it makes the E63 100 per cent rear wheel drive, and primed for bad behaviour. When it’s time to stay a little tidier, Merc’s standard ‘air body control’ air suspension keeps you level in fast corners, and plush on the straights.

Identifying your 604bhp supercar eater, over an E220d, is a completely redesigned front-end with vertical black struts in the grille and flared nostrils. The front wheel arches are 17mm wider to accommodate wider rubber and scare small children, while the interior is festooned with leather, alcantara and carbon-fibre and Christmas-tree spec blue ambient lighting (just one of 64 colours you can select for the interior LEDs).

Prices? Just over Ł75k for the standard car, and over Ł83k for the E63 S. It’ll go on sale in the UK in January, with deliveries expected in May or June. The estate - really the only E63 S you want - will arrive around three months later.

So, by giving you the option of both, has Mercedes solved the eternal four- or rear-wheel drive debate? Or is this complication for complication’s sake?