Mercedes-Benz calls the all-new E a car that is perceptive, sophisticated, intelligent and intuitive. I call it the best car in its segment, as apparent in my last month’s premium saloon comparison where the petrol E not only turned out to be better than the rest (the other three petrol cars being the Audi A6, the BMW 5 Series and the Volvo S80 to be precise) on almost every parameter but also made them look passé. Perfection, however, comes at a price and the E, even after being a CKD (complete knocked down) import in this case, demands Rs 48 lakh (ex-showroom) for its environmentally friendly green diesel avatar. The E looks grander from the outside, having been given a complete makeover, the result of which makes it easily stand out from the crop of the usual premium saloons. On the inside as well, this Avantgarde edition E is polished, in fact very polished. The design of the clocks is classy and the soft touch buttons feel and look great. However, there is a lot of clutter with over 40 buttons on the front fascia! Comfort is a word always associated with a Mercedes-Benz and the new E seems to take it to a different level all together.

I believe, with the Beetle, Volkswagen have achieved an impeccable feat by combining modern bits and technology with classy old trend. Look at the three-spoke steering wheel. It is big with a thin rim reminding you of the old styled Bug. The round instrumentation console behind the wheel houses a large speedometer dial surrounded by all the tell-tale lights and two small dials underneath for fuel and tacho. The body paint slips into the cabin from the window panes to the insides of the door. Fabric upholstery is just perfectly classy for a car like the Beetle. Feel the fit and finish of the dash and it speaks of topnotch quality and style. A very minute and detailed attention has been given to every bit of the Beetle and that is what makes it stand out.

Tata Motors has launched Sumo Grande MK II recently. The company has looked at three areas heavily criticized by the motoring press and worked on them. So, we get slightly better put together interiors, a retuned suspension and reworked gearing for better drivability. I’ll start with the interiors. Yes, it’s huge inside, but you’d have to be eight feet tall to use all that headroom. The new steering wheel looks and feels much better than the earlier version’s and thankfully, TATA has ditched the square gear knob in favour of a more conventionally shaped and a far more comfortable item.

One might begin talking about Jaguar XF by reaching for superlatives. Predictably, in your first fifteen minutes in the car, adjectives such as lithe, agile and supple swim around in your cranium. Then you sight the first open stretch of road and mash the throttle. Now the only words in your head are unprintable expletives. Such is the XF’s response that you want to do it again and again. It isn’t the kick-in-the-arse, catapult-you-down-the-road kind of response you get from big German diesels and neither is it the wait-for-it…whoosh! you get with turbopetrols. Instead, there’s this linearity to it which makes it utterly addictive. At its heart is a 5000cc petrol V8, driving the rear wheels through a six-speed automatic gearbox and this powertrain works very well. Head for your favourite stretch of twisties and the same road feels all new. The road we drove the XF on featured hairpins, S-bends and tightening radius corners with a dizzy drop on one side and a mountain wall on the other. The XF’s double wishbone suspension setup mated to active dampers is extremely sophisticated in its operation, endowing this car with balance and grip levels which are hard to fault.

Land Rover Freelander is compact, easy to drive and has enough toys to keep you entertained. The ‘all-terrain’ tyres clearly have a tarmac bias. The four-cylinder diesel is refined and responsive. The automatic gearbox has a manual override; pull back the lever to shift down, push forward to shift up. As you cruise along the highway fiddling with all the little buttons, you begin to take in the details. The dashboard doesn’t feel special enough for a rupees half crore car. The panoramic roof is really nice though, giving the cabin an airy ambience. The Freelander is brisk on the expressway and very easy to drive in Mumbai’s crushing traffic too. Visibility is good, seating comfort is very good, the ride isn’t bad, the a/c works well, the gearbox is competent, save for a slight lurching in stop-start traffic but we’ll grant it that. The steering is light, maybe overly so at speed, but that is its only dynamic flaw. It goes around corners fairly predictably, no doubt aided by the four-wheel drive system and all the electronics, but let’s not get started on SUVs that ‘handle like a sports car’.