Detroit 2016: No surprises, but the Mercedes E-Class interior is a place we’d like to be

With the arrival of the E-Class, Mercedes’ current design language now defines the look of the entire line-up of the firm’s sedans. Maybe it’s down to familiarity, but the immediately feeling of deja vu you get when you see the new car’s exterior certainly doesn’t provoke an emotional reaction any greater than an appreciative nod.

But once you open the door and take a seat inside, we’re yet to meet someone who wasn’t at least a little impressed with what they found.

The big ticket item is the twin screens, wrapped in a single sheet of glass. They’re starkly monolithic when not turned on, but the clarity of the graphics and the ease of use when combined with the wheel-mounted touchpads are very good.

However, for us what impresses is once you start pressing satisfyingly designed buttons or touching and feeling some very high-quality metals and woods that Mercedes’ no-doubt significant investment in the E-Class interior was money well spent.

If only they could come up with a self-cleaning centre console that wiped away finger smears it’d be spot on.