Ask Mercedes the key selling points of the E 220 and you can go make a cup of tea and come back to find the spokesperson still listing its attributes: it blends luxury with quality, a raft of safety features such as attention assist, which lets you know of hazards even before you know they’re there. It has strong environmental credentials and is still practical. Oh, and the resale values are “quite strong”.

It’s proving a winning combination with overall sales in 2010 at 5,019, of which 335 were the E220 CDI, 857 the E250 CDI, with the majority (2,315/46%) the E350 CDI V6 reflecting customers’ preference for maximum under-the- bonnet bang for the buck with a nod to the improved efficiency of its BlueEfficiency common rail diesel over the E500s V8 petrol auto engine (53.3mpg/139g/km as against 25.9mpg/257g/km).

The automatic transmission will be updated in E-Class Coupés in June this year from five- speed to seven with no price increase.

Emissions should then drop to mid-130s, an improvement in the order of just over 10%.

Price: £30,815

Rivals: Audi A5 Coupé, BMW 3 Series Coupé