SOME luxury cars have brilliant in-built defence mechanisms against drivers tempted to transport items unsuited to their elegant interiors.

So the idea of transporting a garden shredder to my father in the Mercedes-Benz E 250 lasted no more than seconds.

First, the boot, while large, does not lend itself well to carrying awkwardly-shaped pieces of garden equipment. And just to ensure you are not tempted to try to cram something inappropriately large and mucky inside, the rear seats resolutely refused to fold down.

So the only option left would have been to place it on blankets on the back seat, a suggestion immediately rejected by my wife on the grounds that the Merc’s light grey, leather-trimmed interior was simply ‘too beautiful’ to use as a quasi-van.

The refined cabin of the E 250 certainly exudes elegance, blending acres of leather with brushed alloy trim to deliver an atmosphere of uncluttered calm.

Longer, lower and wider than the outgoing model, the E-class is at its relaxing best on long journeys, as I found on a post-work trip to SE19, battling M25 queues and rush-hour central London traffic. The combination of superb ride comfort and sharp handling turned even a potentially miserable motoring trip into a quietly enjoyable relaxing adventure.

To improve economy, the German engineers have pulled out all the stops with the BlueEfficiency. Measures to reduce weight, drag and rolling resistance helps the 2.1-litre, 204 horsepower turbo-diesel model deliver a combined economy figure of more than 50mpg and a tax-friendly CO2 rating of just 139g/km.

The E-Class interior has fewer switches than before but more functions, with a rotary controller linked to the colour display on the dashboard allowing operation of the navigation system, radio, TV and DVD player.

The 12-button multifunction steering wheel also allows control of a wide range of functions without having to take your hand off the wheel. And that’s just as well, as the test car came with the £2,185 optional COMAND multimedia system which combines a voice-controlled hi-fi system, hard disk drive map navigation system, a seven-inch colour display screen and integrated six-disk CD/DVD changer.

Folding rear-seat back rests are available as an option for E-Class models for those determined to transport something larger than normal. In the meantime, the garden equipment was sensibly shifted in our much less beautiful, but thoroughly capable, 19-year-old VW Polo.