The E's most dramatic changes are inside. Mercedes's latest MBUX infotainment gets a much-simplified menu structure, which is welcome, but from there, Mercedes loses the plot. Built-in Zoom functionality for the optional selfie camera on the dash (yes, really) allows users to call in to meetings sans phone. But the entire app, not just the video portion, works only when the car is parked. And our fellow meeting participants made fun of the poor image quality and fisheye effect of the camera, which (sigh) allows you to save photos to a portable storage device plugged into one of the USB ports. TikTok is also built in, but its vertical format means it occupies only about a third of the E's giant 14.4-inch screen, and the swipe action isn't nearly as fluid as a phone's. And why can't you post directly using the selfie cam? The Angry Birds video game—remember when that was a hit over a decade ago?—is available to play on the center screen, and an optional passenger screen allows for YouTube and internet browsing but no TikTok or Zoom. These are Mercedes's best ideas? Less capable copies of smartphone functionality?
Another new feature, the ability to create if-this-then-that routines, seemed to hold more promise. We figured we could use it to avoid cooking the cabin in the midday sun and automatically close the sunroof shade when the car is parked. But among the numerous options—including changing the music source each time you open or close that shade—this is not possible.