Could an E-Class All-Terrain Replace Your Luxury SUV?

Yes, for most of what a Plano professional actually asks of a luxury SUV. The 2027 E 450 4MATIC^® All-Terrain pairs 375 horsepower and standard 4MATIC^® all-wheel drive with up to 64.6 cubic feet of cargo space, and it does all of that on a platform that sits lower and handles more precisely than a GLE. The tradeoff lands on towing capacity and the GLE’s optional third row. If you’re not using either, this wagon makes a compelling case.

Does the E-Class All-Terrain Match What a GLE Actually Delivers?

For a five-passenger household that doesn’t tow heavy, the All-Terrain matches the GLE most of the time, and the handful of places where the two actually diverge are specific and measurable rather than vague, which makes this an easier comparison to settle than the body styles suggest. Where they split, it matters.

Under the hood, the E 450 4MATIC^® All-Terrain runs the same turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six with 48-volt mild hybrid assist that powers the GLE 450. Mercedes-Benz rates both at 375 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque. The EPA rates the All-Terrain at 22 city and 31 highway, against 19 city and 25 highway for the GLE 450 4MATIC^®. That gap shows up on every commute down the Tollway.

Where the GLE holds a tangible structural advantage, it comes down to hardware. It sits on an 8-inch base ground clearance versus 5.8 inches for the All-Terrain, and it can be configured for seven passengers with an optional third row. The GLE’s maximum braked towing capacity, when properly equipped, is 7,700 pounds. The All-Terrain’s is approximately 4,630 pounds. For a buyer towing a boat to Lake Lewisville on weekends, that gap is real and the GLE wins cleanly.

Cargo is where the wagon’s geometry earns its argument. The All-Terrain carries 33.1 cubic feet behind the rear seat and expands to 64.6 cubic feet with the seats folded, per Mercedes-Benz USA specifications. A GLE 450 offers 33.3 cubic feet behind the second row, expanding to approximately 75 cubic feet fully folded. Maximum volume favors the GLE, yet the All-Terrain’s lower load floor and longer, flatter cargo floor make it easier to slide long or awkward items in without lifting them over a truck-height sill.

What Does the All-Terrain’s AWD and Suspension Actually Do for a North Texas Driver?

The All-Terrain’s all-wheel drive and air suspension do more than the badge suggests, delivering genuine foul-weather traction and a modest ride-height lift for loose surfaces, though both arrive with one clear limitation that’s worth understanding before you decide a wagon can cover your whole driving year. More than styling, less than a trail rig.

Standard 4MATIC^® all-wheel drive is the same system Mercedes-Benz fits across its SUV lineup, including the GLE. It distributes torque continuously between axles rather than waiting for slip to occur. That matters on the spring hail season’s wet roads in March through June, when standing water on the Tollway at highway speed is a real condition, not a theoretical one.

The AIRMATIC^® air suspension is standard on the All-Terrain and does two useful things. It lowers the vehicle by roughly half an inch at speeds above 75 mph to reduce aerodynamic drag (which is part of how it earns that EPA highway figure). And in off-road mode, it raises the body to increase ground clearance. One caveat we’d want any buyer to know is that the suspension lift only activates at speeds up to 22 mph. It handles gravel roads, ranch entrances, and parking lots with flooded curb cuts. It isn’t designed for sustained trail use. The GLE’s 8-inch base clearance requires no mode switch and is available at any speed.

The lower center of gravity is where the E-Class platform clearly outpaces its SUV sibling, since a wagon’s roofline sits closer to the road and the All-Terrain weighs 485 pounds less than the GLE 450 4MATIC^®. On the Dallas North Tollway corridor where our team drives these back-to-back, you’ll feel it as sharper turn-in on the on-ramps and less body roll through lane changes. The difference in steering weight is not subtle.

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What Are the Honest Pros and Cons of Choosing the All-Terrain Over a GLE?

Is the All-Terrain the Right Call for a Five-Passenger Plano Household?

Probably yes, as long as those five seats are the ceiling for your household and you can live with the towing limit, because once you’ve committed one vehicle in the driveway to SUV duty, the second car gains far more from precision and lighter mass than from a redundant tall body. If your household runs two vehicles, and you have no need for seven seats or serious towing, and you want that second car to handle everything else with sharper reflexes, the All-Terrain is the more rewarding ownership choice, not just the contrarian one.

What it won’t replace is a GLE configured for seven passengers, or any application where 7,700 pounds of towing capacity gets used regularly. Those are genuine structural limitations of the wagon format, and we won’t minimize them.

What it does replace, and convincingly, is the case for buying a second luxury SUV when you already own one. The GLC is the natural pairing if one partner prefers a traditional SUV format. The E-Class All-Terrain handles the cargo-and-commute role better than a second mid-size SUV does, and it does it with 4 mpg less highway fuel consumption and a more connected drive.

We keep both the E-Class All-Terrain and the GLE on the floor at our Plano showroom for a simple reason. The answer depends on how each buyer uses the vehicle week to week. The question worth putting to yourself, if you frame it as “SUV versus wagon,” is straightforward. In the past six months, have you actually used a third row, or towed anything over two tons? If the answer’s no to both, the All-Terrain is almost certainly the right vehicle.