Binz E220 CDI Elegance limousine

Take an E-Class Merc, streeeeetch it, put in more doors and what do you get? A luxury eight-seater that still drives like a dream, says David Wilkins

Tim Richards and family test the Binz

Price: £84,331
Engine: 2.15-litre diesel
Performance: 0-60mph in 11.7 seconds
Top speed: 125mph
Worth considering: standard Mercedes E-Class, Mercedes R-Class, Mercedes S-Class

This week, our reader-testers get to grips with something a little bit unusual – the Binz limousine, based on the Mercedes E-Class.

Binz is an unfamiliar name to most people in the UK, but if you are aged over 40 and your interest in cars stretches back to your childhood, the chances are that you have encountered one of the company's products before, at least in miniature form. Back in the 1960s, one of the most popular Matchbox models was the cream-coloured Binz ambulance, based on the famous "fintail" Mercedes saloon.

Binz, a specialist German manufacturer, still makes car-based ambulances, but they aren't imported into this country. Binz UK, the independently owned British importer of Binz vehicles, specialises instead in hearses – and in the lengthened E-Class limousine tested by our readers.

The most impressive thing about the Binz limousine is that, while it is much longer than a normal Merc E-Class, because it has another pair of side doors and an extra row of seats, taking its seating capacity to eight, it feels almost identical to the standard car to drive. Perhaps a little more care is needed to negotiate the tightest roundabouts, but that's just about it.

We all went out together in the car after gathering at Binz's Reading HQ so that everyone could sample it as a passenger as well as driving it, and discovered that even with a full load of occupants, the relatively small 170bhp 220CDI engine is easily up to the job.

Binz has achieved this by exchanging many of the standard car's parts, including wheels, tyres and brakes, for heavier duty items. Mercedes' superb Airmatic air suspension is fitted as standard. All the systems you would expect to find in a modern car, such as ABS and airbags, are present, recalibrated for the increased size and weight of the limo.

So thorough is Binz's work that the car is delivered as a built-up, fully crash-tested, eight-seat limousine with a full Certificate of Conformity just like any mainstream model, rather than taking any of the other, less rigorous routes to market followed by some suppliers of converted vehicles. A Binz has a Mercedes warranty and all parts, including those specific to Binz's hearses and limousines, are available through Mercedes' own supply system.

The Binz limousine is an expensive car; that's why you'll usually find it in diplomatic, municipal and funereal settings rather than transporting shrieking hen parties around town on a Friday evening. But then, work of this quality always has its price.

Adrian Dennis, 38, photographer, from Hartley Wintney in Hampshire
Usual car: Rover 75

It looked long, very long. The interior was exactly what you'd expect from a Merc and it handled pretty similar to any luxury saloon car. I was expecting it to wallow around bends, but the back wheels followed the front and no special precautions were needed when negotiating roundabouts. Pottering around A roads, it was hard to judge the performance, but the acceleration was OK and braking good. No one paid us much attention, which surprised me, as I had visions of pedestrians doffing their caps as we passed. The passenger seats were comfortable, yet hardly sumptuous. But I wouldn't expect people to want to relax on the way to a funeral.

Tim Richards, 51, finance director, from Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire; with William Richards, 9, and Marcus Pugh, 10
Usual car: Mercedes Benz E320 CDi Estate

For your last journey on this Earth, why would you want to be in a car that has been cut in half and welded together again? By contrast, these are made in the same way as other cars in the factory, and they drive remarkably like their shorter siblings. The driving dynamics and safety features match the Mercedes E-class that they are derived from. The quality of the fittings and fixtures are equal to the best, and all models have been through the same rigorous crash-testing. The lack of wind- and road-noise belies their size. For my last journey I think I will ask that the cortege are all in a Binz.

Rob Kemp, 37, writer and editorial consultant, Isleworth, Middlesex
Usual car: Nissan Primera SRi 1.6

I'd never driven an automatic before – and I certainly hadn't ever shipped around six others in a car designed for a funeral's supporting cast. Thankfully this highly responsive limo lightens the load and makes being a chauffeur a pleasure. It's a surprisingly quiet diesel, ideal for mourners demanding respectful silence. As a driver you feel like you're in a regular saloon since accelerating, cornering and chatting away to those in the rear seats is so easy to do. But, as a back-seat passenger, I was nervy, and crossing roundabouts scared me half to death – I suppose that at least I was in the right vehicle for that.

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