The first question has to be why? Why would Mercedes want to drive 30-odd E-Class sedans from Paris to Beijing? There's more than one answer, but "because it can" seems to be a good starting point.
The E-Class Experience, as the month-long, 8500-mile trip is called, also links the end of the French city's auto show with the start of the Chinese one. And it also recreates the route of a challenge laid down almost exactly 100 years ago to prove powered transport was superior to the horse and cart (though to be strictly honest, that went the other way and via a markedly different route).
My four-day stint behind the wheel of car 24, an E320 CDI, would link Ekaterinburg in Russia with Almaty in Kazakhstan. Yes, that's Kazakhstan, home of legendary spoof journalist Borat. There was some debate about whether anyone had the balls to mention the B-word. Personally I didn't.
Warned of cold weather, appalling roads, officious police, and double-figure times for crossing the border from Russia into Kazakhstan, the international crew of drivers was set for adventure. But on day one it never came; it was almost too easy. No one got stopped, the sun shone, and getting my passport stamped took 45 minutes. At the end of the 350-mile leg to the town of Kostanai I will confess to being disappointed.
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