Mercedes CLE replaces C and E Coupe
I have some good news and I have some bad news. The bad news is the C-Class Coupé and the Cabrio, along with the E-Class Coupé and Cabrio, are going extinct. But the good news is, well, we have a brand new model, which is going to replace the two of them.
Welcome to the Mercedes CLE. Let's take a look at the front design. This is the AMG line, so you get these more sporty accentuations at the bottom of the bumper. I also really like the star design here as well. Everything about this Coupé's design is to emphasize the width and the stance. So we can see that here with this tapering here, the power dome on the hood. You also get, for example, the digital lights here on this specific model.
The CLE is based on the C-Class and thereby sits between the C and E, but it gets a lot of unique aspects to make it stand out. First and foremost, you have the wider track, both front and rear, along with the lowered suspension and of course that roof line. Different wheel options are available, starting at 18 inches, or the ones you see here are 20.
The design is again to extend the width and to lower the car visually, and the designers have worked really hard to do this, so I really like the crease here. And then we have the Night pack on this model, so you get the blacked-out window frame. And this roofline is really smooth and sensual. And this design crease here as well has been designed to make the wheel arches stick out even more.
Rear-axle steering and suspensions
Rear wheel steering. You get that in the European markets,
not in the US. But I think for this kind of size, you don't really need that in
the US. But what about you guys? Do you like rear-axle steering?
Should they put this there for the US? Put it down in the comments. You get a choice of comfort and sport along with a more dynamic suspension setup. However, there will be no air suspension. I do like the rear lights. You have this mask here in the middle as well. Nice diffuser, but as expected, no real exhaust tips.
Trunk/boot
Inside the trunk, well, actually, if you come over here, you'll see that there are about 420 liters of space. It's pretty flat. There will be a plug-in hybrid in the future, which I suspect will definitely eat up some more space under the floor of the boot. But overall, pretty usable and the seats do go down as well. So between the Coupé and the Cabriolet, which one would you pick? Personally, I would take the Cabriolet and I'm really excited to see how that turns out.
Interior: doors and overview
But as you can see, this also gets frameless windows, so a very neat touch. The door is pretty long, expected being a Coupé. But the interior, if you take a quick look inside, definitely feels very C-Class. So in that sense, the interior is more based on the C-Class. Getting inside is, of course, a little bit tricky. You have to stoop down low because of that low roof line. And inside, very familiar, but very sporty. But there are some extra details that I want to talk about. So let's get inside and take a closer look.
Seats and steering
Different seat options are available. What you see here is the Nappa leather. It also gets ventilated and heating functions, but you can also get some animal-friendly versions like the leatherette, the Artico. You also have a more sporty design in the interior of the dashboard. Look at this carbon fiber effect over here. Overall, again, very familiar C-Class kind of design. I do like the way they've kind of made this look like an airline or an aircraft wing and then therefore these are like the jets.
Now the shapes have also become a bit more squircle than
circles, so again kind of reducing the height of the dash.As we look towards the driver's seat, this is the AMG line, so I get the AMG steering wheel, but with the Avantgarde you also get the three-spoke design as well. Now this might seem very C-Class, but the MBUX actually has some of the features from the E-Class. So, for example, you have these routines that you can set up. So you can say that, OK, if it's really cold outside, then automatically turn on the seat heating. You get a lot of kits as standard, including these screens, but you can also get the optional Burmester sound system that also includes speakers in the seats. How cool is that?
Engines
What engine options do you get? Well, it starts off with a 2.0-liter turbo four petrol and diesel option, starting at 197 horsepower for the diesel and 204 for the petrol. These two are not available in the US. What you get there instead is a 258 horsepower petrol with the 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system and 9G-TRONIC automatic. There will be a 3.0-litre straight six, with 381 horsepower. There will also be in the future a plug-in hybrid version, not for the US, but in any case, the one I'm most interested in is the AMG e-Performance version.
Let's hope they bring that one out as well.
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