Maintaining with the Mercedes mannequin vary has examined even essentially the most studious value record observers over the previous few years.

The CLE is a superb instance of how issues have modified, as Mercedes has slimmed down its vary of combustion-engined vehicles whereas including new fashions on the identical time.

Out went the C-Class and E-Class Coupé and Cabriolet, in got here the CLE Coupé and Cabriolet to exchange them.

Whereas it straddles the C-Class and E-Class ranges, just like the CLK did again within the 2000s, the CLE is successfully the identical dimension because the E-Class and priced and positioned accordingly.

In addition to the 2 completely different two-door bodystyles, there are myriad powertrain choices, together with four-cylinder diesel (bear in mind these?) and petrols, a four-cylinder petrol-engined plug-in hybrid and a straight-six petrol.

Sitting atop all of them is an AMG model. It’s a semi-skimmed 53, relatively than the full-fat 63 or skimmed 43 fashions (extra badges to get used to), however 443bhp and 413lb ft of torque from simply 2200rpm seems like loads to me.

In old-school Mercedes-versus BMW cash, the M4 seems to be a superb comparability in efficiency phrases, however we get solely the warmer M4 Competitors within the UK, which might go up towards a legendary CLE 63.

In dimension phrases, the CLE is definitely extra just like the 8 Sequence, however the four-wheel-drive M850i is then a degree above the CLE 53.

My head hurts now, so let’s preserve it easy: the CLE 53 is an enormous, highly effective coupé that appears to retain a degree of on a regular basis usability and civility with four-wheel drive and a nine-speed automated gearbox as normal, plus loads of creature comforts.

MG efficiency and large Merc consolation: that’s the gist. Large cash, too. Whereas you may get a CLE from just below £55,000, our take a look at automobile is north of £80,000 in range-topping Evening Version Premium Plus trim.

The bottom Porsche 911 price that till pretty lately, however that’s now a £100,000 automobile, such is the extent of inflation in automobile pricing in the mean time.

You get a lot of issues as normal on the CLE 53: rear-wheel steering, adaptive sports activities suspension, electrical and automated controls for many features, two giant screens for the MBUX infotainment and driver show and many energetic security options that beep and bong at you.

The additional £5500 for the Evening Version Premium Plus will get you a head-up show, a Burmester 3D stereo with superb sound high quality, some completely different exterior and inside trim and what seems like a spa day with some fancy air fragrances and “next-generation” massaging seats.

You’ll be able to spend one other £7500 on prime for the Professional Efficiency Package deal, which lowers the driving place with bucket seats, provides a race mode and a drift operate to the driving mode choices and sticks on a lot of carbonfibre trim.

I haven’t had an extended spell with a Mercedes since I ran an A-Class hatch simply earlier than Covid, and it has been attention-grabbing to see the shift in positioning of the model throughout that point.

It’s within the technique of reversing out of the quantity market with vehicles just like the A-Class (about which my reviews typically centred on whether or not it was higher than the Volkswagen Golf) and returning to being what CEO Ola Källenius calls “a premium luxurious automobile maker”.

That’s not jargon, as vehicles such because the CLE display what he means: it’s a minimize above the likes of the 4 Sequence however clearly not a Bentley. It’s that in-between place that Mercedes has occupied when at its absolute best. There’s no Volkswagen with which to check the CLE.

The CLE 53 hasn’t been the best automobile to gel with, as a result of it’s difficult to get every part in the appropriate settings. That’s not simply from the sheer quantity of knowledge and choice instruments introduced to you on the screens and the steering wheel and the extent of customisation they then afford but additionally in a extra primary method of getting comfy.

You sit fairly excessive, which takes some getting used to, significantly because it’s a large automobile to put on the highway and its extremities really feel a great distance away. That has meant a lot of fidgeting with the electrical seat to search out the appropriate driving place.

There’s then lots of bandwidth inside the numerous driving modes to seek for what’s best for you, selectable by means of completely different suspension and powertrain settings on two steering wheel controls.

Usually with driving modes, you may low cost one for sapping all the facility and one other for making the automobile too uncomfortable, but it surely’s extra nuanced within the CLE 53, they usually all have deserves.

Consolation and Sport are horses for programs, and I’m trying to find that ‘Goldilocks’ setting that has it excellent for more often than not. But when it’s in the appropriate settings and also you’re on the appropriate highway… that’s extra prefer it. Sport stiffens up the chassis however doesn’t make it too stiff, permitting you to essentially, actually work together with the highway.

I’ve already had some memorable drives on this automobile. The engine specifically is improbable. After we first tried this 3.0-litre mild-hybrid turbo straight six, in a CLS saloon in 2018, we gave the automobile an award on the energy of its engine alone, and I nonetheless love the best way it needs for little in efficiency whereas being so easy on the identical time.

That is to this point proving to be extra muscle automobile than precision driver’s device but one with luxurious materials richness inside and clearly some hidden depths. Finest I discover the appropriate menu to entry them.

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“That is not the CLE AMG, is it? Oh my God!”

“That may be a actually pretty automobile, mate. Lovely.”

“Love that. Wow. That is the nicest automobile I’ve seen in ages.”

All three of these interactions with full strangers occurred inside 48 hours of one another, they usually aren’t unusual once I’m out and about within the CLE 53.

Possibly it is simply how huge the Mercedes vary is and the way exhausting it may be to maintain up with the circulation of latest fashions, however the specialness of the CLE, significantly in AMG flavour, had handed me by a bit. This actually is a stunner.

Often you need to be in exotica like an Aston Martin or a Bentley for an enormous coupé to show heads in such a method. I am unable to recall a BMW, an Audi (or perhaps a Mercedes for that matter this facet of an SLS or AMG GT, at the very least) garnering such a response.

Once you drive previous individuals, you may typically monitor their heads following the automobile because it goes by, and a look within the rear-view mirror may reveal them nonetheless trying.

And good on ’em. I might, too. The extra time I spend within the CLE 53, the extra I prefer it and the extra particular it feels in each method: appears, efficiency, dealing with, inside theatre, large boot.

I used to be lucky sufficient to spend per week in a Bentley Continental GT within the US lately, and the CLE 53 feels far nearer to that lineage than a C-Class. Such journeys have meant I have been sharing the CLE 53 love across the Autocar workforce.

Digital editor Murray Scullion drove it again to again with an outdated CLK 63 AMG Black Sequence for an upcoming function. He got here again smitten, too, and felt it was under no circumstances overshadowed by what many take into account to be the zenith of AMGs.

“I believed there have been putting similarities between the pair,” he informed me. “Each really feel heavy and mechanical. Each have enormous torque obtainable seemingly at any pace in any gear. Each have enormous highway presence and brazen soundtracks.”

“We borrowed the CLK Black Sequence from a famend Mercedes specialist, the SL Store. What was very telling was that completely everybody there beloved the CLE.”

Editor-in-chief Steve Cropley, in the meantime, “significantly loved its refined sportiness”, saying: “I beloved the steering and agency, flat experience — particularly the best way it could possibly be fairly markedly various by means of 4 settings by a handy twist management on the steering wheel.”

That controller holds the important thing to essentially having the ability to gel with the automobile, as affiliate editor James Attwood discovered: “It is a troublesome automobile to regulate to at first, however when you spend a little bit of time and work your method by means of the settings, it opens up. At first it felt slightly harsh, however with some fiddling and familiarity it turned a lot simpler to take pleasure in.”

There are additional allowances you need to make for the CLE 53, and all debtors shared related issues: you have to get used to the driving place, the sheer dimension of it (you assume a C-Class, because of the identify, but it surely’s extra E), the poor rear visibility and the huge overhangs when manoeuvring. However when you’re settled you may actually get to take pleasure in it.

From the inside, which Attwood mentioned “feels such as you would need a luxurious Merc coupé to: properly grand and comfy”, to the engine, at which deputy editor Felix Web page marvelled: “That straight six needs to be top-of-the-line all-rounders underneath the bonnet of any present manufacturing automobile. Composed and manageable at a cruise, quiet at low speeds and delightfully raucous and grunty the place area permits.”

That final level was a priority shared by Cropley: “To actually get a automobile like this actually working, you need to drive it fairly exhausting, which might get relatively delinquent except you select your take a look at territory rigorously. However do that and it is rewarding, for positive.”

Now, can I’ve the keys again?

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Contemplating the state of Britain’s roads and the huge mileage I cowl testing vehicles, it’s a miracle that I’ve by no means had flat tyre – but it surely has lastly occurred, and I’ve damaged my duck in model.

I used to be trying ahead to spending per week in our Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 long-termer, since I favored the mannequin once I did the first drive overview a number of months again – a six-cylinder coupé is correct up my avenue.

I do bear in mind the experience feeling a tad brittle and people good 20in wheels trying extraordinarily kerbable, although, and they also proved.

I used to be having fun with a spirited drive on one in all my favorite native roads when BANG! A very vicious pothole was hiding in a shady spot, and the CLE’s width makes it exhausting to swerve safely. I’ve hit wince-worthy potholes earlier than, however this one felt completely different. 

Certain sufficient, after just some seconds, the tyre-pressure monitor confirmed the entrance le taking place rapidly and the automobile began pulling to the le . In a quiet facet highway, I surveyed the harm.

A can of goo was by no means going to avoid wasting the entrance left, however the rear le regarded unhurt. I known as Mercedes-Benz Help and in moments I used to be by means of to an precise one who took my particulars and despatched assist.

After 25 minutes, I acquired a textual content from the RAC saying they have been on the case. From this level, my expertise isn’t solely consultant, as a result of usually the best factor would have been to get better the automobile to the closest Mercedes dealership, which wasn’t distant.

As a result of this can be a press automobile, Mercedes UK wished it recovered to the press storage in Milton Keynes, which was distant. About an hour a er my preliminary name, there was the provide of a cell tyre fitter, however since they wouldn’t have the right Mercedes-spec Michelin Pilot Sport S5 rubber, I declined, as a result of becoming one thing else felt like a waste of a tyre.

Ultimately, two and a half hours after my first name, a truck arrived to take me house after which the automobile as much as Bucks. A number of days later, I discovered that the pothole claimed not only one tyre, but additionally bent the entrance and rear wheels, in addition to some suspension parts.

I didn’t see the invoice for it, and I don’t assume I wish to. There are a number of takeaways from this story. Protecting in thoughts that my expertise was difficult by this being a press automobile, I’d say it’s a strong cross for Mercedes-Benz Help – good on the cellphone, however the alternative of restoration companion could possibly be higher.

In the meantime, I nonetheless just like the CLE 53, however I don’t like its wheels. Let’s face it: our roads aren’t going to enhance any time quickly. So why tempt destiny with ultra-low-pro le tyres? They’re additionally Mercedes-specific and completely different sizes back and front, which makes sourcing replacements tougher. 

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Convertibles are an more and more uncommon breed in new automobile showrooms. The period of a convertible model of virtually every part (Nissan Micra, Peugeot 206, Vauxhall Astra…) is fortunately lengthy behind us, giving the drop-tops that stay extra of a particular really feel and sense of event that this breed of automobile deserves.

And correct soft-tops at that, because the retractable exhausting prime fortunately appears to have largely been consigned to historical past too. Even premium automobile makers like Mercedes have minimize their convertible ranges.

There’s solely the CLE Cabriolet and SL Roadster in order for you a soft-top Merc, and given the supercar temporary of the latter, in order for you a extra conventional Mercedes convertible, the CLE is all there may be.

Whereas the AMG CLE 53 was off the highway for a number of days having its wheels sorted after highway tester Illya Verpraet fell out with a pothole, Mercedes despatched us a CLE 450 4Matic AMG Line Premium Plus Cabriolet (rolls off the tongue) to attempt.

The solar even got here out for some winter roof-down miles, that the majority British of pastimes. So what if it’s solely two levels outdoors? I want my vitamin D.

Just like the CLE coupé, the cabriolet is superbly designed and proportioned. It’s so elegant, an actual elegant and classical Merc.

The AMG CLE 53 has been turning as many heads as a supercar would, and nods of approval comply with you round within the cabriolet too. It has severe kerb attraction, even when the crimson roof and tan inside mixture isn’t fairly one I’d go for.

I’ve been vastly impressed with the refinement ranges within the CLE Cabriolet, the three.0-litre straight-six engine feeling splendidly understressed. Even with the roof down, it’s a quiet cabin.

The seats are enormous and extremely supportive; blinding heated seats too – a should in a soft-top in Britain. It does really feel its dimension and weight over bumps within the highway, but that is extra a trade-off for the roof-down poseur attraction than it’s a compromise.

You by no means really feel such as you’re in a dynamically inferior product. The boot is kind of fiddly: it’s huge, but it surely doubles as storage for the roof when folded away.

There’s an virtually invisible dividing line within the boot that you have to work out the place to not push any baggage behind.

The theatre of reaching for the retractable roof button inside may be interrupted by a ‘pc says no’ second. Much less is extra in the case of coupés and convertibles if they’re to retain their particular feeling, and for Mercedes to go all in on the CLE on the expense of every part else achieves that.

These are feel-good vehicles. Quickly, there will probably be a convertible model of the AMG CLE 53. Now that will probably be one to attempt…

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Driving your first AMG just isn’t one thing that anybody ought to take calmly. I imply, simply take a look at the bulldog stance and menacing glare of the CLE 53 and inform me you wouldn’t be at the very least a tad nervous.

So I used to be grateful to be given not solely the important thing to this automobile but additionally an invite to Mercedes-Benz World in Surrey for an AMG driving expertise and driver coaching day.

Located on the historic race monitor at Brooklands, it’s a powerful emporium – and all of the extra so once I visited as a result of it was internet hosting a traditional automobile public sale. Nicely, except there was some weird German licensing deal for pink Ford Edsels I by no means knew about.

There’s a variety of experiences on provide right here, starting from temporary passenger rides to full driving days; in something from EVs to off-roaders to super-saloons; and costing from £45 to £695.

There are even classes for youths. I used to be, after all, delighted to keep away from a silent cleaning soap bar and be directed in direction of a C63 – albeit the business bomb that’s the S E Efficiency four-cylinder plug-in hybrid.

Instructing me was Keith Robinson, who proved as chatty, affable and enthusiastic as he’s educated and skilled, having raced Ferrari GTs at a excessive degree. Additionally among the many instructors was Mauro Calo – a reputation acquainted to Autocar devotees and James Bond movie administrators alike.

It’s a good and technical dealing with circuit however with a superb mixture of nook varieties and area on the straights for some severe pace, particularly when you may have 671bhp at your disposal.

As I constructed my confidence, Keith gave me encouragement and tips about my approach with the controls, braking factors and cornering traces.

I’d not pushed on a moist monitor earlier than, nor in a plug-in hybrid, so there was a lot to be taught. As we completed up, he received me to attempt a lap in EV mode. The C63 continues to be fast even when silent, and the truth that this duality is feasible is technically spectacular – however then so is a prepare, and I’m by no means going to get enthusiastic about that.

Thank heaven for the information a couple of new AMG V8… Anyway, the dance turned rather more pleasurable once I swapped into an A45 S.

Due to this mega-hatch’s comparatively uncomplicated turbo petrol engine and lighter weight, I received into one thing of a circulation and was quickly lapping rapidly and confidently.

The skidpan was a really completely different expertise. I perceive the basics of powersliding a automobile, however Mercedes’ four-wheel drive system turns them on their head. Steering right into a drift will spoil it.

As a substitute, you need to tip the automobile sharply sideways, then maintain the wheel just about straight whereas pumping the throttle to take care of momentum.

Keith appeared genuinely impressed that I pulled off a ‘4Matic drift’ (albeit not constantly), however all my instincts have been telling me that what I used to be doing was bizarre and mistaken.

I made a decision to depart Autocar’s smokyphoto duties to Mauro… Maybe essentially the most eye-opening expertise of all, although, was the drag strip.

Even with removed from superb surfaces underwheel, utilizing the C63’s launch management yielded 0-62mph in solely round 4 seconds. We’ve turn into used to such numbers, however sit and depend 4 elephants and also you’ll admire how little time that really is.

There was some severe thudding when my timing was off, but it surely simply violently bolted once I aced it. I’ve felt related sickening acceleration in lots of EVs, however some accompanying engine noise makes all of the distinction.

Lastly, I used to be taught learn how to do an emergency cease by means of standing water – maybe counterintuitively, so ly did the trick. Slamming the pedal to the ground merely locked up the wheels, regardless of the very best efforts of the ABS.

A half-day AMG expertise is certainly not low-cost at greater than £500, but it surely’s one thing I’d extremely suggest. And you’ll select your personal journey, inside cause: if 70mph is your comfy restrict, they’ll fortunately allow you to try this.

Hopping again into the CLE 53 to drive house, I had a newfound understanding of quick vehicles and a higher perception in my very own potential to deal with one, which, after all, is exactly the thought.

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When the CLE was first introduced, it appeared like simply one other new Mercedes to fill one more specialist area of interest.

Nonetheless, fairly the alternative has proved to be true: the CLE has allowed for a rationalisation of a number of Mercedes fashions, whereas nonetheless feeling each particular and distinctive from the rest within the vary.

The CLE strikes me as one of many purest and most feel-good fashions the three-pointed star makes as we speak. Not solely has progress on the old-school Mercedes-Benz coupé been good, then, however the CLE additionally feels prefer it’s among the many better of them.

The CLE has a extra classical model, however the shiny newness of its badge meant I typically discovered myself explaining precisely what sort of Mercedes this was. You hear ‘C’ initially of its identify and instinctively consider one thing smaller, whereas the ‘E’ suggests a bigger automobile – and a CL was about as large as Mercs received again within the day.

And no, it’s not a CLK. So you would learn these three letters a number of alternative ways. In essence, the CLE replaces the C-Class, E-Class and S-Class coupés and cabriolets unexpectedly.

Mercedes has pitched it someplace across the E-Class and S-Class fashions in dimension and positioning, relatively than go after extra quantity. It was a superb name: rarity solely provides to the attraction.

But the sense of event was over and above that of all these ‘Class’- suffixed fashions and got here near supercar ranges.

This factor turned heads, and loads of them. The CLE generated essentially the most curiosity of any automobile I’ve run this facet of McLaren’s 650S, and even that didn’t foster as a lot positivity pound for pound.

Maybe that’s as a result of the Mercedes feels extra relatable extra achievable; that’s the mark of a superb model that has created a degree of aspiration even because it has unfold down into different markets.

The CLE is an effective instance of a reversal of a wider development at Mercedes. Its fashions now appear to have been developed with a bit extra thought put into what they’re about and why you’ll purchase them, and there’s clear, distinct positioning between fashions, relatively than them overlapping or tripping over one thing else within the vary.

The design is a triumph, and the CLE is maybe the best-looking automobile Mercedes makes. The Gorden Wagener-shaped design theme has caught for nicely over a decade, and whereas a few of the quantity Mercs endure from a contact of VW Golf-itis, making it exhausting to inform one era from one other, the CLE exhibits Mercedes’ design and proportions at their absolute best.

Are you able to inform that I fairly favored this automobile? It was actually love at first sight, however that didn’t prolong to the best way it drove. The CLE felt huge from behind the wheel, extra so than its dimensions (4.85 metres lengthy, 1.94 metres extensive) recommend.

It took some getting used to, and also you have been solely ever a good metropolis avenue or slim B-road away from having to breathe in. The big, 20in alloys sat nicely outdoors the bodywork, too, and I kerbed them twice. It’s a sickening feeling, and I satisfaction myself on taking care behind the wheel and being a superb choose of dimensions, however I met my match within the CLE.

Street tester Illya Verpraet went additional by taking out the nearside entrance 265/35 R20 Michelin, though this was resulting from a pothole.

Nonetheless, it demonstrated the wheels’ vulnerability. In a earlier report (Autocar, 12 February) we mentioned there was suspension and wheel harm because of this incident, however we’re comfortable to make clear this wasn’t the case: solely the tyre was changed and the nearside alloys have been refurbished.

You sit excessive and much again within the CLE. It’s fairly an uncommon driving place and took some getting used to. The inside, whereas comfy and richly appointed, was fairly baffling, too, with some large screens together with a lot of buttons and completely different management inputs, and I by no means actually felt like I had discovered my method round.

The thumb-wipe buttons on the steering wheel have been significantly odd, and I fell out with the ‘Hey Mercedes’ voice management extra than as soon as. “Hey Mercedes, the place’s the swear jar?”

Then there have been the driving modes, switchable by means of two dials on the steering wheel, one in all which adjusts the powertrain and liberates extra efficiency, whereas the opposite stiffens the chassis.

There have been actual, noticeable variations between the settings, excess of is typical. I favored Consolation on the motorway and Sport on a B-road. Which may not sound like a revelation, however too typically I discover driving modes are gimmicky, and easily making a automobile really feel slower in a single course or too uncomfortable in one other.

The CLE has loads of completely different characters to discover. Character is the important thing phrase for this automobile: it has luggage of it. Even the foibles are a part of its attraction; this can be a automobile you need to get to know with the intention to perceive it, after which you may actually take pleasure in and exploit it.

It could simply as simply play the position of huge, comfy cruiser or B-road weapon, with its four-wheel steering giving a degree of agility that one thing so large shouldn’t have. For now, the CLE vary is topped by the 53 AMG model we ran. This does with out the V8 (or four-cylinder hybrid…) of 63-badged AMGs however isn’t any slouch itself.

The straight-six engine is a belter and an actual spotlight. It’s not on the degree of drama of a Mercedes V8, but it surely isn’t making an attempt to be that.  On this context, it feels extra akin to a downscaled Bentley: large on torque and refinement, and the facility and efficiency is a by-product of that.

A smaller Bentley: that’s a great way of trying on the CLE, each for its sense of event and for the way particular it makes even essentially the most mundane journeys really feel. Extra of this please, Mercedes.

Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4Matic+ Coupe Evening Version Premium Plus specification

Costs: Listing value new £78,825 Listing value now £78,825 Worth as examined £81,445

Choices: Alpine Gray strong paint £925, Driving Help Package deal Plus £1695

Gas consumption and vary: Claimed financial system 29.4mpg Gas tank 66 litres Check common 28.1mpg Check greatest 31.2mpg Check worst 20.1mpg Actual-world vary 408 miles

Tech highlights: 0-62mph 4.2sec Prime pace 155mph Engine 6 cyls in line, 2999cc, twinturbocharged, petrol, plus 48V ISG Max energy 443bhp at 5800-8100rpm Max torque 413lb ft at 2200-2500rpm Transmission 9-spd automated, 4WD Boot capability 240 litres Wheels 9.5Jx20in (f), 11.0Jx20in (r), alloy Tyres 265/35 R20 (f), 295/30 R20 (r), Michelin Pilot Sport S5 Kerb weight 2000kg

Service and operating prices: Contract rent charge £1145pcm CO2 217g/km Service prices None Different prices New tyre £322.87 Gas prices £672.67 Working prices inc gas £995.09 Value per mile 34 pence Faults None

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