Yahoo Autos The 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLE450 Is the Last Real Mercedes Coupe
It ought to be obvious by now, 138 years since the first Benz, 123 years since the first Mercedes, and 98 years since the first Mercedes-Benz, what a Mercedes-Benz is. But the new 2024 CLE450 4Matic coupe is confounding. It’s not staid but hardly flamboyant. It’s quick but not brutish. It’s silky smooth but distant from the driver. There’s a big three-pointed star on the grille, but is that enough to explain a Mercedes as the 21st century approaches the end of its first quarter?
Oh, and it’s not a Mercedes-AMG. But it has the floor mats.
The new CLE-class straddles a couple of traditional Mercedes market niches. It shares its underpinnings with the C-class sedan but doesn’t carry the low-end vibe of the now-superseded C-class coupe. At 191.0 inches long over a 112.8-inch wheelbase, it’s 7.1 inches longer and has 2.6 inches more between its axles than the beloved W124 E-class coupe of the Eighties and Nineties. But both that wheelbase and that overall length are a mere 0.3 inch shorter than the W212 E-class coupe that has also just concluded production. So, the CLE (C236 in Mercedes-speak) is effectively one coupe taking the place of two.
In this SUV-addled world, that there are any coupes is amazing. A cabriolet version of the CLE is on the way, and the Mercedes-AMG version will be the CLE53. In Mercedes-Benz current line, the CLE is the one traditional coupe left. It’s a two-door, not a low-roof sedan like the CLA or Mercedes-AMG GT four-doors, nor a sports car with a pretend back seat like the AMG GT. The CLE is flying the Mercedes coupe freak flag once proudly waved by glories like the W112 300SE of the Sixties and Seventies, and the last S-class coupe that left production after the 2020 model year.
It’s also about the same size as the current Ford Mustang coupe (189.4 inches long with a 107-inch wheelbase). As in the Mustang, the base powerplant is a turbocharged four. In the CLE, it’s a 2.0-liter unit running along with a mild hybrid system and rated at 255 hp in the CLE300 4Matic.
Driving the CLE300 will have to wait. What’s driven here is the CLE450, which is, if the numbers mean anything, about 50 percent better. In fact, the CLE450’s turbocharged 3.0-liter six makes 375 hp with its accompanying 48-volt mild hybrid system. So, the CLE 450 is 47 percent more powerful than the CLE 300.
Testing has the CLE450 accelerating to 60 mph in only 4.1 seconds and running the quarter-mile in 12.5 seconds with a thundering 111-mph trap speed. It also pulls 0.92 g on the skidpad. There’s no drama with this Mercedes, but that doesn’t mean it doesn't perform.
The suspension comes over intact from the C-class. That means a multilink independent system fore and aft. Considering that the CLE also shares its wheelbase with the C-class sedan, it’s hardly surprising that the manners closely mimic those of that car as well. The ride is compliant, the steering is a touch overassisted, and the nine-speed automatic transmission responds quickly to manual shift inputs.
Disappointingly, the CLE is not a pillarless coupe. But it kind of looks pillarless as long as the side windows are up. The styling is in the current Mercedes idiom, with the big front grille dominated by the massive three-pointed star. It’s a handsome car, but Mercedes could be more formal in its styling—a standup grille, a less raked windshield, a more upright roofline—to recall old-school Benzes.
There’s much to be said for old-school Benzes. In the day, Mercedes could make even something as basic as a painted metal dash seem luxurious. The switches were capped by high-quality knobs and operated as if they were engaging high-fidelity stereo equipment back when high fidelity and stereo were big deals. There was something glorious about the leather in a Mercedes because it seemed so wicked thick. And that’s the problem with the new CLE’s interior.
In a digital world, the analog is now luxurious. And, alas, no maker has more thoroughly committed itself to the digital than Mercedes. There’s nothing wrong with the two digital displays—a big one at the center stack and a smaller one ahead of the driver—but they’re so ordinary. Hyundais have big screens. Fords have big screens. Teslas have enormous screens. So the Mercedes screens don’t seem special.
The CLE also uses the latest Mercedes steering wheel, which uses a split three-spoke design. Ultimately, that means six total spokes. And those spokes are stuffed full of capacitive switches that are indistinct to the touch. Maybe extended exposure would bring some intuitive comfort with the arrangement, but it may also be that the acclimation doesn’t come until after the lease has run out. Otherwise, the steering wheel is perfectly sized, nicely covered in hide, and precisely squishy enough.
Over its long history, Mercedes has had some of the very best control knobs, sliders, cranks, and buttons ever installed on cars. Screens have their place, but they ought to be kept in that place.
The seats are great to sit upon, there’s more room in back than in the old C-class coupe and about the same as the old E-class, and outward visibility is fine forward and a tad bunker-like looking aft. Mercedes uses too many textures when decorating its interiors, but there will be buyers who groove on the mix of piano-black and satin-metal accents, some wood trim and perforated-leather speaker grilles. It may not be old-school Mercedes leather upholstering the seats, but it’s still damned nice leather.
Where the Mercedes heritage shines bright is in how the CLE drives. The straight-six engine is creamy enough on its own, but the hybrid system smothers out any shifting hiccups at the bottom end while the turbos always ensure excellent torque production. Mercedes pumps in some engine noises through the Burmester sound system, which is kind of creepy but not really distracting. Road noise is imperceptible. All of these are the virtues expected of a Mercedes.
There’s a seamlessness to the CLE450 that’s engaging, a vibe that radiates competence and soothing comfort. The front 245/35R-20 and rear 275/30R-20 Goodyear Asymmetric 5 tires are summer performance rubber, though they don’t bite with a lot of aggression into corners (at least not on this car). But this is a very difficult vehicle to knock off a well-chosen line. The all-wheel-drive system operates invisibly, and summer Southern California weather offered no chance to experience the vehicle in sloppy conditions.
Point the CLE450 north on I-15 heading from SoCal to Las Vegas, and it’s a machine in its natural habitat. This is a coupe for grown-ups with good jobs and secure finances. Or, at least, great credit. It’s a vehicle for those who know how to mitigate risk but have an appreciation for sophisticated entertainment as well. Buyers who look at a $66,800 base price and don’t flinch about adding another $9000 worth of options, including those 20-inch AMG wheels.
And if those buyers wait a few weeks, this thing will also be available as a cabriolet convertible.
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