Is it fair to say that cars are becoming more complicated without becoming more interesting? It certainly feels true. Within the tiny concentric circles that car hacks move in (not a place necessarily receptive to change) the idea seems to have taken root. And it’s a sentiment shared by more than a few forum goers, too. Too much weight, too much tech, too much money - and definitely too much bloat masquerading as efficiency or usability. The advent of hybridisation and electrification is by its nature (silent, deadly) an easy target, but the general malaise - typically unconnected to imaginative build quality or design or even best intentions - is prevalent enough that any new car erring in the opposite direction feels like it should be a) celebrated loudly, and b) investigated for the reasons behind its apparent goodness.
Welcome then to the long-term test of the Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 - a car which seems to have risen phoenix-like from the ashes of the current C63. Our reasons for taking a longer look are myriad: it is an entirely new model line for its maker; it retains a large(ish) petrol engine; it bucks a wider trend for meeting the ugly stick head-on; it recently trounced the BMW M440i in a twin test - but the main one is simply that we have driven it (both home and abroad) with something approaching genuine, uncomplicated satisfaction. To call it old school seems overly reductive (because its mode-heavy approach could hardly be called simple) although many of the traditional qualities that we associate with AMG appear to be alive and well. And who wouldn’t want to spend three months unpicking those?
Firstly then, for anyone not previously paying attention, a quick recap. The CLE is the four-seat, exclusively two-door derivative that Mercedes introduced to replace both the C- and E-Class coupes that preceded it. Strictly speaking, the 53 is the middleweight performance option - although, for now, we don’t yet know what actually constitutes the heavyweight tier above. There absolutely will be a CLE 63 (Mercedes has spent the summer furiously testing it in the usual places) but hasn’t yet confirmed which powertrain it will feature. The smart money (i.e. the money moving swiftly away from the concept of a four-cylinder hybrid) suggests that it will be a variant of the all-conquering 4.0-litre V8.
Obviously this will be a good thing. But it is also, inevitably, going to be a very expensive thing. Our 53, the Night Edition Premium Plus version, costs more than £81k with all its options totted up; a 63 of any stripe is going to be a six-figure car and then some. The question of value for money (a hot topic in every year previous to this one, but even more so now with the aftereffects of inflation supercharging the market) is also one to consider at length. As is power output. The 63 will have considerably more however it is produced. The 53, via its turbocharged 3.0-litre straight-six, produces just shy of 450hp. This does not immediately sound like enough in 2024 - and yet it is very nearly as much as the 6.2-litre V8 produced when AMG first installed it in the W204. With the help of the latest 4Matic all-wheel-drive system and its nine-speed MCT, it gets to 62mph in 4.2 seconds.
Of course, it is not entirely alone in the engine bay. The 53 is a mild hybrid, courtesy of the 23hp it initially gets from its onboard starter generator. Probably this helps a bit with the 413lb ft of torque available from 2,200rpm, too; definitely it contributes to the 2,000kg (with EU-sized driver) kerbweight. There is adaptive damping to factor in as well, and rear-axle steering - both as standard. The only things not standard, in fact, are the Opalite White Bright paint (a £925 tick) and something called Driving Assistance Package Plus, which adds active lane-changing and (we think) a blind-spot assist system that’ll apply the brakes in certain situations, in return for £1,695.
So it is not lightweight, or simple, or cheap. And yet first impressions backup our long-running hunch: the 53, all flared arches and leery front end, fills an average parking space like a spandex-clad strongman contender fills a glass lift. To say it’s better looking than BMW’s equivalent lineup is like saying Lily Collins is better looking than Phil. Perhaps the rear end isn’t an automatic home run with its joined-up taillights - arguably white does it no special favours either - but its 20-inch alloys look the part even in matte black and, as with all the best AMGs, there’s a persistent and pleasing sense of low-grade menace about the way it all hangs together. It’s like climbing into a debt collector’s letter.
The interior, appropriately enough, is clad in black leather - though it’s well broken up by neon-edged air vents and Mercedes preoccupation with ‘black piano lacquer’, not to mention the positioning of the ubiquitous 11.9-inch touchscreen. The chance to delve more deeply into the latest MBUX system (and the AMG Dynamic Select alongside) is another good reason for having the CLE around for a little longer, although for now it should suffice to say two things right out of the gate: one, there’s nothing like a permanent onscreen icon for switching out the audible speed limit warning to get you immediately onside - and, two, a properly backlit, find-it-in-the-dark, steering wheel-mounted drive mode dial to keep you there. In other words, seconds after you get in it, the 53 is going faster and louder, and yet also shutting up about the result. Gold star.
True, the steering wheel also gets an infinite quota of touch-sensitive controls to get to grips with and Mercedes provides you with a zillion instrument cluster displays that ought to have been boiled down to the only one that makes sense (I’ll give you a clue: it features two circular dials) - nevertheless, these peccadillos aside, so far the car has proven itself a very nice, roomy place to sit, a gently sonorous presence to drive and a really quite lovely thing to look at. But we knew all of these things already. The next few months, and a lot more miles, should give us a fuller picture on what might just be one of the most well-rounded performance cars currently on sale. Might being the operative word.
Car: 2024 Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4MATIC+
Price as tested: £81,445 comprising MANUFAKTUR Opalite White Bright paint (£925) and Driving Assistance Package Plus (£1,695)
Run by: Nic and Matt
On fleet since: Sept 2024
Mileage: TBC
1 / 10
