Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 4MATIC Review Road Tested

Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 4Matic fully justifies its maker’s sublime claims. It’s one hell of a piece of kit for a middle of the range sled.
 

Shaped by desire and inspired by dream cars, the new Mercedes-Benz CLE also goes back to the future to, for want of a better phrase, kill two birds with one stone. About fifteen years ago, Benz dropped what was in essence this car’s predecessor, the CLK. It covered both the C and E-Class’s coupé needs in one car.
 
But management wanted one coupé (and convertible) each for the C and E, and so it was for a generation or three. Then, lo and behold, two such similarly-sized sleek cars were deemed too many, and here we are. Back to square one. Or is that square CLE?
 
CLE 300: Your Two-in-One C and E-Class Coupé
Anyway, meet the new Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 4-matic, your two-in-one C-Class Coupé and E-Class Coupé all rolled into one sexy machine to satisfy the needs of everyone in what’s now a subtly broader niche. Stuttgart tells us that the new CLE is an athletic coupé boasting enhanced interior luxury in integral sporty design with powerful electrified engines and 4Maric all-wheel drive for a dynamic experience. Sensual purity, in a nutshell.
 
Our ruby-red sampler certainly turned heads. Pictures don’t do it justice. It’s quite different from both the C and E coops it replaces. An emotional design from every angle, it’s a sporty and elegant two-door coupé that aptly defines Mercedes-Benz’ contemporary design language. Of flowing surfaces and seamless transitions. But Merc promises that this one goes its own way.
 
A progressive shark nose, 3D mouth, LED headlamps, and long, low clamshell hood topped by trademark SL power bubbles set a most elegant pace. A distinctive side profile highlighted by a single, bold character line further accentuates that stance. To leave no further explanation necessary as to what precisely this car is. If that’s impressive, wait till you swing that long door open.
 

White-Seated Cockpit Screams Sexy
It reveals a creamy and sensuous 64-color indirect ambient-lit cockpit that screams sexy. This one’s white leather pews and finishes are to, well, die for. It’s a driver-centered space. Getting back to those avant-garde sports design front seats, they’re developed exclusively for the CLE with integrated headrests that they promise get the very best of the car’s Burmester 3D surround audio.
 
There’s also new Easy-Entry rear access; even if getting into the back of a car like this will, by nature, never be easy. And we found the center console to be a bit iffy. But for the rest, it’s simply brilliant.
 
CLE gets free-standing 12.3-inch digital dials behind the smart leather sports steering wheel and 11.9-inch portrait central display, all deployed in a light and dynamic feel. Mercedes loves its multi-function and touch controls. Merely being human, we certainly do not.
 
Give Us Our Knobs Back, Mercedes-Benz!
Give us our knobs back! The newest MBUX system is however packed with all the goodies, from Auto to Car Play, Bluetooth, all the c-USBs, kitchen sink, cableless charging, hey Mercedes voice capability, next-level navigation, and the rest.
 
This CLE 300 may just be a downsized 255 HP 295 lb.-ft. two-liter, but rather judge it by that 300 in its name. Look, it sounds nothing as sexy as an old straight-six 300E, but it’s about as quick as what the first E63s could muster when 63 still meant it was a six-point-three-vee-eight.
 
Times have changed. This performance-focused CLE 300 gets an electrified turbocharger and Benz’ 17 kW 205 Nm second-generation integrated 48-volt starter generator in the 9G-Tronic gearbox to boost low-speed and bottom-end power to a seamless state. The box delivers its expected seamless service and turns lighter and niftier latest generation 4-matic all-wheel drive.
 

CLE 300 Delivers a Jekyll & Hyde Balance Comfort, Energy
Impressively at its best on the road, this CLE 300 offers a splendid Jekyll & Hyde balance of seamless, comfy cruising and inspired, energetic athleticism. As and when you want or need it. Quicker than claimed, we also found it more economical in our travels, if the readout is to be believed.
 
Sublime popped up continuously in our Mercedes product propaganda on this car. Often one giggles when carmakers wholesale abuse terms like that. The Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 4Matic, however, fully justifies its maker’s sublime claims. It’s one hell of a piece of kit for a middle of the range sled.
 
ROAD TESTED: Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 4Matic
Engine: 255 HP 295 lb.-ft 2-liter turbo I4
Drive: 9-speed automatic AWD
 
TESTED:
0-40 mph: 2.78 sec
0-60 mph: 5.90 sec
0-100 mph: 13.74 sec
¼-mile: 14.0 sec @ 101 mph
50-75 mph: 5.13 sec
75-100 mph: 5.84 sec
 
CLAIMED:
VMax: 155 mph
Fuel: 28 mpg
 
LIST PRICE: $58,000