Video: 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLE300 Coupe Review: The Merits of Calmness

And over the years though, people just aren't choosing two doors very much anymore, and so they're disappearing from showrooms. Well take Mercedes-Benz for example. They used to have as many as six two doors in the showroom at one point. Now they're down to just two, including this one. This is the new 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLE. It's available as both a coop and a convertible, and it's meant to replace two vehicles in the Mercedes showroom, the C-Class Coupe and the E-Class coupe with just one that kind of straddles the line between those two models. It's basically a Mercedes-Benz saying, look, if you absolutely have to have a Mercedes-Benz personal Luxury coop, well here one is take it or leave it. So should you take it or should you leave it? Let's go find out. So what exactly is this thing? Well, this is kind of the tweener coop for Mercedes-Benz supposed to slide between the old C-class coop and the E-Class coop. But in terms of its styling, I think it really does resemble more of the C-class. It's got a much more traditional front end than we've seen from a lot of the new Mercedes-Benzes. Definitely some C-Class looks in there. Down the side, however, the thing is actually longer than the old E-Class coop. So in terms of its overall size, it's not a tweener coop. It's actually larger than the old E-Class. Where you get to some of the new styling is in the back. This is where we see a full width taillight bar, which we've seen on the new Mercedes-Benz EQ electric models and on the new E-Class as well. But overall, it's really a more traditional look for Mercedes-Benz, which makes sense because it's really meant for a more traditional Mercedes-Benz buyer. Currently you have a choice of two powertrains for the new 24 CLE. The base model is the CLE 300 and it comes with a two liter turbocharged four cylinder engine making 255 horsepower, meh. Or you can get the CLE 450, which comes with a three liter turbocharged straight six engine making 375 horsepower, which would be better. Both of them are made it up to a nine speed automatic transmission, and you get standard Mercedes-Benz formatic all wheel drive as well. This one is the CLE 300. So it's got the 255 horsepower four cylinder engine. Is that enough? Well, let's go find out. (soft music) Now this model is the CLE 300. So it's got the 255 horsepower turbocharged two liter four cylinder engine, made it to the nine speed automatic transmission and formatic all wheel drive, which does help traction in certain cases. Of course, being Michigan summer, it's not something we really need right now. It is, I'd say adequately powered. this being the entry level model. You're not seeking crazy performance or incredible acceleration, you're just looking for a comfortable, classy cruiser. That's exactly what this is. The transmission is really kind of slow to kick down. It doesn't have terribly that much power. It's got a zero to 60 time according to Mercedes-Benz 6.2 seconds, which in this day and age is not all that quick. If you upgrade to the CLE 450, well then you knock that down to 4.2 seconds because it's got a lot more horsepower, but you're also paying a lot more money for it. I'd say the two liter in here is adequate. It doesn't make a lot of noise. It's just smooth. It's comfortable. You do have to plan passing maneuvers or sudden acceleration events in advance because when you put your foot down, it takes half a second to actually do anything. So there is definite noticeable lag in terms of the immediate performance. The transmission just doesn't wanna play ball, it doesn't wanna shift down that quickly. But again, if you've got a convertible model and you've got the top down, you're just cruising with your family or your kids or your buds, you don't really care about that all that much. Handling wise, it's also obviously tuned more for comfort than for sport. There is a pretty good amount of body lean when you're going through various corners. You can kind of adjust the way the vehicle performs by putting it in sport mode, but really not all that much. And given that this model does not have any kind of electronic air suspension, you're pretty much, you know what you have is what you get. It is nicely tuned, however, the ride quality is outstanding. Even with the really large wheels that this one has with the low profile tires. It's just meant to be a smooth, comfortable cruiser, not necessarily an athletic, you know, canyon carver, but then you know what, not everything needs to be a canyon carver. You don't have to have everything tuned on the nerver green, but the CLE 300, it's really not about sporting us, it's more about just being relaxed. No driving experiences, fairly numb. The brakes have no feel whatsoever. I'd be surprised if these weren't drive by wire brakes. The steering is direct, but again, not a whole lot of feel or feedback. The suspension is rather soft. So you've got an excellent ride and it's extremely quiet, but you're not gonna be tossing this thing through your favorite back road switchbacks. So if you're just looking for something to relax in, something that gets you from A to B in style, something that you might just wanna go out cruising with a top down. If you get the convertible model, the 300 is not a bad way to do it. So while the outside the car itself might be a mishmash of the C-class and E-Class coops, on the inside, I gotta say this looks pretty much straight up C-class. You've got a lot of similar shapes in here. The interior and dashboard basically to me looks the same as it does in the GLC or in the C-class. There are some other interesting elements like the squareish screen that we have here, which is actually straight out of the SL coop. And in the convertible models of the CLE, it actually does actuate a little bit as well, like it does in the SL so that it doesn't get the glare from overhead. You've also got some familiar elements with a number of other Mercedes-Benz models and it is quite nice. You've got the detailing and the vents, which looks really good. You've got the reconfigurable digital gauge cluster, which looks also really quite good. But you've also got some elements in here of Mercedes-Benz models that we just don't like, one of which is the absolute garbage touch sensitive steering wheel, which means you can't touch these spokes on the steering wheel without accidentally activating something that you might not want to do. So that stinks. You've also got climate controls, which are integrated into the MBUX system, the multimedia system, and they work okay. The longer you use it and the more you drive the car, the more familiar you get with it. So that's not so bad. Although we do wish they had actual buttons and knobs for certain features. Just like volume on the audio system, there's no knob for volume, it's a slider on the wheel or a slider on the panel. Neither one of them work all that great. And while you're driving this thing, you kind of start to realize why people have stopped picking coops over four doors. The headroom in here is a little bit lacking. It's got that low swoopy roof line, but it's also got this standard panoramic moonroof, which definitely eats in the headroom. I'm about six foot and my head is hard up against the headliner. If I sit up straight and it's brushing against the thing, it a good thing I don't have a hat on or any more hair than I do, or it's gonna get messed up. In terms of interior size, you've got more legroom up front than either the C-class or E-Class coops. And in the back you've got a legroom that straddles the two more than the old C-class, less than the E-Class according to the numbers that Mercedes-Benz has sent us. So overall though, it's comfortable enough for two and it'll actually accommodate four if you need to, but if you need more room than that, you're pretty much not looking for a two door coop anyway. The pricing on this thing is actually also I think pretty much spot on for a CLE 300 coop. It's gonna start at $57,650 including destination fee, which for that you get some equipment, not a whole lot. You do get a standard 17 speaker per master sound system. You get the standard panoramic moonroof. There's however, almost $13,000 in options on this vehicle. This one stickers for just to take over $70,000. That's lot of money for a 255 horsepower four cylinder model. But again, it's got creature comforts that are nice. You've got the heated, massaging, cooling, ventilated seats, you've got a surround view camera, but what you don't have are things like any of these semi-autonomous driving features. All that still costs extra. Look, I'm just happy that there is still a large personal luxury coop in the Mercedes-Benz lineup and you know, replacing the C-Class coop and E-Class coop with one model. Well, it's something Mercedes-Benz has done before. Remember the old CLK. So it's not even a new idea. People looking for something on a C-class budget in terms of a coop can go for that CLE 300 and people looking for something more opulent in terms of an E-Class level thing. Well, they can go for the CLE 450. So that actually does make kind of sense. However, this is a more traditional Mercedes-Benz buyer. So I'm kind of curious to see how they're gonna react to some of the more touch screeny multimedia elements in there that are a little bit confusing to use or if that's gonna cause some generational heartburn. If you'd like to learn more about the new Mercedes-Benz CLE Coop and Convertible, you can look everything up at cars.com/news. (upbeat music)