Benz 300 CLE the last hurrah for combustion coupes
The last days of the combustion engine are here, but the Mercedes-Benz 300 CLE provides proof that it will not go out with a whimper, but with great eclat and applause.
The end of combustion engines is nigh; not close, mind you, but nigh, and let’s face it, those “End of the World is…” signs have always been a bit vague.
And yet, like diehard smokers who are definitely going to quit, but not quite yet, global car manufacturers are rolling out their final offerings before the shutters come down for good.
It’s going to be a long, lingering cessation process. And the Mercedes-Benz 300 CLE provides proof that, while we know that quitting will be good for our health, surely a last little expensive intake of hydrocarbons isn’t going to hurt that much, is it?
Given the 300 CLE is the final gasp in small-medium Benz combustion-powered coupes, there’s a fair chance we’re going to need some medical intervention when this is all over.
Truly, the engineers have saved their best two-door work for this one, trimming out their coupe line-up with a CLE which neatly bridges – as the badge implies – the gap between the outgoing C and E-Class coupes.
Initially, Australia will receive only the four-cylinder, mild-hybrid 2.0-litre turbo CLE 300 version midway through next year but given our nation’s love for all things AMG badged, a sportier, hunkered-down version with all those beautifully conceived factory extras we know and love – the wider wheels, the body kit, badge blackouts and a burbly exhaust – will surely follow.
The Merc coupe is a clever design execution: Goldilocks-like in size and boot space, and with equipment levels that won’t leave the budget-squeezers feeling they should have ticked more option boxes.
While there are two seats and footwells in the back, it’s not a place to put people you wish to keep as friends.
The CLE’s shark-like nose design is aggressive but not in a bite-your-thigh way, the glass-to-metal proportions are almost spot-on, and the tail-end has a C-Class rolling softness which, we suspect, would look quite street-sharp with a neatly-tailored AMG ducktail.
Don’t believe that old chestnut that the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain because during our introductory drive of the new Benz coupe down the windy Iberian coastline, it chucked down like an afternoon mid-wet season deluge in Darwin, wipers slapping harder than hippies’ thongs chasing after a Kombi.
Yet the standard all-wheel-drive system kept everything nicely planted through all the inclemency and, quite unexpectedly, despite only four pots and a turbo to call on, the 1.8-tonne CLE hustled along with surprising vigour.
There was a time in the not-so-distant past where we remember Benz cabin finishes as restrained, but no longer. Unfurled between the driver’s 12.3-inch digital dash display, the 11.8-inch vertically set central infotainment system (with the latest-gen MBUX system offering all the necessary apps, including the attention-span-depleting TikTok) and the passenger’s eyeline was an odious vertical grey pin-stripe that would have delighted a Tony Soprano henchman.
So much for being understated. We hoped, fervently, but could not determine for sure, that this was an optional cabin finish. We almost longed for the ubiquitous piano black.
The cabin vent designer sure made certain his work would not go unnoticed, with a satin chrome vortex effect that looks like it came off the set of Flash Gordon.
The Benz’s body feels hewn from a single billet and all the high-end driver-assistance features sit in the background, only arriving when needed. Ride quality is supermarket carpark softish, so we spent a few minutes each day diving into the suspension settings to electronically firm things up, which worked a treat.
The box-ticking CLE, given the timing of its arrival as the electron embrace begins to envelop us all, is near certain to be the best-selling coupe Benz has built in the last 20 years, even at a price tipped to land around $150,000.
As Mercedes-Benz joins the fast track to quitting combustion, this car is sending it out in style.
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