The 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE 53 AMGs are an encouraging sign for enthusiasts, so why don’t I feel more enthused?
The announcement of a straight-six-powered CLE tourer earlier this year seemed a great relief after last year’s C 63 AMG unveil, a mega-powered squib dampened by four-cylinder power and seemingly rejected by its target market. The CLE 53 AMG rights its sibling’s miscalculation, but just as a lacklustre manual transmission doesn’t automatically confer enthusiast cred, neither does an unconvincing right-cylindered powertrain.
The Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 should feel like salvation, but capable as it may be, it feels more of the same in everyday commuting and a touch insincere in the impromptu zooms that ought to make this car shine.
The 2024 Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 is powered by a 443-horsepower, 413-foot-pound straight-six ‘M256M’ engine boosted in two simultaneous flavours. In the low end, 48-volt hybrid electrons power an electric supercharger for lag infill; past 2,000 RPM, exhaust gases wind a single-scroll turbocharger for a combined 22 pounds’ encouragement. A gamey 10-second boost mode overclocks to 443 pound-feet via the goofy steering-mounted LCD screens, if you actually remember the option’s there in the heat of the moment.
Acceleration to 100 km/h in 4.2 seconds is the correct figure, delivering the sensation of speed without all being over too soon. This is a positive trait, a welcome ceiling that lets you savour power for longer. That power has been sculpted across a relatively straight curve with a surprisingly steep low end, while torque starts from that hybrid starter-generator’s 0-rpm 151 lb-ft before plateauing flatly from 2,000-5,000.
That power sculpting is great on paper, but it hints at the CLE’s great enthusiast disappointment once in hand: artifice. It starts with sound: there’s very little of it until you’re deeper into the pedal than you’ll manage even in moderately lively driving. In its place: a smooth-riding, detached quiet — even without acoustic laminated side glass. You can hit the noise button in the car’s infotainment, but it’s still largely underwhelming; you’re more likely to catch the high-pitched sound of turbo pressure on short-shifted open throttle than any satisfying combustion.
Put it in sport mode and a woofer lumps faux exhaust cracks from behind on upshifts, but these sound more like cargo clunking in the boot than any real lift-off surge of unburnt. The entire soundtrack flips from regular direct-injected clatter to unconvincing, speaker-sounding rush with an uncanny character. It should sound right — and to be sure, some electrically augmented engine notes absolutely do — but it simply doesn’t.
Suspension is a plus, working usual-for-the-class dynamic damping that stiffens in sport modes or as configured. The CLE is a pleasant car to live with in town, and while still a touch harsh over bumps due to its thin tire sidewalls, is relatively forgiving. The touring setup leaves a touch to be desired versus the more aggressive BMW M4 coupe, but suits the M440i bracket well.
Off-the-line hybrid smoothness is matched with generally smooth operation of ‘TCT’ (Torque Converter Technology) variant of Mercedes’ long-running (if not necessarily beloved) 9G-Tronic nine-speed automatic transmission. The setup can bump several gears at a time to reduce upset across several downshifts, and interfaces well with the computers and particularly that abundant low-lag boost to deliver power promptly.
But then there’s the feeling of that power in those moments of everyday earnest. It’s plenty yes, and initially seems to follow the right path. Great too is the smooth easy going off-the-line hybrid start, the CLE utilizing those 151 electric ft-lbs to pull the car into motion before actually kicking the engine to life and pulling out. It relies on all that boost for so much of its go, however, that you can feel a somewhat pillowy character as you roll in and out of mid-heavy throttle. Idly puff your cheeks out a few times and you’ll have a little sense of the underfoot sensation to expect while playing within the bounds of the speed limit.
Steering is electrically assisted to accommodate the advanced driver assistance technologies that weren’t enabled on this test unit. Mercedes’ electric steering is preferable to BMW’s, but lacks the natural feeling that Porsche has accomplished in its systems. Maneuvers in town are aided by standard rear-wheel steering, which can kick the rears 2.5 degrees opposite the fronts. This figure is less than half what we’ve seen in competitors but feels well suited to the CLE’s dimensions and makes parking and in-town maneuvering much easier. This contributes to the electric steering’s artificial, disconnected feeling, but it aids smoother, more comfortable lane changes in highway touring.
But then, there’s a mitigating flipside to this: the CLE 53 isn’t a C 63, and having consolidated C and E coupe lines into one, this also addresses the tourer. As something offering unobtrusive highway-pull power for overtakes and plenty of torque for someone who likes the idea of possibility of performance even if seldom bothered to call on it, the CLE fills a role. Like a pickup driver who doesn’t own a trailer but likes the idea of a 150,000-pound tow figure (*in peak conditions with load-eliminating hitch and optional equipment groups fitted), the sport-shoed CLE makes sense. Besides, there’s meant to be a more muscular V8-powered CLE 63 around the corner.
Rated fuel economy for this 443-horsepower straight six is commendable for its type, with NRCan figures posted at 11.7 L/100 km city, 8.7 L/100 km highway, and 10.4 L/100 km combined. Observed figures held within a litre of these ratings, if partly because the CLE 53 didn’t inspire much heavier-footed driving in our week together.
New CLE gets another of Mercedes’ plasticky interiors
A CLE 63 likely won’t sidestep the cabin qualms, however.
Mercedes should be slam-dunking sales over BMW’s goofy buck-toothed grilles, but look inside any current Benz and the field levels. Style is subjective, but in start contrast to the class and taste of years past, this generation of Mercedes-Benz cabins simply feels tacky. Strip-club mood lighting reflects off of shiny, brittle-feeling plastics as in everything from the C-Class to the S and G flagships. Digital displays are huge, with 11.9- and 12.3-inch screens beaming with late-aughts skeumorphic reflections overlaid atop over-animated Y2K graphics. It all feels like what a pre-glow-up Hyundai would’ve done with more screen space and less restraint — not what you’d expect of a standard-setting luxury brand.
These complaints echo those I made of the same-parts-bin S Class, a car that historically set the standard for luxury but no longer does. The tested CLE did not share that tested S Class’ crooked stitching, but its plastics and design vocabulary are the same. While one could charitably call this a case of trickle-down — the lower-priced CLE essentially cut-pasting a decontented S experience — it’s a poor showing to cascade down anyway. Peers from other publications have echoed these complaints, the word “chintzy” coming up in particular.
Fortunately the CLE does its tech right — once you’ve paid for it. The CLE’s HUD is a delight, free of the bright-black-pixel light pollution noticeable at night in recent BMWs. While the 12.3” primary cluster’s designs are tacky, the HUD’s are clean and straightforward, and with a pleasing variety of display configurations that BMW doesn’t match. The everyday commuter can leave it minimal and straightforward, with speed-limit readouts and the usual cruise- and assistance essentials projected with reasonable legibility through polarized glasses. Excitable drivers can select a classic Motec-inspired curve with speed and gear displays. It isn’t Porsche augmented-reality clever, but it’s well respectable.
Also right are some of the other features, including Mercedes’ delightful adaptive cruise and lane-keep assists — if you pay for them. How adaptive cruise isn’t a standard feature in this year of our lord is puzzling, but it follows Mercedes’ consistent strategy of option-paywalling features already built and baked into the car. You can hear more about this attitude toward Mercedes’ buyers in this review of the GLC, but for the sake of the CLE: expect to pay $800 to unlock this basic modern functionality, or $2,700 for the full ‘Driver Assistance Package’ —a feature set matched from standard in Toyotas priced under $30,000.
Standard features: wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, panoramic sunroof, dual-zone climate, heated (but not ventilated) memory front seats, wireless device charging in the centre console, LED logo puddle-lamp projectors to ensure everybody knows you’re in a Benz, and USB ports! Come on, Mercedes — or rather, come on, Mercedes shoppers: they wouldn’t be taking advantage like this if the market hadn’t proven itself so willing to be milked.
Mercedes CLE 53 AMG coupe pricing & competitors
The CLE 53 AMG enters a thinning premium touring coupe segment. Canadian pricing for the 2024 Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 Coupe starts from $83,895, but you’ll be looking at a relatively sparse option sheet that funnels you into packages costing several thousand dollars each. The unit tested here carries a $103,695 sticker after options and a particularly tall $3,995 destination charge.
BMW offers the M440i, also running a boosted 3.0-litre straight six at comparable output, from $74,780 after destination. Lightly optioned, that puts that model in contention with the CLE AMG with a better equipment list for a more attractive price. The Mercedes’ over-the-top cabin offers a greater sense of occasion than the BMW, though the BMW feels better assembled if with less ‘luxury’ pretense. BMW’s infotainment is puzzling even once acquainted but is generally superior to Mercedes’. Note that this particular CLE’s as-tested price bumps it into M4 territory.
Also in M4 territory is the Lexus RC-F, a rear-drive hoon of a coupe powered by a proper naturally aspirated V8. This is the raw pick of the bunch, and despite its dull brand association, arguably carries the greatest enthusiast cred. The 2024 RC F starts from $93,655.
The Audi S5 is priced from $73,850, or $76,900 for the Technik trim.
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