First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe

If the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan's styling isn't controversial enough for you, meet the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe. While the new coupe, like the CLK it replaces is based on the C-Class, its sheetmetal and engine choices tie it to the all-new E-Class sedan. The E-Class Coupe is more relaxed and less sporty compared with the 2009 CLK, and along the way it drops out as a competitor for BMW's unbeatable 3 Series coupe.
In the same fashion as the E-Class sedan's rear fender treatment is designed to recall the "Ponton" Mercedes of the early 1950s, the E-Coupe's rear fender flares pay homage to the Ponton coupe, a rather obscure car in North America. Less obscure, the new coupe's look evokes stolid two-door Benzes like the '68 C114 and the later C124.

The unusual coupe styling leaves a lot of sheetmetal behind the door opening, as if you could draw rear door cutlines just ahead of the C-pillar and create the second-generation CLS. Unlike the CLS, the E-Coupe is priced below the E-Class sedan, Mercedes's bread-and-butter car. The E350 Coupe starts at $48,925, which is $550 less than a '10 E350 sedan, and the E550 Coupe is $55,525, or $1650 less than an E500 sedan. Either coupe comes standard with a panoramic sunroof, the glass extending from the front header to the top of the C-pillar, though the part that opens is about the size of a regular sunroof. This glass top lifts up and over the glass behind it and comes with a nice, thin sunshade, saving front-seat headroom, although average-size American males will want the driver's seat in its lowest position.Compared with the CLK, the E-Coupe is a half-inch lower (thanks to the suspension), 1.8 inches longer, and 1.8 inches wider. It's still shorter, narrower, and about 350 pounds lighter than the sedan. E350 and E550 Coupes are cheaper even than the '09 CLK350 and CLK550, respectively, and offer greater value because of added standard equipment. Of course, greater commonality between E-Coupe and sedan, versus CLK and C, helps Mercedes's profit margins. The maker loaded the new coupe with plenty of distinguishing features, anyway.
The gearshift is moved from the steering column down to the center console, where God and Gottlieb Daimler intended. A three-spoke wheel replaces the four-spoke helm on the sedan. The 60/40 folding rear seats are "buckets," with a nicely finished cupholder/console. While kneeroom seems about as ample as in the sedan, the same guy who has to lower the front seat to drive will brush his head against the rear-seat headliner. There's loads of trunk space, though.
Optional suspension on the E350 Coupe is called Agility Control Sport, which firms up the damping. And where the E500 sedan upgrades to optional air springs, choosing the V-8 version of the coupe lands you standard Dynamic Handling suspension, with a button on the dash that stiffens the suspension and remaps the throttle and transmission settings.
Standard engine is the E350 Coupe's 268-horsepower, 3.5-liter direct-injection gas V-6, and it comes with 17-inch wheels. Contrary to the misleading numbers in the E500 sedan's moniker, it shares its engine with the E550 Coupe, the 382-horse, 5.5-liter V-8, and has standard 18-inchers. Benz has kindly avoided the ostentation of dubs. The E550's front air dam, rocker panels, and rear bumper are unique to the V-8 and, as with the sedan, the bigger engine comes with trapezoidal tailpipes in place of the V-6 version's ovoid pipes.
With Mercedes continuing to claw its way back to the old "built to a standard, not a price" image, the interior is awash in real, standard walnut trim and supple leather, available in ash, beige or black, the last with contrast-stitching. Mercedes' ultimate standard, though, remains high-tech safety, some of which appears to be wresting control from the driver.
Despite that roofline, the car really comes across as a two-door, four-place E-sedan.
The E-Coupe has three more airbags than the CLK, with the addition of pelvic and kneebags. It also has proactive head restraints and the Pre-Safe alphabet soup of ESC, BAS, and EBD (electronic stability control, brake active assist, and electronic brake distribution) and a windshield wiper sensor that tells the brakes to dry themselves.
There's a belt-force limiter, and nearly 75 percent of the construction is high-strength steel. There's a park guidance system that measures a parallel parking space and helps you in with an instrument panel graphic -- at least it doesn't park for you. And there's Distronic Plus with Pre-Safe Brake, which gives the driver acoustic warning 2.6 seconds before an impact, puts brake pressure on the pedal 1.6 seconds prior, and slams them on full time for you just before impact. Whew.
So how does it drive? Intro drives were offered in the E550, and even with a very limited choice of hard corners on the test road, it's clear the big Merc coupe remains a boulevardier and not a 3 Series-eater. The ride is plush, even in sport mode, and the throttle and trans remapping is pretty subtle. Steering, hallelujah, is powered by belt, not electronics. It's very light and gets a bit numb on-center, yet it's rather quick and precise. Hard to imagine passing a coupe-versus-sedan blindfold test, even if the sedan has the air suspension. Except the B-pillar-free coupe has unframed door glass, so there's some wind noise at-speed.
That may be the only sacrifice the E-Coupe asks you to make. Despite its underpinnings, the repositioning that connects it to the E-Class sedan works. The closest comparison might be with Honda's Accord coupe, which grew considerably from its previous generation, and changed in character. Bringing us back to controversial styling. The E-Coupe looks nice from certain angles, not as nice from others. Paint choice -- go darker -- helps. The unsporty styling is so blatant (think Ponton coupe) that Mercedes says it hasn't decided whether to build a coupe version of its E63 AMG sedan.
[source:MotorTrend]