New Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 review: not quite a fully-fledged AMG

Verdict

It seems churlish to describe an £80k vehicle as a ‘halfway house’, but that’s what you’re getting with the Mercedes CLE 53. It’s an accomplished cross-country cruiser, with comfort and refinement, but its character can’t quite stretch enough beyond that to deliver a true AMG experience. And once you realise that, unless you’re completely smitten by the bodywork mods, you might be just as well served by cheaper versions of this coupe, which aren’t going to be hugely slower in real-world situations anyway.

Mercedes’ performance division, AMG, has a pretty decent record when it comes to its ‘cooking’ models – versions that sit between the regular range and the full-fat, ultra-hot variants that have made the brand so famous. 

There’s the AMG A 35, for example. Or, going back a few years, the original AMG C 43, which offered hushed six-cylinder refinement when you wanted a quiet cruise, and a proper howl when you didn’t.

Even so, AMG is trying to find its feet in the electrified era, and has been playing with both hybrid and four-cylinder power of late, so it’s interesting to see how it plans to arrange its wider line-up to match. And here’s a good challenge, in the form of the Mercedes-AMG CLE 53. 

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There’s a 63 to come, of course, on a model that replaces both the C-Class Coupe and the E-Class Coupe. That car is widely tipped to be switching from the expected four-cylinder hybrid power (as per the current C 63) back to the tried-and-test format of a V8. But for now, the 53 actually finds itself at the top of the line-up, equipped with a twin-turbocharged straight-six motor.

You’d hardly call the CLE 53 a shrinking violet. Perhaps recognising that it needs to stand out from regular AMG Line versions of the car, it gets widened bodywork and, in the case of our test car, a dramatic ‘Night Exterior Package’ that gives it a properly mean look, especially on matte-black 20-inch alloys. 

The engine itself is similar to that found in the ‘regular’ CLE 450. It’s a 3.0-litre unit that’s been treated to hefty turbo boost, plus a 48-volt mild-hybrid system that includes a 23bhp electric motor and an electric compressor designed to intervene while the turbos get their act together. The total output is 443bhp and 560Nm of torque, available from as little as 2,200rpm. 

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Merc’s regular nine-speed torque-converter automatic gearbox features (instead of the dual-clutch set-up that features on full-spec high-performance models), along with 4MATIC+ four-wheel drive. The end result is a car that reaches 62mph in a decidedly brisk 4.2 seconds, and goes on to a limited top speed of 155mph.

Those numbers don’t sound far off what you could reasonably expect from an old-school V8 AMG model, but in truth, the CLE 53’s character is a little further away than this. There is a bassy note as you fire up the engine, but it sounds relatively distant. Low-speed pootling feels oddly lazy, too, as the transmission sighs between ratios and makes use of the prodigious amounts of low-end torque.

Once you’re on a faster, more flowing road, you’ll find yourself able to tap into the performance reserves quite easily, and you can use steering wheel-mounted paddles to flick between gears. The CLE is not a small car – nor a light one, at two tonnes – but the engine has more than enough shove for it to feel fast, and to keep it spinning along at a decent lick.

What it can’t quite do, sadly, is quite deliver the sort of howl that made the six-cylinder motor in the old 43 variants such a treat. That duality has been diluted, most likely through the increased electrification and engine map that has to clean things up properly in the name of lower CO2 emissions. Put the car in Sport mode and there’s no doubt that it’s easily capable of introducing you to upcoming corners more quickly than you might reasonably expect. But the aural part of the overall experience has definitely been blunted.

The chassis set-up is similarly muted. Flicking the car into its more focused modes definitely ties it down more effectively, and without any resulting pay-off in ride quality, which remains the comfortable side of firm throughout. But while the steering is pleasingly direct and fast (more so than in a regular CLE and no doubt helped by a subtle rear-wheel steering system), there’s no great amount of communication from what’s beneath you and the overall focus is still very much on security and composure instead of involvement.

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This is an AMG, then, that can do ‘rapid’ much better than it can do ‘fun’. There’s not really a direct rival from within BMW’s line-up – the CLE 53 slots in somewhere between the M440i and the full-fat M4 – but we’d wager that even the more modest of those two offerings, a significantly cheaper car, would feel slightly more alert and agile on the same stretch of B-road.

Inside, the Merc’s cabin is finished to a high standard, even if the glitzy dashboard design might not be everyone’s cup of tea. There’s a 12.2-inch digital instrument panel and an 11.9-inch portrait-layout infotainment system, and they both work well, with crisp graphics and a snappy processor. You’ll need to get used to operating key functions through the screen interface, though.

There’s enough space inside for four adults, although those in the rear two seats might find headroom a little bit limited, and they might struggle to get in and out while retaining a modicum of grace. The boot is a decent size, though, at 420 litres, and while the aperture isn’t the widest, it should be easy enough to throw a suitcase or two in there, or a set of golf clubs.