The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé has made its public debut at the Detroit motor show one month after order books opened in Britain.
The two-door model is priced from £40,135, and first deliveries are expected to arrive in April. It's offered in the UK exclusively in AMG Line trim, meaning even the most basic models will come with a lengthy list of kit and 19in wheels as standard.
Click here to read about the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet
AMG range-topper
The car on show in Detroit is an E 400 4Matic, but that model will hand the range-topping spot to an AMG-engineered E 50 4Matic mild hybrid model, which is due to be unveiled during the latter half of the year.
2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé: we take a ride
To be launched as part of this year's extensive 50th anniversary celebrations planned for Mercedes’ AMG performance arm, the potent coupé will be among the first models to receive the German car maker’s all-new M256 in-line six-cylinder petrol engine that is set to have its debut in the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Running a conventional turbocharger in combination with an electrically driven compressor and a 48V electrical system, the 3.0-litre unit delivers 402bhp in standard guise. However, a series of tweaks, including higher boost pressure and internal modifications, are set to yield around 450bhp for the powertrain’s application in the E 50 Coupé.
Chassis
The new E-Class Coupé has been engineered from the ground up for a more upmarket positioning than that of its predecessor.
With the adoption of Mercedes’ latest MRA platform, the E-Class Coupé has grown both in size and positioning. Its length is up by 123mm to 4826mm, width has extended by 74mm to 1860mm and height has increased by 32mm to 1430mm.
The wheelbase has also been extended by 113mm over that of its predecessor at 2873mm, while the front and rear tracks are up by 67mm and 68mm respectively, at 1605mm and 1609mm.
The larger footprint provides the basis for a roomier cabin with an additional 18mm of head room, 50mm more shoulder room and 38mm more elbow room up front. The increase in interior space is mirrored in the rear, which gets an added 74mm of knee room, 15mm of head room, 34mm of shoulder room and 13mm more elbow room over the old model, which used the same platform as the superseded C-Class saloon.
Technology
The design of the four-seat cabin leans heavily on that of other new E-Class models, but it has a number of bespoke touches, including newly designed air vents, automatically extending feeder arms for the front seatbelts and exclusive trim panels.
Key elements include two optional 12.3in displays for the instruments and infotainment system, the latter being operable either via touchpads on the steering wheel or a rotary control and touchpad on the centre console.
Outside, unique design features include a twin-blade grille and frameless doors.
Engines and prices
Three E-Class Coupés are offered at launch in the UK, with the choice of one diesel and two petrol engines, ranging in power from 191bhp to 328bhp.
The line-up starts with the E 220 d Coupé, running Mercedes’ latest aluminium-block 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, which produces 191bhp.
It is joined by the mid-range E 300 Coupé, which is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine producing 242bhp. Prices for cars with this engine start at £41,025.
Crowning the regular line-up is the E 400 4Matic Coupé. It is powered by a twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine producing 328bhp and is priced from £50,775.
All models come fitted as standard with Mercedes’ in-house-produced nine-speed automatic gearbox. The E 220 d Coupé and E 300 Coupé are rear-wheel drive, while the E400 4Matic, as its name suggests, comes as standard with Mercedes’ four-wheel drive system, which provides a nominal 45% front, 55% rear apportioning of drive.
A choice of three different suspension set-ups are offered on the new two-door: a base steel-sprung Direct Control system, a steel-sprung Dynamic Body Control system with adaptive damping and an Air Body Control system with multi-chamber air springs.
In combination with the Dynamic Body Control and Air Body Control suspension, the E-Class Coupé also gets Mercedes’ Dynamic Select system, which allows the driver to alter the characteristics of the car between four modes: Eco, Comfort, Sport and Sport Plus.
Join the debate
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The aircon vents...
The fixed rear quarter window
The point of the coupe is design superiority over the mechanically equivalent saloon. Judging by this criterion this coupe fails miserably.
abkq wrote:
Absolutely agree. Moreover, given how shallow the glazing is at the trailing edge of the rear side window above the wheelarch, I bet there would be an engineering solution involving some rotation of the glass around a pivot in the C-pillar area that would have allowed a one-piece side glass to be used. Mercedes-Benz used to excel at such solutions: remember the wonderful single windscreen wiper on the W124 and W201? I used to own one of the latter and never tired of watching the beautifully engineered mechanism push the wiper blade up into the corners of the windscreen. Finally, when will M-B realise that those horrible plastic nose cones and the crude bonnet shut lines they necessitate will never look elegant?
Daniel Joseph][quote=abkq
I don't believe Mercedes is incapable of sorting out its appalling panel gaps (saw an A-class the other day with a super wide gap between bonnet and nose cone). My suspicion is that Mercedes just doesn't bother. For every traditional Mercedes customer who cares about these things, there are two new buyers who don't.
One of my favorite engineering details was the doors requiring only a gentle push to close with a precision click. That disappeared with the W202 when the salesman told me something about a sealed cabin!
The rear glass...
The E-Class and S-Class coupés have always been pillarless with opening rear windows.
the rear glass
the rear glass
The old E-Class coupé had exactly the same rear window layout.