17 February 2009 - 11:00
Slippery customer
Have a look at the Mercedes E-Class Coupe
Mercedes has just revealed the new E-Class Coupe, a big swoopy two-door that will replace the CLK when it goes on sale this summer.
The big news – apart from that name change, on which more in a tick – is the slipperiness. With a drag coefficient of just 0.24, The E-Class Coupe is the most aerodynamically efficient series-production car in the world, making it officially more slippery than a heavily buttered eel with a penchant for pickpocketing.
The focus on aero might help to explain the Coupe’s slightly awkward lines: yes, the front end is true to the recently-launched new E-Class, but we can’t help feeling that it just isn’t quite as elegant as the outgoing CLK.
On the subject of which, there’s more than just a name change at play here. While the CLK sat on the C-Class platform, the E-Class Coupe uses (as you’ve probably guessed) modified E-Class underpinnings, so it’s some five centimetres longer and wider than the CLK, though two centimetres lower of roofline. We can only wonder why they didn’t call it the ELK.
The E-Class Coupe will launch in June with the choice of three petrol engines and two diesels. The 250 CDI, with its new 1.8-litre diesel four-pot, sounds an absolute cracker, developing 204bhp while returning 53.3mpg. Across the range, Mercedes says fuel consumption has improved by 17 per cent, but fear not – there’s still a V8-powered E500 to satisfy your penchant for smoky, tyre-mauling fun.
No E63 Coupe yet, sadly, though we’d expect it to arrive later this year alongside, perhaps, a hybrid version.
As you’d expect, there’s buckets of new tech on the E-Class Coupe, including selective damper control, automatic emergency braking and a drowsiness detection system called ATTENTION ASSIST, the capitalisation of which should give you some hint as to how it works. Mercedes’ ‘BlueEfficiency’ green mods – including low rolling resistance tyres and on-demand power steering – are standard across the range.
If you need a bit more ‘grrrr’ from your Coupe, you can spec it with an AMG-developed sport kit too, with bigger alloys, a body kit and sharper steering.
No word on pricing yet, but we’ll see the E-Class Coupe slipping aerodynamically down UK roads this summer. Those poor battered bits of air are breathing a sigh of relief already.
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The STIG is MARCIN HOMZA... and is sometimes replaced by USMAN HUSSAIN... OFFICIAL...
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So this is the most slippery car in the world... and look at it! I'm not a big Merc fan but they DO make some good looking cars. So my point is this: If something this good looking can be this aerodynamically slippery - then why do we have to put up with those immensely ugly Priuses and Insights, who supposedly have to look the way they do due to aerodynamic efficiency? Come on Toyota and Honda, you can clearly do better!
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When will Mercedes get a design department with a designer? Bauhaus and Baroque died a few years ago.
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"We can only wonder why they didn?t call it the ELK." Too many bad memories of spending millions re-engineering the A-Class after it flipped over during the elk avoidance test maybe?
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It may well be world's most efficient car and so on, but I did prefer when at Mercedes they didn't think at Lexus GS when designing new cars. And this is the last of a bunch of heavily uninspired-looking cars, such as the C-Class which reminds me of the old Lexus IS (which itself recalled the previous C-Class) and the awful GLK which shamefully shares the letter G with the glorious Geländewagen G-Class
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what a car gorge looks the mercedes cls c63 amg was good but somehow i know the e class coupe will be better !!
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It certainly doesn't look overly aerodynamic, so if that's true Mercedes have done quite a job. But it looks big, almost SL-sized. Maybe it wouldn't if there were other cars in the picture that I recognised.
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Here we go again! Another Mercedes niche! I'm sorry it maybe swoopy and all elegant but its a CL Coupe thats had a chainsaw to the chassis! Ok, so the other person said that this is better looking than a Lexus. I'm sorry, you cannot compare an E-class coupe to a Lexus. You compare it to the BMW 6 series. A rival! One other thing, I would rather buy a Lexus, for 2 reasons. 1, its customer's service is impeccable (compared to Mercedes which is totally unacceptable) and 2, a lexus will never go wrong (its owned by toyota, so what do you expect). The Merc is a flash man's car, pitty it doesn't have the character of a car like the CLS which has two extra doors and is much, much better looking!
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Looks alright this thing, usually the really aerodynamic stuff looks like a discordant mess. And as for the matter of comparison to it's rivals, it trounces the 6 series just becuse it is better looking and it can bet it'd be a more comfy ride. I'd have it over the lexus even, but i dont think it should be compared to lexus.
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Mercedes-Benz has had decades of really nice designs followed by really awful ones that no one wants to call awful because they're Mercedes-Benzes. I was OK with their 80s styling but the 90s were bad. The double-oh decade's been good here, questionable there. I like the current S-Class (though it's too big) but disliked the one before it. This said, I like the new E-class; I've even gotten over losing the classic radiator grille.
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The car is just ugly, what's up with that side profile, it's like a cat reverse stretching or a shocked kitten!!! The interior looks cheap with those cheap black plastic, justlike the C Class... and please it is so outdated and boring. Look how low the front is, absolutely no class,BMWs have their noses up high! Are Merc's dropping their heads? Those LEDs at the front are going to look stupid, what is that? A worm LEd design?! And come on, what type of boring interior design is this? Too plastic!!! How can this compare to BMW's recent inteiors??? X5, X6, new Z4,new 7 Series, and 5 GT...Merc has some catching up to do!
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The car is just ugly, what's up with that side profile, it's like a cat reverse stretching or a shocked kitten!!! The interior looks cheap with those cheap black plastic, justlike the C Class... and please it is so outdated and boring. Look how low the front is, absolutely no class,BMWs have their noses up high! Are Merc's dropping their heads? Those LEDs at the front are going to look stupid, what is that? A worm LEd design?! And come on, what type of boring interior design is this? Too plastic!!! How can this compare to BMW's recent inteiors??? X5, X6, new Z4,new 7 Series, and 5 GT...Merc has some catching up to do!
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They dont need a E-Class Coupé and why are they getting rid of the CLK anyway the CLK is a good car, this one looks appoling, they should call it the EggLookingKar (ELK) it looks like a fried egg. SHOCKING
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I'll still take a CLS63 AMG any day mmmmm 6.2 litre V8 goodness!!! Although if they do an E63 AMG I'll have that too :-)
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Both Freude and Merc 7 are totaly right.The E class in a whole,including that ugly rubbish up there is just in a totally different league with the 5 series now...it's just getting worse by the day.Probably, it will hit a wall like it's Notorious Grand-Dad McMerc SLR. Come' on! What's with the split Headlight?I can bet that if it had been sealed - a whole proper headlight block-, and the whole rear end of the outgoing CLK had been used, this would have been a totally different story -way much better.But,NO!They rather make it squarer,add more horse power, tweak the interior and lose their minds in the so-called design section, to make "The slippery-est car in the world."Absolute rubbish. Remember when the CLK AMG Black edition kept JC awake on Topgear?That was a real lovely moment of engineering greatness, but now,they're basically losing it.
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STIG commented on this article
17 February 2009
mmmmmmmmmm
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