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DRIVEN: Mercedes Coupe Has The Looks To Succeed
Latest E-Class adds sleek hardtop four-seater for those who want more style than practicality.
Bob Golfen  |  Posted October 26, 2009   Phoenix, AZ
Along with the new generaiton of Mercedes-Benz E-Class for 2010 is this stylish, four-seater Coupe. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)
There are many superlative things that can be said about the Mercedes-Benz E350 sedan: sturdy, maneuverable, capable, luxurious, prestigious, all those kinds of upscale attributes.

But beautiful? No. Sexy? Hardly.

Even in its new-for-2010 guise, the pricey sedan comes across as a solid citizen of means rather than an expression of la dolce vita.

Ah, but here’s the E350 Coupe, new for 2010 and the replacement for the smaller CLK. With its sweeping hardtop roofline and chiseled countenance, the new Coupe seems like the vivacious offspring of an otherwise stolid family.

Without a doubt, the Coupe is a lovely creation that takes the admirable values of the E-Class sedan and translates them into a much different sort of package. The practicality of the sedan is sacrificed somewhat; there are only four seats instead of five, and the back seat is tight.

But for those who prefer style to sensibility, the Coupe delivers.

The E-Class Coupe features a pillarless hardtop roofline. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz)
Most striking is the arching roof, a true hardtop with no B pillar separating the front and back windows. When the windows are down, the opening extends from the windshield pillar to the rear pillar, the hardtop look so favored among sporty cars from the past.

The grille and front aspect are sharper and lower with an aggressive style amplified by the big Tri-Star in the grille center, an iconic symbol of Mercedes’ sportier cars. The hard-edged shapes and character lines look purposeful and well-integrated.

There have been beautiful, four-seat E-Class coupes before, and the latest rendition continues the tradition in a modern package with all the trimmings. I drove the six-cylinder E350, while there's also a more-potent E550 powered by a V-8 that generates 382 horsepower.

The E350 is no poseur, though, with a stout 268 horsepower that takes the heavy Coupe from zero-60 in just over six seconds, according to the automaker. Unlike the sedan, all-wheel drive is not available for the Coupe, which comes as rear-drive only.

The Coupe is an eminently comfortable car, a GT built for stress-free long-distance touring. But as a back-roads sports car, it’s too heavy, numb and insulated from the environment. Sure, you can throw it into a curve, but it seems more appropriate to cruise around the bend while enjoying the ambiance.

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