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00:00This is not the new Mercedes C-Class Coupé, and it's not the new Mercedes E-Class Coupé either.
00:05This is the CLE, which is designed to blend those two segments together and offer you
00:10something that has plenty of style, plenty of substance, and a bit of sportiness in there as
00:15well, especially if you buy one of the more expensive models. This one's the base grade,
00:18and honestly, I don't know why you'd spend more. I'll tell you why in this review,
00:22and if you haven't already, please subscribe, it does help a lot,
00:24and ring the bell to keep up to date with all of my reviews as well.
00:26Alright, let's take a look, shall we?
00:33Not only is the CLE supposed to blend the two categories together in terms of the size,
00:38but also in terms of the price. Now, the previous version, C-Class Coupé,
00:42started about $20,000 cheaper than this, and the E-Class Coupé was about $10,000 more expensive.
00:49So, this car right here is about $103,000 before on-road cost, that's the entry-level point,
00:54the CLE 200, and like I said, it doesn't really look like a base model because, well,
00:59Australians have this real tendency to want all the sporty bits on their cars.
01:04And so, this particular vehicle comes with the AMG Line exterior and interior pack,
01:09it also gets 19-inch alloy wheels, plus you're getting brilliant things like LED lights with
01:13Matrix technology. There's also a beautiful interior finish, although it is fake leather,
01:19and it's actually pretty convincing in terms of the fakeness, and there's a bunch of big screens
01:24and stuff which I'll show you and talk you through when we get into the cabin. Of course,
01:27it is a four-seater as well, so it is reasonably practical, and all versions come with a sunroof
01:32built in as well, or glass roof. Now, if you think, well, I want a bit more,
01:37well, there's the CLE 300, which you might want to consider. It does cost quite a bit more,
01:42but it adds a more powerful engine with all-wheel drive, and it also gets genuine leather interior
01:48trim as well. So, it could be the best choice for you, or you could go for the C43 or C63 versions
01:54of this, which will come later on, and they might be the best if you are looking for the sportiest
01:59take on this theme. But hey, let's talk about some alternatives to the CLE, because there's
02:03some good ones. If you're considering the most affordable version of the CLE, then I reckon you
02:09should go and cross-shop it against the BMW 4 Series Coupe. Look, if you've decided that's not
02:15for you already, I totally understand that. I don't love the look of that car, and I do think
02:19that it's disappointing on the outside, but really, really good on the inside. Super practical,
02:23really great to drive, and there's a fair few options available in that line-up as well. But
02:28hey, if I was considering maybe the 300 version of the CLE, I would be cross-shopping that against
02:33a BMW M2, which is similar money, but much, much more performance. It's a different kind of car,
02:40obviously, but it's a better car, in my opinion. And look, I haven't driven the CLE 300, it's
02:44probably brilliant, but look, the M2, it's next level. Alright, so what about other alternatives
02:51out there? Well, the Audi A5 Coupe and S5 Coupe are on their way out. They're in their later years,
02:58let's say, and look, they're still offering plenty of value for money. There's lots of different
03:03versions available as well, and I think it's still one of the best coupe designs ever, that car. I
03:09think it's just gorgeous. And what about a wild card? Well, for less money than this, if you desire
03:16a bit more performance and you're not so hooked up on the idea of getting a German brand with the
03:21German maintenance costs that come with it, tell you about that soon, then you might want to consider
03:25the Ford Mustang. The new generation version is here, it's on sale, and it is more expensive than
03:31ever, but it's a far better car than ever before as well. It's got a convertible model, if that's
03:36what you want. There are a bunch of different coupe versions as well, and it's practical for
03:40the sort of car it is as well. Tell me what you think. Would you pick any of those or something
03:44different? Let me know. In my opinion, cars with two doors always look better than cars with four
03:53doors. This is a prime example of that. This is a really gorgeous piece of design, in my opinion.
03:58It's about 4.85 metres long, so it is a substantial coupe, and yes, it does have beautiful proportions
04:06as a result of that. Nice long wheelbase, and really, really sumptuous design. It's understated
04:12and elegant, but still with a hint of sportiness as well. I think it's actually one of the best new
04:17Mercedes designs that I've seen in yonks, and look, I really also like this mask-style taillight that
04:23runs across the boot lid, and yes, you do get twin pipe finishes down the bottom there. Yes,
04:30they are just finishes. There's actually no pipes poking out there, but yes, it's one of those
04:37deceptive things that brands are doing these days to try and make you think that your petrol car
04:42isn't as petroly. All right, let's take a look in the boot and see what we are dealing with. You
04:47open the boot using this button right here, and you can see for yourself that there is a usable
04:52amount of space in the cargo area of this vehicle. It is going to be big enough for a family to
05:00head away, like maybe just for a weekend, but you should be able to fit in your golf clubs, and look,
05:05I think that that is a very sizeable space, and hey, if you're wondering what this little pull
05:09tab is, that's where you can hang your shopping bags. It's actually pretty handy, I reckon. Now,
05:14on the side, you've got a little mesh pocket. There's also cargo tie-down points if you buy
05:19one of those cargo nets, and underneath the boot floor, there's more storage space, but no spare
05:25wheel. In fact, there's a little cargo box solution here. Let me just show you.
05:32So that's what that cargo box looks like when it's put back together, and yes, I do think that
05:37this is a big enough space for plenty of buyers. Sure, it's not SUV-like in terms of the usability,
05:42but hey, it's got a nice wide opening as well, so loading in bigger items shouldn't be too big of a
05:48task. I think there are two different types of people in this world. Those who think that this
05:54is the epitome of luxury design, and those who maybe think that it's a bit garish, and I
06:01tend to fall into the garish category. I don't love interior design by Mercedes-Benz. I think
06:07it's a bit too blingy, but hey, obviously that's what the market wants. I am not in the market to
06:12buy a $100,000 coupe just for fun, so maybe I'm the wrong guy to be telling you about the interior,
06:18but I'm going to tell you about it anyway, because that's what you're here for, right?
06:21So, let's talk about the ambient lights in the vents. I actually like those. I think that they
06:26add some wow factor at night time in particular, and there's ambient lights everywhere in this
06:31cabin. You can see even in daytime, they're bloody bright, and they're bloody special,
06:36and that's part of the wow factor, I'm sure. You even get them up here in the ceiling as well,
06:41so it all looks great, doesn't it? This is a fake leather interior trim. It looks pretty convincing,
06:47if you ask me, and it feels pretty nice as well. It's one of the most convincing fake
06:52leathers out there, and I think that it just ties in nicely with this design. Look, as I said, it's
06:59not my taste, but I do appreciate the quality of the materials in here and the finishes.
07:05I love the fact that you've got some big bright screens to use and interact with, but I don't
07:10love the fact that you have to interact with them using these controls on the steering wheel,
07:14which are bloody cumbersome. They're fiddly, they're too touchy, and you can bump them when
07:20you're driving, and that's because they don't have dials and buttons. They're like a haptic
07:24controller, and I don't like that, and I'm sure that you might not like it too. Now, if you're
07:30wondering about your seat controls, they're over here in the traditional Mercedes position.
07:35This base model has heated seats, but not cooled seats, and look, I think that if you want those
07:42nicer features, obviously, if you're spending this much, maybe you can spend more, but maybe you
07:46shouldn't have to spend more. Alright, let's have a look at this screen. So, I'm in the car settings
07:52right now, and there's a bunch of different menus upon menus upon menus. Like, honestly, you can
07:57basically configure this car to be how you want it to be, within reason obviously, and it does
08:03have heaps and heaps of menus available that you can play with. Yes, you've got wireless Apple CarPlay
08:09and Android Auto, and that is nice and quick to respond. Although, during my time in this car,
08:16I've noticed that it can cut out at times when you're going under tollways in Sydney in particular,
08:22so that might be something to do with the configuration of this particular vehicle,
08:25or just more generally. Alright, so let's go back and have another look at the main home screen here.
08:32So, let's have a look at YouTube, shall we? Yes, you can do that. It does have data connection
08:37included, and that also means that it's got an SOS call button, and you've also got Mercedes me
08:43connected services too. So, if you are looking for help, you can use that system, and that will be
08:49able to get you there. And the YouTube app doesn't seem to be working on this car for whatever reason,
08:55but there's other menus on here that you might want to spend a bit of time getting to know.
08:59I obviously haven't had enough time to get to know them because I don't know them. It's just
09:03really, really busy on this screen. And look, you've got games. If you want to play games,
09:08you can. There's also the car's settings, as I said, and there's also your drive mode
09:15adjustment that you have to have the car running to do that. So, look, that's all well and good,
09:20I think, but I honestly, I'm the sort of person who just gets into a car and wants their Apple
09:25CarPlay to kick on, and hey, it's got that. So, look, the wow factor? Certainly. If you like
09:32bling, you're going to like this thing, but hey, I want to show you the second row space just to
09:38give you an idea of how much room you've got to play with back there. Oh, but before I do that,
09:43check this out. This little belt retractor will basically feed you your seat belt,
09:48and when you're getting out, it goes away, and the window goes down for some reason. All right,
09:53let's check out the back seat. Okay, so to get into the back seat, you need to pull this lever,
09:58and that will, as you can see there, electronically fold that seat and push it forward,
10:04so there's a bit more room for you to try and get in and out. I'm going to do that now,
10:09and see what we are dealing with. Just pull this seat back. Now, here we go.
10:22Righto. So, that seat is set to, well, almost where I was sitting. Not quite, but I've got
10:30footroom, yes, a little bit. Knee room, yeah, a little bit, and headroom, a little bit. So,
10:38if you've got a six-foot passenger, you'll be able to fit them behind a six-foot driver,
10:42in theory, at least, and that might be all the convincing you need in terms of the space and
10:48the usability in the back seat, but I'm going to show you a few other things. So, you do have
10:52ISOFIX points in the window seats and top tethers for both window seats, because they are only
10:57window seats. That's right, there's only two seats back here. You get cup holders between the seats,
11:01you get a little storage thingy here, and you also get another little storage thingy there,
11:05and some vents, and there's speakers and lights in the armrests, and more little storage thingies
11:10there, but no USB ports, which is a bit of a downer, I reckon, and you can also get a
11:15downer, I reckon, and you can fold these seats down if you need to, but,
11:20yes, if you're after a Mercedes CLE panel van, that could be the right thing for you, I guess.
11:30Powering this entry-level CLE 200 is a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol engine.
11:35It's got pretty decent power and torque figures, it's got a nine-speed automatic transmission,
11:39and it's rear-wheel drive, and if you're considering spending a little bit more to
11:44get into the CLE 300, well, you're not getting a three-litre engine, you're still getting a
11:48two-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol, just like this one, but with more power and torque,
11:52a nine-speed auto as well, and all-wheel drive, so if you know you're going to encounter
11:56slippery surfaces or gravel tracks, it might be a better choice for you on your way to the winery,
12:02or your ski chalet, or whatever you do with lots of money. I reckon that the 300 might be a really
12:08good choice if you are a fan of acceleration as well, because it does have a faster 0-100 time,
12:12but if you're after the fastest versions of this car, but if you're after the fastest versions of
12:16this car, you might want to wait for the 43 and 63 AMG versions of the CLE.
12:22They promise to offer a lot of grunt.
12:28Okay, first things first for me, I just can't quite get comfy in this car in terms of the
12:33seating position. I would like to sit just a little bit further back, but I can't,
12:37and if you've got really, really long legs, you might find that it's not quite right
12:41in terms of the seating spot for you either. My legs aren't that long, but they're obviously
12:46longer than my torso, so yeah, I wish I could just make a couple of minor tweaks to the seating
12:52position, but otherwise, it's a pretty nice thing to drive, I have to say. The main thing that I'm
12:58really enjoying about it is the fact that this 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine, it's enough. If you
13:03are looking for a performance car, fine, I understand. You should buy something that has a more powerful
13:10engine and has more of a performance intent, but this car is a sports car essentially, a coupe tourer,
13:17and it is lovely in most ways in terms of the engine. The nine-speed auto transmission is
13:24pretty good as well. I mean, this engine is not the nicest sounding thing. It does have a bit of a
13:30direct injection sort of noisiness to it, but it gets along pretty well, and it's powerful enough,
13:37let me tell you. Yeah, that's good. I don't think you need much more grunt than that, but like I said,
13:45if you want it, you can find it in one of the other CLE models. The transmission, yep, it's good. It's
13:50got paddle shifters if you want to take matters into your own hands as well. There are drive modes
13:54for you to pick from if you want to change the way the car drives. The main thing I've been changing
13:59is the active lane-keeping assistance. It comes on every time you restart the car, so I've been
14:04hitting the switch on the screen to turn it off each time. It's a two-step process on the screen,
14:09but at least when it's off, there are no other real annoying safety features in this car, but
14:16it does do the adaptive cruise thing really well on the freeway, and it's pretty good at most other
14:22things when it comes to the drive experience, except the ride. It is designed to blend luxury
14:28and performance and practicality and a little bit of sportiness, obviously, but the ride, hmm,
14:36I'm not fond of it, and that's partly to do with the fact that this one has the sports suspension,
14:41so it sits a bit lower on the springs, and it's also got the run-flat tyres. Now, run-flat tyres,
14:48if you're not aware, they have really hard sidewalls, and that means that they're supposed
14:53to be more puncture-resistant or more resistant to being damaged or damaging the wheel if you
14:59happen to get a flat and you need to drive on the tyre while it is flat, but that means that the
15:05bad side of that, essentially, is that it's a bit uncomfortable. It's a bit nibbly on the surface.
15:11You do sort of feel like you're getting a lot more of the juts and jars coming through into the cabin
15:16than you might expect, and also, the road noise intrusion in this car doesn't set any standards.
15:23It doesn't actually meet some of the standards set by cars that are half the price in terms of
15:29road noise. It can be bloody noisy on the freeway, on course-trip roads, to a point where it was a
15:35bit frustrating. Like, I turned up the stereo because it's got a good stereo, so I could get
15:39over it, but if you are doing a long-distance drive and maybe you've got a sleepy kid in the
15:44back and you can't put your music up, it might be something you want to keep in mind. The road noise
15:48could be a bit of an issue for you, and not only is it sort of lumpy and bumpy at times, it can be
15:55quite crashy, which I certainly wouldn't be happy with if I was considering this car, and look, I
16:00know that for some people the look of the car and the overall aura is more important than the ride
16:06comfort, but I just don't think this is comfortable enough. The firmer springs do mean that it can
16:11handle itself well in corners, and it does have really nice steering. It's got that inherent
16:16rear-wheel drive balance and sort of throwability to the way you can put it through corners. You
16:22can drive it fast, and it's still, like, not necessarily the most fun thing to drive that fast,
16:28but it is definitely capable of boogieing.
16:33On your screen you'll see the official combined cycle fuel consumption figure for the CLE200,
16:40and look, I haven't been able to achieve that. I've gotten a bit higher than that.
16:44You'll see what I've seen across this week of testing, or few days of testing in fact,
16:48on your screen now, and I think that that's a decent number considering I was mainly doing
16:54the usual sort of stuff, picking up my daughter from daycare, going into the city and back a
16:58couple of times, and also a bit of errand running too. So, look, if you are planning to just live
17:05with your CLE200, that's the sort of number you'll probably see in your real-world experience
17:10as well, and also I'll show you the CLE300 number on your screen now. So, yeah, it's got more grunt,
17:17it's got all-wheel drive, it uses a little bit more fuel on the combined cycle. I would expect
17:21that that car might egg you on a little bit more, and you might actually see a little bit higher in
17:26terms of the real-world consumption too. Now, this car does require 95-ron premium unleaded petrol,
17:34and that's something you want to factor in, and I'll put the fuel tank capacity on your
17:39screen now as well so you can figure out your theoretical mileage if you wish.
17:44All you mathematicians out there, I know you'll love it.
17:50This car has not been tested by ANCAP or EuroANCAP yet, so there's no star rating,
17:54but it does have heaps and heaps of standard safety technology fitted for the entire range.
17:59Things like adaptive cruise control, there's autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian
18:04cyclist and junction detection. There's also lane-keeping assistance and blind spot monitoring
18:09and rear cross-traffic alert, and a decent camera system as well with parking sensors all around the
18:14car. And if you option a package on these models, you can also get things like front cross-traffic
18:19alert and more advanced active safety systems with more advanced adaptive cruise control
18:25functionality as well. And when it comes to airbags, there's plenty in here. You've got dual
18:30front, front side, front centre and curtain airbags for both rows too.
18:35Mercedes-Benz in Australia offers a five-year unlimited kilometre warranty which is on par
18:40with the luxury brands in the segment. You also get roadside assistance and some other perks if
18:44you buy a car like this from the Mercedes-Benz brand. And one thing that maybe isn't a perk
18:49is the servicing costs. Now, I'm going to put some pricing on your screen now for a three-year,
18:54four-year and five-year service plan for this vehicle. Yes, that's a lot of money, and that's
18:59partly because the service intervals are every 12 months and 25,000 kilometres. I don't think
19:04I would be letting my 2.0-litre turbo engine go 25,000 k's without a service. Tell me what
19:10you think though. Are those reasonable or unrealistic service intervals?
19:16I really enjoyed getting to know the CLE over a couple of days of testing. I think it's a
19:20really impressive car for the most part. There are some things that I think could be better,
19:25including the ride comfort, which is not to my tastes, and also the servicing costs,
19:29which are excessive. But hey, it's not a cheap car, is it? Tell me what you think about it in
19:33the comments section below. Would you choose this, one of the rivals I mentioned, or something
19:36completely different? I'd love to hear from you. If you haven't already, please subscribe
19:40and ring the bell. It does help a lot, and I'll see you in the next one.
19:55you