Black 2014 Mercedes Benz E550 Coupe Cabriolet Convertible Luxury Car Driving

Black 2014 Mercedes Benz E550 Coupe Cabriolet Convertible Luxury Car Driving

The S-Class is the profit-per-unit world champion, Mercedes' stalwart E-Class is still the company's most reliable producer of profits. The latter tends to represent the model that most humans on Earth think of when they think of Mercedes-Benz. The taxi version of the E-Class sedan used in Europe and elsewhere is the usual reason given for this familiarity we all have with the E, but c'mon, it also happens to be a pretty stunning piece of work in its market segment. Today we're trying the upgraded and massaged fourth-generationMercedes E-Class Coupe (known internally as C207). Specifically we're driving the 329-horsepower E400 coupe that arrives in the US next summer (2014) to eventually replace -- in all body variants -- the current V8-powered E550. Starting price for a base E350 coupe should scare up $51,500 when it arrives a little later this year, while this E400 two-door will hit US soil at around $56,000 as a futuristic-sounding 2015 model.

BMW has found the cheap way to "expand" its product lineup by now calling its 3 Series coupe and convertible the 4 Series. Mercedes, meanwhile, put big development cash into the new W212 E-Class sedan and its wagon variant back in 2010, then took the smaller W204 C-Class-based coupe and cabriolet -- formerly called the CLK-Class -- and made them higher priced E-Class variants. Even now, as the recently tested midlife E-Class sedan changes pretty significantly, the coupe seen here and its cabrio sibling remain substantially similar to their 2010 counterparts. We've always found this product strategy a little fishy, and that definitely isn't going away with this midcycle updo. If we're paying for and expecting an E-Class, we'd sort of like to have an E-Class chassis, not a two-generations-old C-Class chassis. This, however, can get into a-little-too-picky territory, because the E-Class coupe and cabrio are swell machines that don't really offend a soul among their clientele as they drive along on the elder C-Class architecture. What helped make things even better for us here is that our E400 coupe test car was dressed in AMG Sport guise -- one fine trim for those who crave a lifestyle car like this. Also fitted were the optional, 19-inch, seven twin-spoke, AMG wheels and accompanying Continental ContiSportContact3 tires -- 235/35 ZR19 front, 255/30 ZR19 rear.

Up until now, the E-Class Coupe in America has not come with the availability of these 19s, nor with a formal AMG Sport package. At least for the E400 setup this will change, as it will eventually be the range-topper from sometime in 2015 onward after the 550 is sent on permanent vacation. (The new E-Class Coupe in Germany? Nine engine trims and eleven choices of alloy wheel design, three of which are 19-inch.) The new bi-turbo V6 is the really big story here, however. It's not just the engine's 329 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, but the bundle of 354 pound-feet of torque that is on full tilt between just 1,400 rpm and 4,000 rpm. As opposed to the E400 sedan we tested earlier this year, this coupe weighs 132 pounds less, has seven inches less length to deal with, a 4.5-inch shorter wheelbase, is almost three inches skinnier and is two inches lower in overall height.

Think of something close to an Infiniti G37coupe and you're not far off. Plus, there are the added benefits of the AMG Sport pack and E-S-M mode Dynamic Handling select button for the 7G-Tronic Plus automatic gearbox, said button also altering the throttle response and standard sport exhaust of the AMG trimmings. Though the roads we were on between "test drive" "world premiere" 2014 2013 2015 racing driving engine burnout f1 supercar sporscar startup "exhaust system" "motor trend" "car and driver" "autoblog" New Race Burnout Mercedes-Benz Lamborghini Ferrari Bugatti "Great Britain" UK "United States" America USA Hybrid "energy efficient" "electric car" "crash test""extremely fast" "fastest car" most expensive car" top review "in detail" dummy iihs "iihs crash test" "test results" exhaust sound startup "auto show" "motor show" nfs "need for speed" "top gear" 0-60 V8 V12 horsepower torque rpm sedan "2014 Mercedes Benz E550 Coupe" "2014 Mercedes Benz E550 Review" "2014 Mercedes Benz E550" "2014 Mercedes Benz E550 acceleration" "2014 Mercedes Benz E550 AMG"Hamburg in Germany and the Danish countryside were far less than challenging for this chic setup, the nimbleness gained by the coupe's tighter packaging was occasionally felt. The standard Agility Control adaptive dampers are good tech made even better by the optional sport calibration you can order. At this slightly smaller CLK-Class dimension, the coupe provided solid overall handling as we played with the feel of the electromechanical  Direct Steer.