Mercedes-AMG CLE 53

A V8 is still conspicuously absent, but with a six-cylinder heart and 465bhp, can this new coupe option deliver entertainment where the four-cylinder C63 hybrid has disappointed?

- STUART GALLAGHER

IT POSSIBLY HASN'T ESCAPED YOUR attention that after we first drove the new Mercedes-AMG C63 (in S E Performance Estate form) way back in December 2022 it's not been seen in these pages since. Granted, we didn't think much of the direction AMG had headed down, replacing the growly 4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 with a harsh 2-litre four-cylinder turbo motor attached to a plug-in hybrid electric powertrain.

Heavy, uninvolving and all just a little uninspiring considering all the goodness that we had feasted on previously. But we'd like to try it once more, to spend more time with the 600-plus bhp M3 rival, and Mercedes says we will. Just not yet.

In the meantime there's another new AMG: the CLE 53 4Matic+. The CLE is a new model line that replaces both the C and E-class Coupés. The 53 variant therefore takes over from the C43 and E53 Coupés respectively, and is also where former C63 Coupé customers will need to look for now if they prefer their AMGs with two doors.

Like the new C63, the CLE 53 forgoes a V8 engine, but instead it opts for Mercedes' 3-litre turbocharged straight-six mild-hybrid motor; one of the benefits of the CLE having the front end of the new E-class is that engines with more than four cylinders fit behind its AMG grille.

It's not an especially charismatic engine, certainly not in the vain of its eight-cylinder predecessor, with a rather flat note to its delivery. no induction noise to startle your hairs and a somewhat muted exhaust tone, although that last one is no bad thing in a world where too many think that making their cars sound like a filing cabinet full of spanners falling down a flight of stairs is a good thing.