First Drive Review
There is strength in numbers, something you discover as a child when you commit some heinous offense against adult society and then try to blame your peers: “But everyone was doing it!” In my household, that protest was always met with the rejoinder, “If all the other kids decided to jump off a bridge, would you do that, too?” delivered by my mother with equal parts anger and sarcasm. Perhaps I could introduce her to Wolf-Dieter Kurz, the Mercedes-Benz vice president who introduced us to the new 2016 GLE-class coupe by saying, “We are matching ourselves with those who have previously defined sportiness in this segment.” Maybe Mom could explain to him that just because BMW makes an X6 doesn’t mean Stuttgart needs one of its own.
But that’s what the GLE coupe is, a derivative body style of the mid-size, five-passenger M-class SUV, now renamed “GLE-class” in Mercedes-Benz’s ongoing nomenclature adjustment. The coupe shares its interior, wheelbase, running gear, and certain powertrain configurations with its cargo-capacity-enhanced sibling, which has itself been refreshed for 2016. Yet developing the coupe seems to have sucked up most of the budget. Even with the updating, the GLE’s interior could use a little more brightwork and remains a half-notch below that of the year-old C-class. While the coupe has distinct sheetmetal, it gives us flashbacks to the DaimlerChrysler era as we spy in its profile a supersize Dodge Caliber. White GLE coupes just look like melting snowbanks adorned with Mercedes emblems. How is it that the “sporty” coupe gets gray, pebbled plastic body cladding, while the workhorse model has none?
Mercedes will build the GLE coupe exclusively at its Alabama plant. Europe gets two models we won’t see here: a GLE350d 4MATIC coupe with a 3.0-liter diesel V-6, as well as a twin-turbo V-6–powered GLE400 4MATIC coupe. Nor will we see coupe versions of the plug-in-hybrid GLE550e 4MATIC, the V-6 GLE350, or the four-cylinder diesel GLE300d 4MATIC, all of which will be available to Americans in conventional form, along with a GLE400. While it might make sense to sell Americans a rear-drive version of the GLE coupe—BMW offers rear-drive in the X6—Mercedes insists there will not be one. Both GLE coupes that go on sale here in August wear AMG badges, although such labeling is a bit disingenuous.
The “real” AMG model is the Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S 4MATIC coupe. (Mercedes will not be offering the non-S version in this body style, a decision it can be expected to make more often, as it says everybody buying vehicles this pricey wants the more powerful and equipment-rich S.) This version of the GLE coupe uses the 5.5-liter twin-turbo V-8 from the E63 S sedan, making the same 577 horsepower but a bit less torque at 561 lb-ft. This overabundance of power is routed through an AMG-tuned seven-speed automatic and four-wheel-drive system with a 40/60-percent front-to-rear torque split. There’s nothing subtle about this two-and-a-half-ton warhead, from its 22-inch wheels to the snarling exhaust overrun as it shifts. Nor is there much surprise—it’s exactly what you’d expect of an AMG-badged competitor to BMW’s X6 M, only with the performance dial adjusted a notch or two toward luxury and away from full-on sportiness.
Speaking of turning things, Mercedes has added a new Dynamic Select system to the platform that allows drivers to choose one of four drive modes (Comfort, Sport, Sport+, or Slippery) by turning a knob on the center console. Settings for the air suspension, transmission, and powertrain also can be individually selected through the COMAND infotainment interface. Both GLE coupe models get the feature. Perhaps someday the Germans will realize that nobody needs 18 different combinations of drive settings, certainly not in an SUV. But if Audi and BMW are doing it . . .
The real head-scratcher comes in the form of the Mercedes-Benz GLE450 AMG 4MATIC coupe, one of the first two Benzes in the AMG Sport line. (The other is the C450 AMG; for analogues, think Audi S and BMW M Performance.) Two turbos allow its 3.0-liter V-6 to make 362 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque, which is a lot less than the real “built by one man” AMG engine and not enough to keep the V-6 from feeling strained. The issue goes beyond just a power deficit, as the V-6 is also saddled with a nine-speed automatic, which has to do a lot of shifting to try to keep up.
Ultimately, it’s the exhaust, a sibilant shriek under acceleration and a drone at cruising speed, that really does the GLE450 in. This is the byproduct of a pipe-it-in-through-the-stereo noise-enhancement system—absent in the GLE63 S—that is as unconvincing as the little AMG badges on the GLE450’s fenders. It all leaves us fondly reminiscing about the old ML550, whose 402-hp 4.7-liter twin-turbo V-8 would have been a more worthy candidate to represent Affalterbach’s interests.
Mercedes is withholding pricing details until closer to the on-sale date, but we expect both GLE coupe models will carry a significant premium over the regular GLE, which means neither will be inexpensive. By targeting only the top end of the market with this pair, it seems pretty clear that Mercedes’ main concern is that it has been leaving money on the table by not having a competitor to the X6. BMW sold only 3896 X6 models last year in the U.S., which in the larger scheme of luxury-vehicle sales is not a lot, even considering the healthy profit margins that sum no doubt generated. Mercedes executives won’t provide volume goals for the GLE coupe, but when we suggested it might be 3897, their faces lit up with big, schnitzel-eating grins.
