Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupé 2024 review – 443bhp six-cylinder hybrid targets BMW M440i

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.

> Mercedes-AMG GT 63 S E Performance 2024 review – testing the fastest AMG ever

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. 

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In its default drive mode, Comfort, the CLE 53 reacts in a similar way to how it sounds, with a lethargy and a slow response to throttle inputs that’s at odds with the AMG sports seats that pinch you in place. The controls and the car’s reactions feel languid, like it’s trying to fight its way out of the stickiest treacle. Its 450 cousin, powered by the same engine in a lower state of tune, feels more energetic at times. 

Twisting the steering-wheel-mounted drive mode control to Sport enlivens the 53, injecting it with some of the AMG DNA that its wider front wheelarches, rear diffuser and oversized air-intakes promise. The responses are more alert, the throttle’s improved eagerness welcome. Yet it’s not a quick engine: the revs take some time to build and it highlights that this isn’t a pure-bred AMG motor, rather a series unit that’s been tweaked by Affalterbach. To this end the M256 includes optimised combustion chambers, new piston rings, new inlet and outlet channels and a new turbocharger with the boost pressure increased to 1.5 bar, up from 0.4.

Through its mid-range there’s enough to energise the CLE’s chassis. Just. The Sport setting adds weight to the steering, and while chassis feel isn’t something the CLE 53 proclaims to have much of, it’s precise when getting the nose into a corner, with the standard-fit Michelin Pilot Sport S 5 tyres keen to find and hold their purchase. But the directness and responsiveness of a BMW M4 aren’t there, nor the precision of adjustment; it feels like you’re wearing a pair of thick gloves where the BMW feels like you’re driving with your fingertips exposed. 

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The AMG corners flat, and through quick turns feels confident and assured, if not exactly enthralling. It’s hugely competent and well within itself as you build speed, but its personality is deeply buried beyond its high levels of reassuring traction and solid connection with the surface. Its pace impresses as you make progress across country but the combination of its bland engine tone and inexpressive high-speed handling make it perilously close to being one-dimensional. 

Turn the dial up to Sport+ and the 53 locks down further still, the even sharper throttle, stiffer damper rate and quicker gearshift times feeling like they’ve been driven by the need to show an ‘improvement’ in an algorithm rather than add anything to the driving experience. 

On a tighter course it feels more impressive. It’s not a small car – at close to 2000kg it’s not a light one either – but the rate at which it gets into the heart of a lower-speed turn is unexpected, the car waking up from its numb high-speed slumber. With the front tyres hooked in, the rest of the car pivots round you, the rear-wheel steering adding more to the CLE’s agility other than simply assisting during manoeuvring in tight spaces. It encourages you to open the throttle much earlier to get out of the corner as spritely as possible. Which is where you miss the great slug of V8 torque of old to measure out and balance the car’s trajectory. 

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This crystallises what was missing on those quicker roads, where the corners flowed and the road ran away from you: the powertrain doesn’t have enough going for it for you to extract from the CLE 53 what it’s been set up to achieve. From the moment you see it, with its larger four-piston calipers, dark-finished alloy wheels, gurney spoiler on the rear deck and muscular proportions, you’re expecting much more. But little happens. 

The optional AMG sports seats look and feel the part, so too the standard chairs, and there’s carbonfibre and leather where you expect them, a flat-bottomed steering wheel and those two rotary dials on the bottom of it to adjust drive, damper and ESC modes. You can even configure the instrument display to an uninterpretable mess if you wish. Changes to the steel springs’ rates, damper loads and chassis kinematics have all been designed to sharpen responses, deliver more feedback and offer more control. The standard cast-iron brakes have good modulation and strong repeatable stopping performance, the variable four-wheel-drive system is totally unobtrusive yet instinctive as it deploys torque to where it’s needed, and there’s also a drift mode for when you’re leaving a cars and coffee meet. And It looks better than both the C and E-class coupes it replaces. 

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The CLE 53 has all of this but is let down by its engine. Writing this less than a week after driving it, my notepad is pretty empty on the page marked ‘engine positives’. At the top end of the rev range there’s a whiff of excitement but on reflection that’s down to there being next to nothing to raise the pulse before this. There’s no discernible performance boost from the mild-hybrid 48-volt system the CLE 53 is equipped with, the hardware a heavy millstone holding its potential back. 

Strip away the AMG-ness and the CLE 53 would be a desirable six-cylinder coupe with the credentials to make progress under the radar. Your expectations would be lower and therefore the experience you got back more rewarding as a consequence. Instead it’s a car that wants you to believe it’s a fully-fledged AMG, but that’s quite a stretch from the reality and another example of why AMG needs to get to grips with its small engine portfolio as a matter of urgency. Or make use of the engine bay’s dimensions and slip the V8 back in.

Price and rivals

It’s a shallow pool of rivals for the CLE 53, with BMW providing two close competitors. The M440i xDrive coupe, with its turbocharged straight-six and xDrive four-wheel drive powertrain is the obvious direct rival. That it costs £61,600 compared to the £73,075 AMG charges for the CLE 53 4MATIC+ makes the Munich machine harder to ignore. If four-wheel drive isn’t a priority, BMW also has the 840i M Sport in its armoury. Powered by the same engine as the M440i it costs £83,990 before you’ve negotiated a sizable discount.

Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupé specs