Beautiful? Gorgeous! The new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe takes my breath away. It literally stops me in my tracks, as it did
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| There's nothing quite like the new E 350 Coupe. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
to many I drove by during my test week, and partly because of its absolutely original design. Truly, never before has any two-door coupe looked even remotely the same.
It's the way the sharply angled rear quarter window points deep into the C-pillar, the car's swooping beltline rising up from front fender overtop the rear to visually meet curvaceous haunches before melding into the rearmost portion of the aft quarter panel just ahead of the taillight. Interestingly, it's one of the first coupes in a long time to pull sedan characteristics into the two-door segment, again the long rear window and tiny quarter window responsible for the unorthodox appearance.
Mercedes-Benz has a long history of four-seat two-door hardtops, with some, like the 1968 through
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| It's a luxury coupe first and foremost, but with great road manners. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
1976 W114/W115 coupes and this new E-Class Coupe, having been noticeably pulled from four-door configurations. In comparison Audi's new A5 is more obviously a two-door while Infiniti's almost midsize G37 and Cadillac's new CTS Coupe look like rakish sports cars. Mercedes doesn't need to get racy with the E, however, as it already offers two-place sports cars in its SLK and SL retractable-hardtop roadsters, not to mention its new gullwing SLS, while its coupe offerings include the significantly larger CL, and some would say its CLS four-door coupe; a full gambit of sport-luxury models.
The E-Class Coupe, however, is special. One of the newest of Mercedes models, recently upstaged by the convertible version of the same car, the two-door E is available
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| It certainly feels light on its feet for such a substantial car. (Photo: Canadian Auto Press) |
in E 350 Coupe and E 550 Coupe variants, my particular tester of the former specification. It's no less of a car, however, and I for one was glad that my sexy new two-door was thriftier on fuel for environmental and pocketbook concerns. Canadian government ratings equal 12.7 L/100km city, 8.3 highway for the 3.5-litre V6. It uses premium fuel, which is a negative considering that the much more powerful aforementioned CTS Coupe uses regular, a savings of up to ten percent.
