Mikey53

While picking up my E450 coupe after recall repair yesterday, I saw my first CLE coupe out in the wild (or at least on the showroom).

My first impressions using mark I eyeballs and not driving it:

Exterior- I like the lines but I would miss being able to lower the rear side windows.

Interior- dimensions felt about the same as my E450. Definitely more C Class than E Class inside, materials seem like a step down from my E450. Too much hard plasticie stuff. I would miss the track pad and lack of just about any buttons.

MJP_43

I sat in a CLE450, already sold, and had similar impressions of the car. The CLE interior is straight out of the C-class. I'm a button pusher and would have preferred some basic buttons for often used functions like Radio, Nav, Telephone and Apps. MB's rationale was to lessen driver distraction by "forcing" the driver to use the steering wheel controls. Well, in their infinite desire to keep changing things MB redesigned the touch control to operate by swiping it at about 30deg inward toward the center of the steering wheel. It takes some getting used to and you still have to take your eyes off the road to read the and manipulate the icons in the screen Once I become accustomed to a button location I can push it without looking. The other technology to mitigate this is the MBUX voice control, which I don't like to use, I do however like the vertical tablet size and orientation.

I was interested in a 2023 C43 and drove one last year and posted my impressions in another thread. But it was a 4-door and I wanted a 2-door coupe. I'm glad that I held out.

Two more things, 1) the "wide" CLE53 will look so much better from the outside than the base models and, 2) the new-car smell is wonderful. I wish that smell wouldn't fade with time. P.S. the aftermarket scented stuff isn't the same.

W205C43PFL

Thanks for sharing your impressions, I am currently considering this vehicle and I really need to learn to get used to those capacitive touch.

MJP_43

While you can keep your hands on the wheel the touch controls are well, "touchy", and require a learning curve to operate properly.

I remember reading that touch screens were more distracting than buttons and that car manufacturers were going back to buttons after the knee-jerk reaction to go to touch screens everywhere.

I think that the ultimate goal is to use voice control for everything. I'm not a fan of voice control, if you use the incorrect term who knows what the computer will do. People forget that computers are stupid...only as smart as their programmer who can't anticipate every possible interaction. I've gotten into "stupid-loops" with on-line chat with a computer masquerading as a human. Even AI has its limitations to learn and, despite the desire for AI to improve human life, it will be ultimately adulterated and compromised for nefarious purposes. AI might pass the Turing test but Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics can easily fall by the wayside.

I apologize for the rant but I stand behind my opinions and felt compelled to give them.

AzurSL

When the CLE was first released I liked the way it looked but was not in love. Having seen them now, I must say it is a stunning car and I would have no complaints having one in my garage just for the purpose of staring at it. I haven’t driven one so I can’t talk to that, but the car sure is a head turner. Much bigger too than it seems on camera, lots of presence.

W205C43PFL

Many companies are banking on AI's self-learning so it is not like usual programmer thinking about every scenario or interaction.

That said, like you mentioned, it is far from being mature enough to replace the good ol physical buttons.

For the capacitive touch, the humidity of the hands apparently plays a role according to another forum member here, so I will try a few experiments. The Blackberry touchpad before the full capacitive touch things on the phone itself or in MBs no matter how dry or moist the finger is it always register my touch so I am not sure what is going on.

W205C43PFL

I am jealous you saw the vehicle I am shopping for already. Do you mind sharing some pictures next time you see it, no not the press pictures with artificial lighting or photoshop neither the journalist ones, I mean the ones you take and being in US spec.

It will be a few months before Canada gets theirs : (

TIA!

MJP_43

No offense but there are tons of pictures on line, but I have to say that when I saw it the standard CLE didn't jump out from the rest of the cars in the showroom other than being the ONLY 2-door coupe. MB styling does have a "type". RBR does a nice job of comparing the standard CLE from the 53 AMG,

W205C43PFL

Yes... I know but I specifically want MBUSA dealership actual vehicle images, not pre-production, press release or MBUSA training vehicles. Video you linked is European model so it doesn't have the bumperette either.

MJP_43

Ohhh, so that's what it's called!! A "bumperette". I called them "bumper warts", gotta protect that license plate! So, there's the holdup on North American delivery, the time delay in adding bumperette's.

W205C43PFL

Yup, that is an American reg thing, and depending on which MB coupe, it can be very ugly.

The "best" looking bumperette is on the C238 E coupe, it looks like mustache. The taillights are the eyes, the MB logo is the nose.

The rest of the coupes it looks like an afterthought (imo)

W205C43PFL

Found a picture of what I meant: https://inv.assets.ansira.net/Chrome...53_1280_06.jpg

The taillights are the two eyes, the MB star is the nose, the bumperettes is the mustache and the exhaust is the cheek.

W205C43PFL

An "ugly" one (imo) would be the C118: https://dbhdyzvm8lm25.cloudfront.net...st0640_173.png

MJP_43

Not only are they ugly but they're stoopid! If these bumper warts are sooo important then why aren't they on ANY OTHER F'ING CAR!!!

Let the conspiracy discussion begin.

W205C43PFL

Haha : )

lbowersaz

Huge zonk/fail for me is the fake exhaust outlets. Really SMH on that one.

MJP_43

Not as bad as this!

A real exhaust FAIL.

AzurSL

Forgot to take some, if/when I see another one I will.

W205C43PFL

Those looks like the ones from the diesel MBs.

W205C43PFL

Sounds good

MJP_43

I spoke to an MB Sales Rep today who explained the reason for the "bumperettes". It's because of the 5 mph crash law in the USA and Canada. This law apparently doesn't exist in Europe. And, because Coupe bumpers apparently extend further than on sedans that's why they're not required on those cars. SUV's seem to be exempt.

It seems that Coupes are not as popular as other car types so it's probably not in MB's interest to redesign the coupe bumpers. It's just easier and cheaper to add the bumps warts.

W205C43PFL

Ah I see.