According to Car and Driver " A clear winner despite its lofty price, the E43 nails both the sport and luxury parts of the equation.
Down for the count​​​​​​:
Cadillac CTSV Sport
Audi 3.0 TT quattro competition
BMW 540i
Jaguar XF S AWD

 

can't comment on the cadillac or jaguar as I have never had any interest in both brands but this sounds like declaring a light heavyweight winner against middleweight rivals.....was any other outcome ever expected?

The right car to go against the 540i and the Audi 3.0 is the E400. For the E43, that would be the M550i and the Audi S6.

 

CD did it right, this was a competition of 6 cyl twin turbos. In the US there is no E 400 and this is why!

 

might as well add the panamera 4s to the comparison since the criteria is V6 turbos

it's a terrible comparison because they are not like for like. To start with the A6 isn't tuned for sportiness

 

I just bought a 2017 E400 coupe last week so E400 is available here. I have to agree with Gooner on this. The comparison is not apples to apples.

 

This is the competition package A6 it has 5000 dollars worth of extra handling goodies.

 

Big mistake!
You bought a W212 not a W213. Completely different car. The only thing they share is the E.

 

The E 400 coupe is and old model car, the model year is immaterial. The E400 is a W212 not a 213. The only E400 model that will survive for the W 213 is the station wagon (in the US). You guys should be pretty polished on that factoid already.

 

A base Porsche Panamera which costs the same as a loaded E 43 would have gotten its *** kicked too, badly Furthermore, the Panamera is an S class competitor


This car has been market positioned brilliantly.

 

I thought it was an S6.

 

I guess you can only compare what is in front of you and i suppose it depends on your starting point.


If I were in the market for an E43, I would be looking at the S6 and upcoming M550i as alternatives. If I were looking to buy an A6 with comp package as you say or a 540i then maybe the E43 comes in simply because it's natural rival is not sold tin the states.

Either way the E is likely to come up ahead because the W213 is just so ahead of the competition. You sit behind the G30 cockpit after getting out of the 213 and you think..."yeah whatever"!!

 

No argument here!
The smart marketing idea is that it straddles the both spectrums. You can also get a CTSV for the same money as a loaded an E 43. Its a "tweener"
They tend to do well since in this case you get 8-9 10ths of the full flavor supercars for a price that is more "mass market", that is, if you can call 70k "mass market". The fact, is people are clunking that kind of money and more for stupid SUVs left and right.

 

A small point of clarification: Flash Gordon's 2017 E400 Coupe is not a W212. It is a C207. But you are correct in that his car bears no connection to the W213 2017 E Class Sedan nor to the upcoming 2018 E Class Coupe.

2017 and prior E Class coupes have been built on a modified C Class chassis, not on the W212 full size E Sedan chassis that preceded the current W213 model iteration.

 

I stand corrected! I was not aware of the underhanded E "ification" of a previous model C class. In some manner the 213 is a "stretched and invigorated" W205. That's why the 2.0L turbo was an easy selection for the base engine.

 

I got 10K off MSRP. Shoot, had I known, I would have pushed for 12K off!