What is it?
2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe
What's special about it?
Now here's a face that's going to take some getting used to. We haven't seen this many rhomboids on the front of a car since, well, ever.
The nose of the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe is closely related to the rhomboid-rific one on the recently unveiled E-Class sedan. Perhaps that's not a surprise, given that the coupe shares the sedan's new W212 platform and most of its name.
This move reflects the intention of Mercedes to tie its coupes and convertibles more obviously to the high-volume sedans on which they are based. The CLK — which this vehicle will replace — is not obviously related to any other Mercedes model in name or style.
The new coupe is just about 2 inches longer and wider than the CLK. Thanks to a wheelbase increase of similar measure, there should be more room inside the E-Class coupe than the CLK. Stretched over those dimensions is a body with a whole lot of surface excitement going on, so you cannot accuse Mercedes of going conservative with this one. Thankfully, Mercedes has retained the graceful look of the CLK roof — there's no B-pillar and both front and rear windows go down.
Mercedes notes that the coupe has the lowest drag coefficient of any series production car in the world at 0.24 Cd. Wouldn't have guessed that just by looking, eh? But sometimes we prefer a different approach to punching a hole in the air — it's called horsepower. We'll have to wait until the E63 coupe arrives a little later, with an estimated 500 horsepower, to conduct that particular test of power vs. wind resistance.
When the E-Class coupe goes on sale in the U.S. in June, it will be offered in two models, the E350 with a 268-hp V6 and the E550 with a 382-hp V8. The new coupes will come with a host of standard and optional new equipment, including suspension with adaptive dampers, a feature meant to register any drowsiness by the driver, and an adaptive high beam for the headlights that uses a camera to scan for oncoming traffic and dips the high beams accordingly.
Inside Line says: We're reserving final judgment until we see it in the metal. — Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit
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