2010 Mercedes-Benz E550 Coupe Full Test and Video

For sure the drive to the country club parking lot isn't going to do it. Probably you should figure at least 400 miles, some kind of all-day trek, maybe to Chicago or San Francisco or Atlanta or Saint Louis, a distance that you'd ordinarily cover in a Boeing.

Because once you actually go some place and spend all day on the road and maybe even a bit longer than you'd like, then you'll figure out just how good the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E550 Coupe really is.

This is more like the car that Mercedes used to make, an automobile meant for serious traveling, especially when the roads are unknown, the weather is dicey and time is pressing. It's a car that recalls a time before there were autobahns or interstates, when it was difficult to get from Stuttgart to Milan or from Dallas to Denver. And when you did it in a Mercedes-Benz, you'd get there not only on time but also surprisingly refreshed, simply because you didn't have to endure the long wait at the airport or the press of crowds at the train station.

Luxury is the place where efficiency meets pleasure, and that's where you'll find the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E550 Coupe. It's a serious motorcar.

Truth in Packaging
Of course, the E-Class coupe isn't an E-Class at all. Well, partly it is. Except for the part that isn't. It's kind of confusing, although it really doesn't add up to anything of consequence for anyone except maybe those who claim to be able to count exactly how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

You see, the E550 coupe actually begins with the C-Class platform and body, as you'd guess from this car's wheelbase of 108.7 inches, some 3.7 inches shorter than an E-Class sedan. The difference is, Mercedes has poured all the bits from the E-Class bin into the C-Class container.

There is some wrangling about this among the rabble, as there are those who claim that it's a kind of marketing scam, meant to create more headroom for the new car's price tag than a C-Class label would allow. This might be so, but we're hard-pressed to care, because we think a car's price is determined by its merits, not some antiquated marketing concept from the era of GM's Alfred P. Sloan that says bigger is better (and expensive), while smaller is crappy (and cheap).

For us, the E-Class coupe is the right size for an automobile that is meant to travel, not simply transport. A coupe is a car for you and maybe a friend, and after that you're talking about very occasional utility. That's why you'll find only two seats in the back of this car. If you think everybody should pack into one car for dinner, as if you were either a bunch of college students in workout gear or a gaggle of septuagenarians wearing whatever it is that septuagenarians wear, then you should wait for the shuttle bus, because the grown-ups are leaving.

The Miracle of Self-Propulsion
Any Mercedes V8 used to be a miracle because European carmakers didn't make V8s and such rarity bestowed a magic quality on the Stuttgart engine. Now, of course, every European carmaker has a V8 and it's become a little difficult to distinguish one from another. The Mercedes 90-degree V8 has always been thought of as the impassive one, all torque and no punch.

But the truth is, the Mercedes guys have always sought to deliver a wide power band, and for this you need an engine that accelerates resolutely from low rpm right to the redline. That's what you need if you're going to get a car hammering down the road at terrific speed, which is the philosophical imperative of every Mercedes. So while we're impressed with the 391 pound-feet of torque that this DOHC 5,461cc V8 makes between 2,800 rpm and 4,800 rpm, we're equally taken with its power peak of 382 horsepower at 6,000 rpm.

It all adds up in acceleration, because the combination of the right kind of power and a right-size, 3,883-pound package (400 pounds lighter than an E-Class sedan) delivers 60 mph in 5.3 seconds (5.0 seconds with 1 foot of rollout like on a drag strip). Check out the E550 coupe's quarter-mile run of 13.4 seconds at 105.2 mph and you'll see what kind of muscle it has.

And it's not like there's much magic required to maximize performance. The stability control system is a little watchful and intrusive here (as you'd prefer in a car with nearly 400 hp that is meant to be driven with purpose in places where it rains and snows), but you can disengage the electronics (a less intrusive safety net remains), toggle the shift lever into Manual mode where the transmission automatically shifts up at the redline of 6,500 rpm, and then let the seven-speed automatic do the rest.

Now that this ZF-built transmission does fast rev-matched downshifts — and now that we've come to realize that automated manual transmissions don't yet deliver the smooth drivability that we all secretly desire more than speedy shifting — this transmission seems like the best automatic in the world, the perfect partner for an engine like the Mercedes V8.

Driving in Luxury
You feel like you're in an E-Class as you get down the road in this coupe. The driving position is full size and the view over the hood is expansive. The squarish C-Class dash has been carved away to enhance the feeling of interior spaciousness, and while the graceful Italianate sweep of the old E-Class interior style has given way to a more geometric, masculine look mandated by new Mercedes design chief Gorden Wagener, this car's interior is a very nice place to be.

This is a traditional Mercedes, one that affirms the character of the company.

You're very aware that there's no B-pillar to interrupt the arc of this coupe's roof line, and so the roof seems properly self-indulgent in that daring-the-boundaries-of-physics way. Your vision isn't as perfect over your shoulder as you'd like, but maybe you don't drive in Los Angeles where there's an F-250 pickup lurking in your blind spot wherever you go.

Meanwhile, every cool little thing in Mercedes' bag of tricks is onboard, as this E550 example is naturally fully optioned with a hard-drive-based navigation system with real-time traffic, an audio system with 5.1 surround sound and iPod compatibility, the usual trickery in the brake system, seatbelts that think and the ever-popular Driver Drowsiness Monitor.

The thing that we really care about, though, is the simple presence of the E-Class suspension. In addition to the configuration of the front suspension struts, this E550 coupe has standard adaptive damping based on inputs from seven sensors, plus the availability of both manually selected normal and Sport mode. The car circles the skid pad at 0.83g on its wide 18-inch Pirelli P Zero Nero tires and stops from 60 mph in 130 feet.

More Than Numbers
But there's more than numbers in the way the E-Class coupe goes down the road. Despite such formidable tires (235/40R18 91H front, 255/35R18 94H rear), it picks up its feet over the bumps, delivering a supple ride. There's a little road roar coming through the hard bushings, but that's what you'd expect in a car tuned to deliver a certain amount of directional crispness at autobahn speed.

More important, when this car jounces over a bump or rolls into a corner, the body moves once and then settles into position and it's ready for what's next. Apparently Mercedes is working with a dynamic concept it calls the "Body Index," a way of quantifying the car's tautness according to its response to a number of pre-determined handling situations.

This car has its liabilities, as it dislikes rapid transitions (as reflected in its speed through our slalom of 60.4 mph), yet it always feels utterly poised, which is a fancy way of saying it's always ready for anything.

As with so many cars, you can feel the character of this Mercedes in its steering. Though the rack-and-pinion steering's ratio is quicker in the E550 coupe than in the sedan, the car still steers a little slowly, though with perfect directness. We're not talking linear (which generally produces a very peculiar response, believe us), but instead a very natural way of guiding the car. It serves a driver who thinks ahead and steers with a slow, delicate touch.

The Coupe Life
The 2010 Mercedes-Benz E550 Coupe is not inexpensive, with a starting price of $55,525, but neither does it cheat you in any part of the experience it affords. This is a traditional Mercedes, one that affirms the character of the company. The styling is a little delicious, but aren't we all a little tired of the whole Hugo Boss austerity thing?

A Mercedes knows what it must do — take us to distant places. The E-Class coupe has a lot of style, yet it fulfills its mission with a satisfying lack of pretense, and that is what makes it a serious luxury car.

The manufacturer provided Edmunds this vehicle for the purposes of evaluation.