Mercedes-AMG E 53 Coupe 2022 Review

Three years on from its local launch in 2018, the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53 4MATIC+ coupe has fluctuated in price over that period to now start from $172,252 plus on-road costs.

That’s about the same money the German brand was asking three years back, although the upgraded Mercedes-Benz E-Class range announced a little over a year ago placed the E 53 coupe at $162,400 plus ORCs – and that was some $17K cheaper than the previous model year.

So pricing is now pushing back up, with the E 53 cabriolet equivalent asking $181,354 plus ORCs – $9100 above the coupe and, again, representing a hefty $10K uptick from last year’s marker at launch.

Standard features for the E 53 coupe include 20-inch alloy wheels, dual-zone climate control, electric sunroof, motion-gesture-controlled power boot lid, front sports seats with three-position memory, front seat heating, Nappa leather upholstery, power-adjustable steering column, a head-up display, keyless entry/start, multifunction steering wheel, wireless smartphone charging, electric windows and heated fold-in electric mirrors.

The infotainment system comprises a 12.3-inch touch-screen, a 13-speaker Burmester stereo with digital radio, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, satellite navigation, Digital Sound Processing and voice recognition.

Fitted with an optional Innovation package (including the MBUX interior assistant) for $1300, the vehicle as tested was priced at $174,452 plus ORCs. That included black leather with red top-stitching (no charge) and designo Patagonia Red metallic paint for $900.

In addition to all the big-ticket stuff, the E 53 has a wireless smartphone charging tray, a 12-volt power outlet and a USB-C port plus two cup holders between the centre fascia and the single-point control touchpad in the centre console.

A bi-fold centre arm rest conceals two more USB-C ports. The rear of the centre console features adjustable vents for the rear seat occupants, plus two USB-C ports in a small fold-down storage bin.

There are also two cup holders between the rear seats and the fold-down arm rest in the 60/40-split folding seat doubles as a ski port.

A motor drive extends the seat belt forward in the coupe for the driver and front passenger, placing the belt in easier reach for fastening, and the powered boot lid can be opened using motion gesture (a kick), which actually works.

The warranty coverage is five years/unlimited kilometres, with five years of roadside assistance, and the service intervals measure 12 months or 25,000km.

ANCAP has classified the W213 Mercedes-Benz E-Class as a five-star vehicle for safety, based on Euro NCAP’s crash testing from 2016. The E 53 shares that rating.

While the ANCAP rating for this car is pretty dated, the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53 will undoubtedly protect you and your passengers in a prang.

There are side impact (curtain/head and thorax) airbags for both rows of seats, plus two front airbags and another for the driver’s knee.

Driver assist technology fitted as standard includes blind spot monitoring with active assist, emergency brake lights, forward collision warning, autonomous emergency braking (all speeds) with pedestrian detection, driver fatigue monitoring, LED headlights with high beam assist/active shadowing, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition and tyre pressure monitoring.

The combination of 3.0-litre turbocharged petrol six-cylinder and integrated electric motor, the latter adding 16kW and 250Nm to the available output in the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53, delivers some serious mumbo.

Benz claims that the E 53 mild hybrid will charge to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds, and that certainly feels plausible. There’s torque available everywhere in the rev range, no turbo lag and refinement all the way up to the 6500rpm redline.

A bi-modal exhaust ramps up the sound, but even without it the E 53 has a really enjoyable snarl when the wick is lit and the revs are running above 4000rpm.

Driven in Comfort mode, however, the engine is very subdued, although there remains a mild rumble (at around 1500rpm in ninth gear for 100km/h).

On a test run conducted at night the E 53 posted a fuel economy figure of 11.7L/100km, which is higher than the consumption recorded during the car’s local launch three years ago.

Given the E 53’s performance potential – which was exploited during the test drive – owners can expect to do better than that.

The nine-speed automatic transmission is very competent, quite refined, and it will drop back two gears when you want that, using the shift paddles.

It’s not as conservatively calibrated as sporty automatics from Lexus models driven recently.

That Mercedes-Benz offers both C-Class and E-Class two-door models – and is believed to be planning a merger for the next generation, dubbed CLE-Class – points to the niche and somewhat difficult-to-define space in which the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53 coupe resides.

We’d consider as a rival the first-ever all-wheel drive BMW M4 that’s been set at $165,900 plus ORCs.

Throw in coupe versions of the Audi R S5 (from $153,900) and the Alpina B4 S (from $149,900) and you have some brilliant German six-cylinder performance cars in the mix.

E 53? In isolation, it’s an impressive machine.

Cornering forces gradually load up the outside front tyre, and lift-off doesn’t excite tail-happy handling.

The steering is very precise, and the E 53 does turn-in rapidly – especially in Sport mode – but the weight through the tiller feels heavy at lower speeds.

Overall, the E 53 is enjoyable to drive along winding roads with the car set to Sport mode, and the driver using the shift paddles in the transmission’s manual setting.

The car’s braking ability is immense. Such is the power of the braking system, with its large front cross-drilled discs and the grip of the Yokohama Advan tyres – 245/35ZR20 at the front, 275/30ZR20 at the rear – the E 53 feels like it can cut lots of metres off the braking distance of its competitors from higher speeds, and it’s exceptionally stable too.

It really is very impressive.

Ride comfort is a mixed bag. Given the explicitly sporty nature of the E 53, the firmer spring and damper settings can be forgiven.

Even in Comfort mode the Benz feels just slightly harsher than ideal at lower speeds, but conversely, the ride properties improve in all modes at touring speeds.

On the open road, engine noise is minimal, swamped by tyre noise and a light rustle of wind passing over the bodywork, but the E 53 remains a reasonably quiet car.

Some soft creaking and a muted rattle in the dash were audible over bumps on country roads. On smoother roads, however, the E 53 felt pretty solid.

The headlight system features automatic high beam assist and active shadowing. At times the system appeared to be caught out by oncoming traffic approaching from an oblique angle.

About three drivers flashed their lights back in frustration, but there’s no doubt that the E 53’s lights are great for the Benz driver.

Even on low beam they’re quite effective on darker roads, and the high beam assist does raise and lower the lights progressively, without the driver being left blinded at all.

Inside the cabin, the E 53’s driving position is spot on. It’s simple to set up the seat, relative to the pedals and wheel, and the instruments are easy to read.

The seats are tremendous, provided you don’t mind some deep contouring and snugly hugging bolsters. There’s adjustable lumbar, but such is the cushioning in the backrest that the lumbar adjust is almost superfluous.

There’s great support from the small of the back all the way up to between the scapulae.

No weariness after 90 minutes of driving, but no sliding around in the corners or under brakes either. I can’t think of any car I’ve driven in the past two years offering a level of ergonomic comfort from its front seats to approach the seats in the E 53.

There’s a new steering wheel that remains a flat-bottom type, but is now fully digitised.

In some ways I find the whole sliding/touching method of interface harder to use than the old design, which was itself not especially easy from the start – but I’m sure using the new digitised unit will become second nature for owners in due course.

Benz has placed the engine start button on the dash for the E 53, and while you’ll probably get to know precisely where the button is located within a week of ownership, there’s some floundering and flailing around before you find it in the early days.

It could also take a little while to learn all the functions of the E 53, where they’re located, and how to use them. The head-up display appeared to be missing in action until I realised it had been disabled in the settings menu.

There are so many data points you can access – g-forces, for instance, or an old-fashioned engine temperature gauge (in a very new-fashioned digital bar graph in the infotainment screen), that you could become totally lost and befuddled for half an hour, just navigating your way through different screens of information.

The instrument cluster and the infotainment display are very well designed. With this set-up in the E 53, Benz has just about clawed back ground lost to the BMW Live Cockpit Professional.

The climate control switches are located below the infotainment screen so the driver or front seat passenger can adjust temperature, fan speed and direction without exiting the infotainment screen.

Entering a destination in the satellite navigation system by means of the voice recognition system was dead easy. And the voice prompts to turn were pronounced correctly and delivered with enough warning to be ready for the turn.

Furthermore, the head-up display shows the way, as expected, but the infotainment screen lights up with the forward-looking camera display on the approach to an intersection – complete with street name and numbers graphically superimposed on the screen with turn arrows to indicate direction.

It’s an amazingly good system.

Controls for the vehicle’s dynamic settings and volume control for the audio are located either side of the touchpad. Unfortunately, the volume control is nearer the driver and the driving dynamics control – another scrolling wheel – is nearer the passenger, reflecting the E 53’s left-hand drive market of origin.

The button for the drive mode selection – including manual shifting – is located closer to the passenger as well.

Rear-seat legroom is quite good, and it’s surprisingly easy to climb in the back, but headroom is marginal for adults of average height.

The boot is relatively long, with a fold-up crate underneath the floor and a tyre repair kit as with the E-Class sedan. There’s a paired hook that swings down from inside the boot for suspending grocery bags to prevent spillage. It’s a neat idea.

The boot is reasonably large for this type of vehicle and levers inside unlatch the rear seats to fold forward for further luggage-carrying capacity.

In the three years since its introduction to Australia, the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53 coupe hasn’t really gained a lot of ground. It was a pretty good package from the start, however.

Buyers will welcome the enhanced entertainment and lower price in this updated model.

And who could possibly turn their nose up at the powerful inline six?

It’s a lot of car, in other words.

How much does the 2022 Mercedes-AMG E 53 4MATIC+ coupe cost?
Price: $172,252 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol
Output: 320kW/520Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 9.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 211g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2016)