Mercedes-Benz CLE 2023 Review – International

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 will cost around $150,000 plus options when it lands in Australia in mid-2024. Expect AMG and cabriolet versions shortly thereafter. Both will be more expensive.

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 goes big on standard gear, as you’d expect for a circa-$150K car, but even so most buyers will go to town on the many options.

It’s a classy ride with the latest generation MBUX interactive infotainment system fitted as standard, including a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, 11.9-inch central display and Android Auto compatibility with a 5G-ready data platform, plus video and audio streaming capability, customisable apps and AI-generated “routines”.

The inbuilt navigation system – which oddly got confused a few times while on the drive route – puts the map and upcoming turns in front of the driver on the digital dash. And even the standard audio set-up is impressive with Dolby Atmos and 360-degree spatial separation from Apple Music.

There’s fully-adjustable, electric-everything front seats with four-way lumbar support but the rear seats, with their tiny side windows, are far less inviting and suitable only for (very) occasional use. Leather loop handles operate the front seat folding system for rear-seat entry.

The Keyless Go system has a remote engine start function and illuminates the door-handles at night, and the powered bootlid has a motion sensor that allows a foot wave to open it when your arms are full. The ambient cabin lighting, including a light strip across the doors and dashboard, offers a choice of 64 colours. Noice.

Options include dynamic body control, head-up display, 17-speaker Burmester 3D surround system with near-ear speakers in the front seats and a new-wave ‘Energising Plus’ package with seat climate control, seven-zone massage function, cabin air ionisation, scenting and cleaning.

The body of the 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 feels tight as a drum and all of the latest Benz crash safety technologies apply. There are eight airbags and a full suite of driver assistance systems, including the driver-watching attention assist (which uses an Aussie-developed detection algorithm to monitor the driver’s eyes, hands and body posture for inattention or distraction), plus active brake assist, active lane-keeping assist, speed limit assist and a parking package with reversing camera. The CLE is a safe place to be.

Also likely to be standard in Australia is the Driver Assist package that comprises 10 new-generation assistance and safety functions including active cruise distance control and assist, cross-traffic and intersection approach warning and assist, active steering assist, active emergency stop assist, active blind spot assist (audio and visual, with intervention) and pre-safe plus rear-end collision preparation.

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 features lots of tech transfer from the new E-Class, including the third-generation MBUX infotainment system, fully digital dash and the fully customisable ambient cabin strip lighting that rolls across the dash.

Android compatibility will bring a range of apps and games, plus video and online streaming from launch next year. All the customary high-quality Benz safety tech is standard, although the very best of it – including the clever lane-keeping intervention assist which will veer you into an adjoining clear lane if the car in front suddenly over-brakes – is on the options list in Europe.

Benz claims there is capacity within the car’s inbuilt AI (artificial intelligence) to “learn and evolve” from routine use, but this will mostly be confined to seat comfort features. We suspect the AI would like to be kept busier – and there’s plenty of scope for it (as explained further down).

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 coupe’s 2.0-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder offers just 190kW of power but makes a healthy 400Nm of torque and is aided by a 48-volt mild-hybrid system that Benz says pumps out an additional 205Nm when you demand it.

Under flat-out acceleration it becomes obvious there only four pots doing the heavy lifting, with lots of cam-lifting and under-bonnet busy-ness emerging. Building the nine-speed automatic in-house means the electrified engine and drivetrain are well-knitted, with the sports mode keeping torque bubbling along nicely for the twisty bits.

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 is claimed to consume 7.6L/100km on the WLTP cycle, but we weren’t able verify that independently during our international launch drive.

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 is a big coupe but three important things fall in its favour from an agility perspective: the rear-axle steering system (modest, but useful at 2.5 degrees), the all-wheel drive system (particularly useful for mid-corner grab on wet roads) and the customisable suspension tune (optional).

The standard suspension setting is fine for loafing along the highway but becomes the Black Pearl in the tight stuff, with too much pitch and roll for our pleasure. Taking the time before take-off to navigate into the dynamic body control system (this is where the self-learning AI could be usefully employed) and switching to the sports damper setting appeared to iron that out fairly well.

What we don’t know – and what has emerged as an issue previously after driving on smooth Euro asphalt – is whether those low-profile 35-series Continentals will be noisy on coarse-chip Aussie bitumen.

The 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 can carry four occupants at a pinch, but your rear seat passengers won’t stay friendly for long, with the rear side windows sealed (for aero efficiency) and tiny. It’s better than a two-plus-two configuration, but only marginally.

Owners of the outgoing C-Class coupe will love it because it’s bigger everywhere inside, particularly in terms of shoulder room. Front legroom is also better than in the existing E-Class coupe, but with slightly less headroom. Boot space is a generous 420 litres.

Gloss piano-black trim finishes are still very much the Merc fallback position in the 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300, although there’s plenty of customisation available and, of course, Benz customers will be doing plenty of that.

There’s a trim option which the company describes as “silver-coloured mixed-metal fabric”, which it claims looks “futuristic”. We disagree; it looks like a bad pin-striped suit.

But the wafer-thin ambient lighting strips that span the entire cabin add class. The only jarring visual note is the large, satin chrome-rimmed air-vents, which look like something from a B-grade sci-fi movie.

The twin digital displays – one for the driver and another to share – are well-executed. And for those who appreciate high-quality audio, the Burmeister system with the tiny twin speakers at ear level in each front seat is quite exceptional.

If the uncertainty of electrification is troubling for you, then the 2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 is a safe, hold-steady, blue-chip investment point until that path becomes clearer.

The shark-nosed front-end design is distinctive and well-executed, and this new coupe feels as bulletproof as a Benz should. In CLE 300 guise as tested here, it’s not an overtly sporty coupe but forms a solid basis for more compelling AMG versions later on. Bring it on.

2023 Mercedes-Benz CLE 300 at a glance:
Price: $150,000 (estimated, plus on-road costs)
Available: Mid-2024
Engine: 2.0-litre four-cylinder mild-hybrid turbo-petrol
Output: 190kW/400Nm (plus 205Nm of EQ boost)
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.6L/100km (WLTP)
CO2: 159g/km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Not tested

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