A new offering from Mercedes-AMG is said to combine the sportiness of an AMG C-Class and the interior space and elegance of an AMG E-Class.

The automaker has introduced the new 2024 Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupe, which Mercedes calls an entry performance coupe.

Pricing

The car has a starting MSRP of $80,900 in Canada. The MSRP doesn’t include fees, levies or taxes. That’s almost $20,000 more than the non-AMG CLE 300 4MATIC Coupe.

Check off a few boxes and the price shoots well north of its starting sticker price. There’s a great variety of interior and exterior elements to choose from, including colours, trim pieces, upholstery and more, all of which can add to the total price.

The Pinnacle Trim costs an additional $3,500. It adds LED digital light headlamps, Adaptive Highbeam Assist Plus, an AMG head-up display and a 360 camera.

Want Burmester 3D surround sound? That’s another $1,100.

A Driver Assistance Package, which adds a host of driver and safety assistance features, adds another $2,700, while the AMG Driver’s Package adds $3,000 to the total price.

The AMG Driver’s Package includes dynamic engine mounts, red brake calipers, AMG Real Performance Sound, and an increased top speed.

If you need more performance goodies, there are AMG performance seats, which offer more lateral support, for an additional $3,100, as well as an AMG performance steering wheel with carbon fibre design/Microcut microfibre for another $1,200.

A person could have a lot of fun checking off the available options. You can try it for yourself on the Mercedes-Benz Canada website.

Performance

The car is powered by a 3-litre inline six-cylinder turbocharged engine – turbocharging is via an exhaust gas turbocharger and an electric auxiliary compressor – with 443 hp and 413 lb.-ft. of torque (torque is boosted to 443 lb.-ft. for 10 seconds with overboost).

A mild-hybrid setup adds a 48-volt integrated starter generator (ISG) that provides support at lower engine speeds with an additional 23 hp and 151 lb.-ft. of torque.

The car comes with an AMG Speedshift TCT 9G transmission and fully variable all-wheel drive.

Performance numbers, as supplied by Mercedes-Benz Canada, are:

• Zero to 60 mph: 4.2 seconds
• Top speed: 250 km/h or 270 km/h with the AMG Driver’s Package

Mercedes points out the car’s long hood embedded in the front end with two power domes, a steeply sloping windshield and a long sloping roof toward the rear of the vehicle are prominent visual features of the CLE 53 Coupe.

The cabin is set back and has a short rear area.

Mercedes said the car’s AMG-specific grille and flat, sharply cut LED headlights are meant to provide a powerful aesthetic appearance.

The car’s fenders are flared out wider than the non-AMG CLE Coupe’s and the track is wider too, plus 58.4 millimetres at the front and 76.2 millimetres at the rear.

Interior

The interior gets unique AMG equipment as well. There’s a free-standing 12.3-inch digital driver display, an 11.9-inch driver-oriented central display in portrait format, 64-colour dynamic ambient lighting, and in each door a strip of light runs along the contour lines of the armrest and the beltline to the rear seats.

The car comes with MB-Tex/microfibre upholstery and AMG graphics and red contrast stitching as standard, while customers can choose from multiple options.

The AMG performance steering wheel features double-spoke design and a flattened bottom.