Top Car

56 TOPCAR.CO.ZA|January 2016

Road test: Mercedes-BenzGLE 450 AMG Coupe

certain angles, the sporty rear end is well

resolved, complete with AMG GT-like

bootlid spoiler. At nearly five metres long,

it’s a big car, but a substantial three-pointed

star an chors the front end while wide-set

air inlets and sculpted flanks accentuate its

width. Depending on your point of view it

is either sleek and sporty, or big and

brawny. Like or loathe it, it’s without doubt

an arresting design.

Intuitive inter ior

Climbing into the cabin with help from

the running boards – not ideal for off-

roading – I was prepared for a typically

OTT Mercedes-Benz interior treatment.

Instead, the majority of the interior has a

toned-down, conventional feel. R32k for the

rear entertainment package seems a little

unnecessa ry, especially as there isn’t much

spac e for rear passengers to begin with but,

there’s a lot to like about the cabin. It’s

comfortable and ergonomically sound,

including the easily mastered ce ntral

controldial. Don’t think for a second this

means the GLE Coupe fails to enga ge

though. That happens as soon as you tap

the starter button.

EKG sound system

Merc’s new 3.0-litr e bi-turbo V6 first

impres sed me on a 230kph cross-countr y

blast on the Autobahn, and driving it once

again on local soil only underlines that

notion. A corker of an engine, its 270kW

and 520Nm – accessible across most of the

rev range – drives all four wheels through a

nine-speed automatic transmission. It’s

only hampered by its mass of 2.2-tonnes

and the sheer number of closely stacked

cogs that have the electronics moments of

Intuitive interfaceandclear

instrument cluster rateshigh on

satisfactionindex