Wheels UAE – July 26, 2019

toyota

supra

driVen

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It isn’t as brutal and fi ery as the E63,but thenew six-cylinderperformance version

of thetwo-doorE-Class seeks to strike a good balance

words:sonythomas.photos: sonythomas

a happy medium

here wasatimenotlongagowhenMercedes-Benz’s

carnomenclature was a simple, straightforward affair

withthenumeralsina model’s namerepresented

displacementoftheenginepoweringit.But withniches,

sub-nichesandmicro-nichesbeingcreatedtohelp

squeezeoutasmuchyieldaspossiblefromeachsegment,

there was noway thenamingconventioncouldbekept

simpleanymore.AsAMGgotdilutedfrombeingan

exclusive purveyorof63sand65swithhand-built,fi re-

breathingV8sandV12stoa unitthatalsooffersrelatively

milder, greenersix-cylinderpowerplants, wenowhave

Merc-AMGmodelsbearing 43 and 53 badges. Whilethese

modelsmightappeartobetameonpaper, especiallyin

comparisonwiththeirfull-blownsiblings, inourprevious

drives, wehavefoundthemtobemore powerfulthan

theirintendeduseswouldrequire.

ThisweekwehaveonesuchcarfromMercedes-AMG;

theE53Coupe. TheE-Classhasalways beena fi rm

mercedes-amge53coupe

t

allthenewcarsthat mattertestedandrated