2010 Mercedes-Benz E Class - Styling Review

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Shopping for a 2010 Mercedes-Benz E Class? MSRP: $48,050 - $85,750

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You’ll be hard-pressed to find a CLK-Class two-door in the Mercedes lineup for 2010. That’s because the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe takes the place of the CLK in the automaker’s American lineup, though it’s pitched as a more luxurious vehicle—one “positioned a whole class higher than the car it replaces,” Edmunds says, and “a better car in every aspect.” It’s a clever move to rename the new coupe (and coming convertible edition), AutoWeek says: “by giving its latest coupe an E-class name, Mercedes can move it further upmarket and charge more for it.”

While it moves upscale, the E-Class Coupe shifts into styling confusion, according to some reviewers from around the Web. Motor Trend says it evokes “the ‘Ponton’ Mercedes of the early 1950s,” but they find the overall style to be “controversial.” Though it’s called an E-Class, the Coupe doesn’t share much, if anything, with the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, Car and Driver points out: “Look closer, and you’ll notice that the fender contours are ever so slightly exaggerated compared with those of the sedan and that the low-beam headlamps are unique,” the enthusiast magazine reports. Automobile remarks the shape looks better in motion, when “the eye notices less of the awkward details.”

An equal number of road testers like the style. Edmunds feels the “the E-Class coupe instantly looks lithe thanks to its edgy, pillarless roof.” Autoblog thinks “the E Coupe's size and shape is a superb fit for the language trademarks” and figures “the rear three-quarter view is the best, the more prominent haunches flare out with an aggressive rake, the rear presenting a fitting ascension to cap the rising lines established at the front of the car.” Jalopnik admires the E-Class Coupe’s “seriously handsome new looks, including the Mercedes SLS-like grille,” while AutoWeek sums up the controversy by pointing out that while “nothing can overshadow the fact that this is one distinctive looking car…the detailing is a bit heavy-handed.”

The 2010 E-Class Coupe’s interior is a much more convincing effort. It’s “awash in real, standard walnut trim and supple leather,” Motor Trend reports, and has “an aesthetic edge we aren't used to seeing in a Mercedes at this price point that isn't labeled ‘AMG,” Autoblog concludes. Jalopnik fancies the E-Class Coupe as a real-housewives’ kind of car and thinks that crowd will “love the new brushed aluminum and wood trim, the heavily contoured buckets front and rear and the very fashion conscious choice of chocolate brown plastic on the dash.” Car and Driver finds it a quiet place to work, and “sadly, there’s nothing on the list capable of adding any visual spice to the conservative burled-wood-trim interior décor, which is as exciting as a bank lobby,” but appreciates the E-Class Coupe’s instruments, “arguably one of Mercedes’ best-ever gauge clusters, which combines five Porsche-like intersecting circles with clear, crisp displays.” While Jalopnik takes offense at the plastics used on some minor buttons, Automobile lodges “no complaints about the E's cabin, which is filled with first-rate switchgear and very high-quality materials.”