Of us can justify needing a compact automotive, an off-roader, a minivan or a pickup, however convertibles are the epitome of pointless. No person wants a convertible, or at the very least that’s what I believed till I drove the 2024 Mercedes-Benz CLE450 Cabriolet. I’ve at all times been a sucker for a convertible; my first automotive was a 2005 Saab 9-3 Cabriolet that I purchased off Craigslist for $5,000 and that promptly drained my checking account then died utterly. Ever since then I’ve been fiending for one more hit of open-topped opulence, after which the CLE rolled up in my driveway.
Full disclosure: Mercedes-Benz loaned me a 2024 CLE450 Cabriolet for a weekend so I may take it to the Mercedes-AMG C63 S E Efficiency drive occasion in Malibu. I did simply that, and I impressed my neighbors and mates with the gorgeous, punchy and almost-practical four-seat drop prime earlier than a gaggle of evil individuals (the truly fantastic of us on the fleet administration firm) robbed me of my new automotive (did their job with the utmost kindness and respect). Clearly I used to be unhappy to see the CLE450 Cabrio go away my storage.
The most cost effective CLE300 Cabriolet begins at $64,350 and is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 with 255 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, the identical powertrain I drove within the coupe a pair months in the past. Step as much as the CLE450 Cabriolet for $73,850 and also you get a wonderful turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-6 with a 48-volt mild-hybrid system that makes 375 hp and 369 lb-ft. Each powertrains handle to get the identical gasoline mileage at 23 metropolis, 32 freeway, and 26 mixed, and all CLEs come customary with all-wheel-drive. When you can, go for the CLE450. That straight-six is among the best engines available on the market, and it takes this almost 4,500-pound automotive from 0 to 60 mph in a scant 4.2 seconds.
As with the remainder of the CLE lineup, the CLE450 Cabriolet comes customary with an uncharacteristically beneficiant checklist of kit. All CLE Cabriolets come customary with a Burmester encompass sound stereo, heated entrance seats with reminiscence, Mercedes’ AirScarf neck heaters, automated parking, blind-spot monitoring, automated emergency braking, a wi-fi charger, 64-color ambient lighting and extra. My check automotive totaled $84,270 with much-appreciated options like 20-inch wheels, ventilated entrance seats, the motive force’s help package deal and a head up show.
The CLE Cabriolet replaces each the C- and E-Class convertibles within the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Although it has a barely shorter wheelbase than the E-Class cabrio, it’s barely longer than each outgoing vehicles. Meaning the CLE Cabriolet is the most important car in its class, and it has two doubtlessly usable rear seats so long as entrance seat occupants scoot up and/or rear seat passengers are shorter. The trunk house is compromised by the folding roof and small trunk aperture, however there’s sufficient house and adaptability with the usual break up folding rear seatbacks to hold what you want. Is it sufficient for a household of 4 to tackle a weekend highway journey? Most likely not, however three will just do tremendous with some balancing of cargo house and seating capability. The entrance seats get pleasure from heaps of house in nearly each dimension from legroom to headroom to shoulder room to manspreading room, the CLE is severely spacious up entrance.
Driving the CLE450 Cabriolet is a luxurious expertise. The turbocharged mild-hybrid I-6 and 9-speed transmission are impossibly easy, sound impeccably refined, and at all times have ample energy. The CLE450’s customary adaptive sport suspension is managed, composed and cozy. The convertible prime is easy to make use of, conveniently operates at speeds as much as 37 mph and does a comparatively good job of insulating the cabin from noise when it’s closed. The platform is impossibly stiff, which is a feat of engineering in a long-wheelbase ragtop just like the CLE. Most convertibles jiggle and wiggle over bumps, however regardless of my greatest efforts to elicit chassis flex, I by no means observed any. The heads-up show that’s projected onto the windshield by no means gave away any refined jiggles both. The dearth of chassis flex is a big flex on the a part of Mercedes’ engineers.
Mercedes-Benz’s driver help methods are a few of the greatest within the trade; they’re simple to make use of, not often battle to observe the highway and speed up and brake comparatively naturally until you’re developing shortly on slowed or stopped site visitors. The usual Burmester stereo brings songs to life in an admirable manner when the highest is up, and in some way manages to lose little or no of that readability when the roof is down and the soundwaves are left to flee into the ether. You’ll love blasting your favourite songs with the highest down; I certain did.
This automotive feels prefer it was made for one objective, and that objective is the often-misunderstood artwork of grand touring. Grand tourers are made for cruising lengthy distances at excessive speeds in blissful consolation, and the CLE450 Cabriolet achieves that mission with the precision of SEAL Group Six. It’s perpetually succesful on winding roads, by no means feeling clumsy or out of its factor, and the 450’s powertrain has the kind of swelling refined energy that you just don’t understand has pinned you to your seat till you see the numbers within the HUD approaching triple digits. On the pothole and velocity bump-riddled roads of Los Angeles, the CLE by no means feels unrefined or unsettled, and it by no means feels too massive, or too small across the swaths of Cybertrucks that litter the streets of LA.
Although I by no means rode within the CLE’s again seat with the highest down, I had some mates who did and so they obtained blown round so much at freeway speeds, however floor streets spared their hair from any unintentional restyling. All CLE Cabriolets come customary with Mercedes’ AirCap, which pops up from the highest of the windshield and pairs with a deployable wind deflector behind the rear seat headrests to attenuate turbulence for passengers. I didn’t discover an enormous distinction with the wind deflectors deployed, however that speaks extra to the Cabriolet’s aerodynamics which can be designed to direct airflow away from the occupants. AirCap creates a good quantity of wind noise when it’s deployed, which might grow to be grating over lengthy durations of time. Total although, being contained in the CLE Cabriolet with the highest down is a fascinating expertise.
When you can afford it, I implore you to check out the Mercedes CLE450 Cabriolet. When you’re undecided in case you’re extra on the facet of being cabrio-curious and you’ve got $85,000 burning a gap in your checking account, this is perhaps the convertible that wins you over. I do know it gained me over.
