Mercedes wants its E-Class Coupe to offer driving excitement alongside improved efficiency.

The two-door model is offered with a selection of engines to match its sporty aesthetic. But all of them – apart from the top-of-the-range 5.5-litre V8 – are offered in ‘BlueEfficiency’ guise, as Mercedes strives to highlight its fuel-saving technology.

Can the coupe mix fun and frugality? Keith Collantine took the first models for a drive in Tuscany, Italy.

The new E-Class has morphed into a distinctive coupe with strong design characteristics. The soft curves of its predecessor are replaced by an altogether more modern mix of angular shapes and taut bulges, particularly the swelling arches above the rear wheels.

Mercedes continues its practice of producing coupes without B-pillars – the uprights behind the front doors – giving the car’s profile a satisfyingly clean appearance.

World-leading aerodynamic efficiency

The E-Class Coupe’s sporty profile is more than just eye-pleasing aesthetics. The smooth shape reduces drag, allowing it to cut through the air more cleanly, using less fuel. Remarkably, this makes it the most aerodynamically efficient car you can buy: its drag coefficient of 0.24 even beats the Toyota Prius’s 0.25.

Its shorter wheelbase compared to the standard E-Class adds to the impression of a sportier car and livens up the driving experience as well. Added to that the new E-Class Coupe is lower and wider than the outgoing model.

Mercedes has a reputation for building cars geared more towards comfort than seat-of-your-pants driving thrills. The E-Class Coupe attempts to make concessions towards both styles – with mixed success.

As you’d expect, it carries off driving comfort with great aplomb. Plump for an SE model with a diesel engine and the car positively purrs along the motorways.

The driving position is highly adjustable, the suspension is cosseting, and the seats can be inflated in various places to offer maximum support. As a stylish long-distance cruiser, there isn’t much to rival the E-Class Coupe.

AMG kit adds sporty spice

But when it tries to be a sporty ride the E-Class comes up short compared to its rivals.

The sport models offer suspension and braking tuned for drivers who prize excitement over comfort. Steering feedback and precision are improved, and the ride sacrifices a little of its smoothness for enhanced grip and responsiveness.

The substantial pulling power of the diesel engine makes overtaking a breeze. Sport models run on 18-inch AMG alloys (compared to the SE’s 17-inch rims) and a full AMG bodykit gives the car a more dynamic look. Oddly, the sporty-looking diffuser is absent on the Sport model, suggesting it’s a more ornamental than functional feature.

In Sport guise the E-Class Coupe is limited in its ambitions by the semi-automatic gearbox, which shifts too lazily to make for a spectacular drive. In terms of pure driving feel and excitement, it can’t rival competitors from BMW and Audi. This is a car with sporting pretensions, but it is not a thoroughbred.

In general there’s little else to object to about the E-Class Coupe. The substantial A-pillars (carrying some of the weight the B-pillars aren’t there to support) inhibit visibility, particularly at junctions.

And although Mercedes has made giant strides towards recapturing its reputation for build quality, there was a piece of loose trim on one of our test models. But I’d be prepared to believe this was a one-off, as the rest of the cabin looked and felt solid.

Gizmos galore

A new E-Class is always a feast of technological wizardry and the Coupe is no exception. Attention Assist, provided as standard, monitors your driving inputs to detect signs of drowsiness. If you’re showing signs of drifting into sleep, the system alerts you and warns you to take a break.

Agility Control suspension is also fitted as standard. This fine-tunes damper settings in the car’s suspension to suit the driving conditions: if the driver is cornering vigorously or makes an evasive manoeuvre the damping force is increased to give maximum control.

Adaptive Main Beam Assist uses a camera fitted to the windscreen to judge how much of the road ahead the headlights should be illuminated. If there are no other cars ahead, the lights smoothly switch to full beam – if another vehicle appears, they automatically switch back to normal range to avoid dazzling other drivers. It comes as standard on the Sport model and is an option on the SE.

The E-Class Coupe also offers individual climate control settings, a hard-disc based sat nav, automatic emergency braking system and what Mercedes calls Pre-Safe anticipatory occupant protection system. This is activated when the car’s system detect a collision is imminent, and deploys a series of protective systems involving the seat belts and airbags to ensure occupants benefit from maximum protection.

Launch line-up

Mercedes employs a host of other clever technologies in the E-Class Coupe to reduce fuel consumption. The steering and fuel pumps are activated on-demand to reduce energy use. The alternator only operates when the car’s electronics require it to, and it runs on low rolling resistance tyres.

The result of this careful honing of the car’s energy use is a claimed 41.5mpg in the E350 CDI model. The V6 diesel develops 231bhp with CO2 emissions of 179g/km, and excellent puling power from low revs.

This is the only diesel model available at its launch in June. Two petrol engines are offered: the first a V6 E350 CGI with 292bhp and 203g/km of CO2. At the top of the range is the E500 with 387bhp and 254g/km of CO2 which, with great restraint, can be coaxed to 25.9mpg over a normal mix of roads.

These will be followed in September by two lower-capacity engines. The E250 CDI is the most frugal model, managing 53.3 miles per gallon of diesel on the combined cycle (claimed), while emitting 139g/km of CO2 and giving the driver 204bhp to play with.

Its petrol sibling, the E250 CDI, generates 204bhp and gets 40.3mpg, with 164g/km of CO2 emissions. This will be offered with a manual transmission, but most buyers are expected to stick with the automatic options.

There is much to like about the new car, however, and those in search of a tourer with a distinctive appearance that can cover motorway distances in maximum comfort should take an E-Class Coupe for a test drive.

Key facts

Model tested: E-Class Coupe 350CGI BlueEfficiency, E-Class Coupe 500CGI BlueEfficiency
On the road price: £35,280 and £48,360
Price range: £33,285-£48,360
Date tested: April 28th 2009
Road tester: Keith Collantine