2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The CLE is available in 300, 450 or AMG CLE 53 trims in either hardtop or convertible body styles, with standard 4Matic all-wheel drive (AWD). Our AMG convertible arrived with a grey soft top and Alpine Grey paint—a bit of a disappointment when the company offers a brilliant Sun Yellow or Patagonia Red Metallic. Or how about the Obsidian Black Metallic with the red soft top? Yes, please! Anything but grey on grey.

You’ll find some AMG-specific styling in the front fascia and the AMG features a quad exhaust in the rear, but by and large all CLEs exhibit the same swooping lines that make it pleasing to look at. Non-AMG models comes standard with 18-inch wheels, but you can upgrade to 19- or even 20-inch wheels. AMG wheels start at 19 inches and go up to 20 inches. Regardless of trim you can add black accents to the outside or chrome door handle inserts and the AMG model gives an option for a carbon fiber rear spoiler and side-mirror housings.

Inside, the CLE gets its own specially-designed front seats and they look terrific in red leather upholstery (MB-Tex synthetic leather is standard on lower trim levels). The retro-cool HVAC vents bring a touch of old-school charm while the 64-color ambient lighting provides a high-tech feeling, especially at night. There are plenty of interior materials to choose from as well. The open-pore wood and the brushed aluminum are quite nice, but the natural grain black wood with aluminum lines are reminiscent of a gangster’s pin-striped suit. You might like it, but we’d avoid it at all costs.

All Mercedes CLE models get a mild-hybrid system for a little bit of extra power on demand. The 300 trim pairs this system with a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 255 horsepower while the 450 steps it up to a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-six for 375 ponies. Our big boy Mercedes-AMG CLE 53 Cabriolet tester pushes that 3.0-liter engine to 433 hp and 413 lb-ft of torque, good enough for a zero to sixty time of just over four seconds, according to Mercedes. A nine-speed automatic transmission puts the power to the pavement.

While all CLEs have specific drive modes, the AMG has a plethora of settings, including Slippery, Comfort, Sport, Sport Plus and Race. Each of these configure the engine, suspension, and the AMG dynamics driver aids. Within the AMG dynamics parameters you have Basic, Advanced, Pro and Master. We couldn’t quite figure out how to unlock the Master setting, but seeing as we were on public roads for the week that’s probably a good thing.

We spent most of our time in the Sport and Sport Plus modes, running up a canyon road with plenty of twists and turns. The power delivery here is sublime, but what’s even better is that there isn’t so much power that it’s overwhelming. Sure, Mercedes offers vehicles with much more chutzpah, but what’s the point when you can rarely utilize all that power?

The transmission shifts quickly and smoothly, either on its own or through the paddle shifters. However, when doing its own thing, the transmission downshifts on braking, putting the car into the power band for quick corner exits.

The steering in Sport and Sport Plus drive modes is nicely weighted, and the addition of up to 2.5 degrees of rear-wheel steering makes the AMG CLE 53 very nimble indeed. It’s a great feature for those who really like to drive that you won’t find it on the lower Mercedes-Benz CLEs.

The only fly in the ointment here is a slightly spongy brake feel, even with the upgraded AMG system. You also might be disappointed in the AMG convertible’s fuel economy. The EPA gives it a rating of 22 mpg combined while the hardtop with the smaller 2.0-liter engine returns 27 mpg combined.

The CLE convertible has a few interior tricks that make driving a drop-top more comfortable. The seats are treated with a special coating to keep them cool—even in direct sunlight—and an aerodynamic Aircap system keeps air from swirling into the cabin. It can keep long hair from going too bonkers but you might still require a hat for higher speeds. An Airscarf system blows warm air from the headrest—wonderful in the winter, not so great in the summer. The top itself can open or close in about 20 seconds at speeds up to 37 miles per hour. When up, it does a good job of keeping road and wind noise at bay.

Every CLE gets a Burmester 3D surround sound system and power, heated front seats with memory but you can also add multi-contour front seats with massage, ventilated front seats and a heated steering wheel. The German brands have never been known for their cupholder design, and nothing has changed with the CLE. They are adjustable but the smaller one won’t fit a standard can of soda and the larger one won’t adapt to the Big Gulps we Americans have grown to love so much. The cupholders also are not heated or cooled.

The hardtop version of the CLE allows for 11.2 cubic feet of space in the trunk, but the convertible takes that down to just 9.6 cubic feet of cargo capacity. That’s still enough for two carry-on luggage pieces, but you might end up using the rear seats as storage for longer trips. Otherwise, those seats are best left for kids or very small adults. Mercedes hasn’t published the official numbers for rear seat legroom, but it ain’t much.

Tech is where the Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class shines. Every CLE gets a 12.3-inch reconfigurable gauge cluster and an 11.9-inch center touchscreen. In the convertible CLE, the center screen can tilt from 15 to 40 degrees to keep reflections at bay.

The MBUX infotainment system is pretty easy to use, with the navigation system front and center and a home button to access more features. The optional augmented reality for the navigation system is pretty keen. It can provide an overlay on the front camera video feed with addresses and directional arrows so you always know where you’re going and what street number is nearby. Of course, if you’d rather use your phone, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard.

Mercedes’ voice control works well, adjusting the HVAC controls, tuning to radio stations and even telling a joke if you ask nicely. New to the MBUX system is a Routines function. Mercedes has a few pre-programmed settings that will do things like automatically turn on the heated seats when it detects a preset outside temperature or play romantic music and switch to rose-colored ambient lighting for date night. You can also program your own settings to suit your particular needs. Celebration music on Friday after work, anyone?

The steering wheel can be a bit intimidating at first glance, but it’s actually very well organized. There are two horizontal spokes running through the steering wheel. The buttons on the upper left hand side control the gauge cluster while those on the upper right hand side are connected to the center screen. However, these buttons can be a bit persnickety to use. They only accept a certain touch, it seems. The lower left hand side of the steering wheel is for adaptive cruise control while the volume control—there is no knob—and other media controls are on the lower right. At the bottom of the steering wheel on the left is a round button that can customize drive settings, while the round button on the right selects the drive modes themselves. See? Easy as pie.

The optional Driver Assistance Package is a good add-on. It allows for automatic lane changes as well as active steering and stop-and-go adaptive cruise control. It’s not quite as robust as the hands-off systems you can find elsewhere, and the system seemed to have a bit of trouble monitoring the lane markings at dusk, but it’s very smooth and inspires confidence. Also optional are a dash cam with a Sentry Mode that will take pictures in case of a collision while parked and a head-up display.

The only driver-assist features you’ll get standard are a basic blind-spot monitoring system, forward collision warning, and automatic emergency braking. Other features, such as lane-keep assist, speed-limit monitoring, evasive steering assist, and emergency stop assist, are part of the aforementioned Driver Assistance Package, which costs $1,950.

Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) had released safety ratings for the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class at the time of publication.

All 2025 CLE models come standard with a four-year/50,000-mile limited warranty along with complimentary roadside assistance, which is expected for this class of vehicle.

Now, don’t go thinking you won’t pay a princely sum for the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class. It starts at $59,150 (with the $1,150 destination charge) for the CLE 300 4Matic hard top while the CLE 450 4Matic hardtop comes in at $68,600. The AMG CLE 53 sits at a cool $75,450. The convertible ups the price to $67,600 for the 300, $76,950 for the 450 and $83,750 for the AMG version. However, our AMG test car had things like special paint, a red leather interior, forged 20-inch wheels, upgraded seats with more adjustability and ventilation, an exhaust system that feeds engine noise into the cabin, the Driver Assistance Package and the Dynamic Plus Package for optimal performance. The total, with all of those options, is a whopping $101,340.

Still, there isn’t much like it in the marketplace. There aren’t too many true two-door luxury coupes left in this world now that the Audi A5 has left the chat. Genesis builds lovely cars, but they all have four doors. This is also true of Lexus and Acura. However, the BMW 4 Series is offered as a hard top or convertible. You can also get some 4 Series models with rear-wheel drive (RWD) and BMW offers the snorting 523-horsepower M4 Competition at a starting price of right around $97,000.

We think the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class offers a more refined driving experience than the BMW 4 Series, especially where the top models are concerned. While the AMG CLE 53 is just as at home cruising down a coastal highway as it is twisting through the back roads, the M4 and its iterations lean heavily on performance and nothing else. A fully kitted out M4 might have more power, but it’s also a few thousand more expensive. And as pointed out earlier, it’s tough to find a public road where cars north of 500 ponies can really be unleashed. Unless you’re headed to the track every weekend, go with the Benz.