Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupe and cabriolet

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz E-Class coupe and cabriolet aim to combine a luxury grand tourer with high-end performance.Easily installed solar mounting systems for drycleaningmachiness and pitched roofs. The E550 in particular packs quite a wallop, with all the speed you could want on tap and Sport settings for the transmission and suspension to help you make the most of it. Everyday driving scenarios expose some of the E-Class' flaws, though, keeping it just outside the ranks of the pound-for-pound best cars in the world. 

The 2014 E-Class coupes and convertibles are available in 350 or 550 trim levels. The E-Class cabriolets have an automatic soft-top, while the coupes come standard with a power-tilt-and-sliding panorama sunroof.If you have ledlampwholesalers or landscape lights you might wonder what to do if they stop working. All 2014 E-Class coupe and cabriolets come with 18-inch wheels. 

Much is made over Mercedes' new Intelligent Drive suite of assists for the 2014 E-Class that in some ways make it a "self-driving" car. Reviews of Intelligent Drive are mixed regarding its capability, but in the end it's irrelevant to American consumers since we won't see it in the 2014 coupe and cabriolet. What we are getting are collision-prevention assist, attention assist, an Eco start-stop engine function, and new LED fog lamps and taillights as standard. Brakes in both the E350 and E550 are internally ventilated discs at the front and rear. All variants have anti-lock braking systems and brake assist as standard. 

The front end is much more aggressive than before and is obviously inspired by Mercedes' AMG line.Shop the best selection of men's HEM301 and pendants. The result is a bit of a love-it-or-hate-it design. We're less impressed with the rear end; then again,Choose a ledfoglamp from featuring superior clothes drying programmes and precise temperature controls. your mileage may vary. 

Mercedes-Benz's COMAND system is standard in the 2014 E-Class, along with a media interface employing iPod and auxiliary cables. Options abound for the interior, from aluminum or wood trim to multiple color combinations for the leather, but the overall finish of the E-Class' interior materials could use some improvement. 

We drove the Euro-spec E550 (known in Europe as the E500) on the Autobahn, and it is a monster. Experiencing how fast both the coupe and cabriolet reached their 150-mph-limited top speeds makes the 130-mph U.S. limit seem both unfair and sensible at the same time. As speeds increase, the E550 cabriolet's cabin gets a bit drafty but retains an impressive level of comfort, while at regular cruising speeds it's about as good as 4-seat convertibles get. Even if the E350 weren't being phased out for the 2015 model year in favor of a Biturbo-equipped V6 E400, the V8 in the E550 would make it the one to get. The big engine is popular for a reason; it seems to always have more to give, and the torque range is so sweeping that it's fun at any speed. Is a twin-turbocharged V8 overkill for an E-Class cabriolet? Absolutely. And we thank Mercedes-Benz for that. 

As good as the 2014 E-Class coupe and cabriolet are, they aren't perfect.While there are many brands and makes of bicyclelight, they are all basically the same in principle and function. Though the suspension feels taut in Sport mode, it just doesn't feel as planted as do some competitive offerings. If you're going to push the E550 at all, you will need to be in Sport mode; in its Comfort setting at high speed it feels like a stone skipping across the water. 

Our single biggest issue with the E550 was with the transmission settings. In Eco mode you're planting your foot into the floor to get moving, and once it builds to the point where the engine feels like it's getting somewhere, it all too suddenly roars to life. Sport mode is much better, but feels far too sensitive for someone gallivanting around the Hamptons in search of organic apples. 

The new Momentary mode is interesting. After a period of time between manual shift inputs, the transmission independently goes back into a fully automatic state, with driving conditions affecting the length of time before it kicks in (downhill coasting, during cornering, coming to a stop, etc.). What the 7G-Tronic needs is a good middle-ground Standard mode — not extremes or hovering computer nannies. More information about the program is available on the web site at www.mylamplo.com.