The Mercedes-Benz CLE300 Demonstrates That Screens Are Not Truly Luxurious

      Have we hit the limit on screens? I think we might have. I’m not referring to the impact of smartphones and related technologies on modern democracy and our attention spans, although that could be the subject of several blogs.

      No, I’m referring to the screens in our vehicles. We’ve added enough of those, haven’t we? It's not just my opinion, but also shared by many of my colleagues and the general public. Volkswagen’s design head recently promised to reintroduce actual buttons, expressing what many of us are thinking: “It’s not a phone; it’s a car.” The design director at Jaguar dislikes screens, J.D. Power criticizes them, Hyundai finds them stressful, and even Mercedes-Benz's chief design officer, Gorden Wagener, recently acknowledged that “screens are not luxury.”

      As it turns out, Mr. Wagener is quite familiar with his own products because the new CLE300 undermines itself with a couple of screens that are neither user-friendly nor functional during this review. More on that later.

      For those unfamiliar with the CLE, Mercedes claims this new coupe is designed to bridge the gap between the previous C- and E-Class coupes. However, it shares the wheelbase and interior with the current C-Class sedan rather than the E-Class, indicating its true lineage. Regardless, it was hard to love the car, not due to its size or mechanics, but rather because of the frustrating technology.

      At Least It Looks Good

      Let’s highlight some positives. One of the primary reasons to choose a car like this is its appearance, and in person, the CLE is attractively designed. It feels luxurious on the road, and its classic compact coupe silhouette connects it to the older C63s and CLK Blacks I admired on Top Gear. Inside, the subtle hood contours and rear fender lines are noticeable, making the driver feel quite stylish.

      Current Mercedes interiors are also visually appealing. The seats are very comfortable, and I appreciate that they are white. The ambient lighting creates a nice atmosphere, and the overall build quality is commendable.

      Powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine producing 255 horsepower, with a 48-volt mild hybrid system adding 23 hp, the CLE300 is a pleasurable highway cruiser. It accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in 6.2 seconds, which, while not AMG fast, feels sufficiently quick for daily driving. The vehicle offers decent acceleration and handling balance, and there’s a smoothness in both cornering and acceleration. It excels on highways, cruising comfortably above 80 mph. If that’s your main driving scenario, the CLE300 is one of those cars that leaves you feeling more refreshed after a drive.

      Unrefined Drive

      However, issues arise once you leave the highway. The CLE300’s mild-hybrid powertrain is not as seamless at low speeds compared to other mild hybrids. It can be frustratingly slow to move from a stop when you release the brake at stoplights or in stop-and-go traffic, potentially leading drivers accustomed to EVs to search for a “turn on creep” option in the infotainment system. Once it does start moving, the powertrain can feel lurchy, which is disappointing for a $60,000 Mercedes-Benz, especially a new model with a hybrid system designed to smooth out such issues.

      The brakes don’t help either. Like the C300 I evaluated over a year ago, the pedal has too much travel without adequate response at the top and becomes abruptly difficult to manage at the bottom. Experiencing delayed emergency stops and unintended aggressive slowdowns felt genuinely unsafe throughout my week with this vehicle.

      I did wonder, “Maybe it’s just me, and owners would adapt.” Indeed, the more I drove the CLE, the better I became at controlling its brakes. However, this realization was stark when I returned to my personal vehicle at the conclusion of this review. My nine-year-old Lexus IS 350—a car that isn’t particularly sporty—felt instantly refreshing with its brake pedal, like a precise instrument in comparison. As one commenter aptly noted in our recent Chevy Traverse review, “Getting used to a bad thing doesn’t make it a good thing.”

      The Screens Crapped Out

      Two days into having the CLE, I started the car only to find that neither of its screens powered on. In a less premium vehicle, this might not seem significant, but since Mercedes’ MBUX system relies heavily on those screens for information and input, almost every function aside from actual driving was unavailable. The engine was running, and I could shift into gear and drive, but there was no speedometer, climate controls, backup camera, fuel readout, navigation, music, or HUD. To put it mildly, this was Not Ideal. For context, Mazda recently faced a class-action lawsuit over infotainment systems that exhibited similar issues.

      The screens did come back after a few power cycles, but not before I