2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class Cabriolet First Drive: Expectations Fulfilled
Mercedes’ new midsize drop-top is an ideal vacation-mobile for two.
For our first review of the new convertible version of Mercedes-Benz’s CLE-Class, we were tempted to cut-and-paste our first drive of the CLE coupe, and then hit Ctrl-H and replace all instances of “coupe” with “convertible.” This is meant as the highest compliment possible: As any car fanatic knows, chopping the top off an automobile can completely ruin it. Not the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE: The Cabrio preserves the coupe’s character while adding some unique and helpful convertible-only touches, a few of which we haven’t seen before.
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The New ’Tweener Convertible
For those unfamiliar, the Mercedes CLE is a replacement for both the C-Class and E-Class coupes and convertibles. Shrinking of the segment prompted Benz to blend the two-door Cs and Es into one car line, and the company did it well: The CLE shares the wheelbase of the C-Class sedan (which happens to be 1 inch longer than the previous C-Class cabriolet), but the CLE’s length is between that of the C- and E-Class sedans, and it’s nearly as wide as the E. The result is a car big enough to provide stretch-out space for two yet small enough you won’t regret your purchase every time you try to park it.
In this case, the convertible—er, sorry—cabrio conversion didn’t involve a mere chop of the top. There’s some additional chassis bracing, of course, but what really surprises and delights are the convertible-specific touches. Take the big 11.9-inch center screen: In the convertible, it’s hinged, and at the touch of a button it tilts slightly aft to reduce glare when the top is down. That’s a new one, as is leather on the seats that’s designed to reduce surface temperature by 20-odd degrees, so you’re less likely to sear your shorts-shod thighs if you leave the car sitting in the sun with the top down.
The new CLE Cabriolet is fitted with Mercedes’ Airscarf system, which blows warm air on the back of your neck (and is a nice substitute for cruising with your romantic partner). Even more elaborate is what Mercedes calls Aircap: A wind deflector on the windshield header plus a screen that rises from behind the passengers’ heads, the result of hours of wind-tunnel testing to determine the best way to reduce turbulence in the cabin with the top down. Like everything else in the CLE Cabriolet, Aircap works like a charm.
Testing the CLE in Paradise
Mercedes, ever up for dramatic presentation, staged the new CLE’s press preview on Tenerife, a Spanish island off the coast of Africa and Europe’s answer to Hawaii. (There is no discomfort we at MotorTrend will not endure to give you a thorough review.) Like many of Tenerife’s visitors, the CLE can get itself topless in less than 20 seconds. The roof will go raise or lower at speeds up to 37 mph, but we put the sun on our foreheads before putting the transmission into Drive.
Turns out there was method to Mercedes’ madness: The company chose Tenerife to demonstrate the CLE’s functionality. Our route wound up around Mount Teide, billed as Spain’s highest point (never mind that it’s 1,000 miles from the Spanish mainland, and closer to Africa than Europe; Tenerife is Spain). Up there, temps hovered in the mid-60s, and the Airscarf system kept us feeling warm and loved. By the time we worked our way down to sunny sea level, the midday sun had warmed us well into the 80s, and that stay-cool leather proved its worth. All the while, Aircap allowed for quiet discussion of the Benz’s merits.
Let’s talk about the time in between. As with the CLE Coupe, Mercedes will offer the 2025 CLE Cabriolet to Americans in CLE 300 and CLE 450 form. The former employs a 255-hp, 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine, while the latter gets a 375-hp 3.0-liter inline-six. Both use a 48-volt mild hybrid system, nine-speed automatic transmission, and 4Matic all-wheel drive. We sampled both powertrains when we drove the CLE coupe last year, finding the CLE300 to be merely adequate while the CLE450 provided the bumper crop of power we expect from a luxury car.
This time, we focused on the CLE450. We’d like to say this was because it’s the only engine you should consider—and by and large, it is—but the truth is it’s because the 300s were all claimed on our first day of driving, and they somehow disappeared on day two.
Six Cylinders = No Waiting
No matter; we still think the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE450 is the way to go. Tenerife’s narrow, twisty roads are not unlike the narrow, windy roads near our Los Angeles home base, though narrower and not as twisty, but as in California, they are punctuated by rubberneck sightseers in rental cars. The CLE450’s straight-six engine, assisted by a turbo and an electric supercharger (which supplements the turbo at low engine speeds) and a 21-hp/151-lb-ft ISG (integrated starter generator; that’s the mild hybrid bit), dispatched those slowzenheimers to the rearview mirror with little effort save a cockle-warming racy snarl. Trust us, you can see the scenery in Tenerife just as well at 70 mph as you can at 40.
We detected no noticeable chassis flex, though Tenerife’s smooth roads made this something less than a torture test. Overall, we detected no significant annoyances. Even with the car in Sport mode, the CLE Cabrio’s ride is smooth, its handling athletic and poised, and the steering pleasant and accurate, if not heavy on feedback. Close your eyes—actually, you’d better keep them open, otherwise you won’t be able to read the rest of this sentence—and imagine what a $70,000 Mercedes convertible ought to feel like. That’s pretty much what the CLE Cabriolet delivers.
Of course, there are the expected convertible weak points, though they really aren’t all that weak. The back seat is tight but livable in the coupe, and it isn’t any better in the cabrio, but nor is it that much worse. Cargo space is reasonable for a convertible: 13.6 cubic feet with the top up (1.2 cubes less than the coupe’s generous trunk) and 10.4 with it down, with a split-fold back seat for more room in a pinch. As a vacation-mobile for two, the new CLE Cabrio acquits itself well.
A Convertible That Hits the Target
The conclusion of our CLE Coupe review reads as follows: “The Mercedes-Benz CLE is exactly what a luxury coupe ought to be.” Substitute the word convertible, and the sentence remains true. We could similarly cut and paste our high points of the coupe: “Posh interior, reasonably high level of tech, and its chassis setup provides first-class comfort with a sporty edge.” Add in some genuinely useful convertible bits that manage screen glare, interior temperature, and wind buffeting, and you have our summation of the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE-Class Cabriolet: a carefully thought-out convertible that overflows with appeal. We can think of few vehicles that fulfil expectations as well as this one does.
After a two-decade career as a freelance writer, Aaron Gold joined MotorTrend’s sister publication Automobile in 2018 before moving to the MT staff in 2021. Aaron is a native New Yorker who now lives in Los Angeles with his spouse, too many pets, and a cantankerous 1983 GMC Suburban.
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