The Straight-Six Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe Ticks All Your Lifestyle Boxes

Mercedes has today revealed new details about the upcoming GLE Coupe, its direct rival to the BMW X6.

Among the highlights are an early performance from the new AMG-badged straight-six 3.0-litre engine, added to the GLE after debuts in the CLS and E ranges. The state of tune here is identical; 429bhp and 384lb ft courtesy of twin turbochargers. There’s an extra 22bhp and 184lb ft for short periods, though, courtesy of the EQ Boost starter-alternator.

That makes the all-wheel drive SUV quick. The sprint to 62mph comes around in 5.3 seconds and the car will bash into its 155mph speed limiter with ease. Better aerodynamics help it get there; despite the same frontal area its drag factor has been reduced by nine per cent.

It also looks pretty mean. Call it hench, call it badass, call it an SUV with a chopped roof line; whatever you call it, this sort of thing is fashionable right now. Park it somewhere nice, drop a social media filter over it and just watch the likes roll in.

Its wheelbase has been stretched by 20mm versus its predecessor but it stays 60mm shorter than the boxier GLE. That means a length of 4939mm and a chunky width – excluding mirrors – of 2010mm.

There’s plenty of space for all the gear you need to photograph for your sponsored posts. Some 655 litres lurk behind the rear bench seat, which is, well, massive. Much like the front grille, which is suitably in-your-face.

More humble-bragging is at your fingertips with a whole seven drive programmes to flick between. On top of the regulation Comfort, Sport and Sport+ are a user-tweakable Individual mode, Trail off-road mode and one for Sand, if you’re feeling very brave and you just have to get that water’s edge sunset shot. You also get a Slippery mode, there to stop you accidentally pirouetting into the scenery on greasy roads.

If you do venture off road you’ll be carried there in comfort on synthetic leather and microfibre cloth seats. AMG Ride Control+ air springs are standard on the AMG GLE 53 Coupe, too. You can customise the interior thanks to a long list of options to fit your personality or what the analytics say is popular right now.

Want even more social media value out of the big Mercedes? Rejoice, for it also has a photogenic AMG Performance steering wheel with red contrasting stitching. That’s not all, as you can optionally add the AMG Track Pace telematics system for monitoring your track day laps. Up to 80 specific parameters are recorded and can even be displayed on the optional head-up display in real time.