Now there's a two-door Mercedes for everyone

Singapore

WHEN it comes to cars, one quick way to add glamour is to subtract doors. Just look at the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupe, which has just gone on sale here.

By reshaping the stately sedan body of the E-Class and giving it a lower roofline, along with frameless windows and yes, just two doors, Mercedes has created a shapely form that mixes modern looks with a strong sense of the brand's classic elegance.

It's available here in two flavours, with a basic E 200 Coupe model priced at S$282,888 inclusive of Certificate of Entitlement, and a more powerful E 300 Coupe at S$334,888.

Both cars have 2.0-litre turbo engines, but in different states of tune. They also share the same nine-speed transmission, which helps to make them fairly speedy: the 184-horsepower E 200 gets to 100km/h in 7.8 seconds, while the E 300 (245 horsepower) does the same sprint in just 6.4 seconds.

But the price difference between the E 200 and E 300 isn't wholly down to the performance gap between them.

The more expensive model is equipped with such goodies as a panoramic glass roof (a S$6,800 option on the E 200), an AMG styling package that includes 19-inch wheels and a racier steering wheel design (S$15,800) and a fancier infotainment system with a widescreen cockpit display ($15,300).

If those numbers are too salty for your liking, Mercedes does have a cheaper C-Class Coupe range to offer that starts at S$189,888. Conversely, a larger, plusher S 500 Coupe is also available for S$611,888.

In fact, with six different coupe model families available, Mercedes-Benz has more such cars to offer customers than any other car maker here. Clearly, this is a brand that understands glamour.