Mercedes-AMG E53 Coupe long-term update: Saying goodbye after 10,000 miles

[SOUND] Welcome to the roundup film on my long term Mercedes E 53 AMG coupe formatic plus. Now some of you asked about long term What does that mean? Well, it just means it's car that I live with for sort of, say six months, gonna be nine months actually with this. And in that extended period of time, it gives you a chance to get to know it better. So this run on film, we've already done one looking at the spec of the car, we did one [UNKNOWN] the drive train, which is really key on this car. And this is sort of all the other bits Things that my time with it has thrown up as being interesting, for better or worse. So there's about ten of them. I think, starting with, well, these screens actually because they're a massive feature of the interior of this car. Both metaphorically and literally, they're enormous and they've been loving. Live with the fact that they aren't touchscreen, I think is actually a very good thing but you don't get fingerprints all over the place. They're lovely and clear the methods of operating them. When you've got various buttons down here, you still got the sort of ion Drive type will I know that's BMW thing, but that's what they first sort of pioneered it. I suppose. We've also got these trackpads up here on the way which I wasn't sure about. That lights that are little little mouse pads ready. And this one controls the screen here and this one controls the screen over here. Strangely, for everything up here I find myself using the pads down here or the wheel. For these ones obviously, it's quite easy to use in the end. It can be a little bit sensitive at times, but they work quite well as the actual operating system. System in here I was never a fan of Mercedes systems just to jump into I was finding quite confusing. Yes, it gets better with time and this one's better than the older version which I think you can still find in Aston Martin's. One particular thing I like about these screens is the fact that you can Can configure the way this looks in here, which you cannot have two big dials or as I've had and set up this futuristic screen as they kind of call it, and progressive is the phrase they use, which just has the central dial there. And then the screens either side for Sat Nav or trick computer or whatever you want on tire pressure. And to me, that's the one that works best. Next up something completely different these windows. Now when I saw the poopy version of the glass, it instantly reminded me of the old CLK. So it's the C 209 version, which is the one that spawned the black series, which I just thought had a beautiful Sort of arching roofline and the fact you can put these windows all the way down and sort of almost from front to rear, there's a little quarter light left in there gives the same feeling. I think it's a really elegant look to the car. This obviously has the panoramic sunroof as well. So on a nice summer's day, you can have a practically convertible experience in a cafe, which is rather nice moving on. These doors, not so good, to be honest, they are enormous and very heavy. So if you're trying to let somebody into the back there's enough space in the back for adults to sit back there pretty comfortably. But if you park on a hill at all then either they feel like they're running away from you or they're just always too heavy to kind of push over. I mean, not a problem for somebody like we big strong arms. What's your talk about next. Speakers as well as the doors. Banister system is part of that package, which is by two and a half thousand pounds, which gives you an awful lot including the panoramic sunroof. It's a good system. The Bluetooth works really well. So that's sometimes you get another feel like I've had to shout at people that. Later was hear me I can hear them brilliant. It wasn't as good as the Master System in the G 63 that we had in and that had the speaker in the roof and a couple of extra trees up there that was noticeably a much richer Sound, a better quality sound but this has still been very nice to listen to. Moving on, next piece of tech, cruise control. Now this also has the package which. Sort of pro safety systems Lane Keeping system which I don't like it all. The cruise controls been pretty good in terms of the distance thing that it has something else whereby it recognizes the speed limit signs and automatically adjusts the cruise control to that. I don't like that at all because a couple of times on the motorway which is really where you want to use. Control, the system has picked up, say a sign on a slip road or something like that. And that is actually I think, fundamentally quite dangerous because suddenly the car reduces it's speed potentially quite dramatically. Not for me that one of these attack though that has been very good is the. Multi beam LED lighting with this. Now, it's got a huge number of LEDs and three different rows in those lights. And it does the matrix thing where it tracks the cars coming towards you, which is very clever. Again, I still think it's a piece of technology that you can't leave entirely to its own devices because there will be situations inevitably where say you're coming up to a crest and you know that there's a lorry Coming towards you. But the system can't pick it up because there are no lights coming towards it. So you have to then still get the lights to make sure you don't blind the person coming towards you. It works well. I like it and does some very clever things that I hadn't seen in these matrix systems before in that It will also dim the lights very slightly so that you don't get glare from traffic signs, which obviously a very reflective equally if it's raining it will dim the lower level lights so that you don't get glare back out from the road. Things like that I think are absolutely brilliant and yeah, very clever. But you still just need to be aware of how How you use that technology. Couple of things coming back to the interior styling on the subject of lighting. You can adjust all the different LEDs in here for the different colors. And you can do it so that when you turn the heating up, they go red on the vents in turn down and they go blue. It just makes me smile. So I like that Somebody else that makes me smile in here. The SOS button. It's just a little bit James Bond. It actually feels a little bit flimsy. But Charlie and I were saying, wouldn't it be great if instead of an SOS button, you could actually just reconfigure it to Don't play your particularly favorite tune. Top Gun perhaps, straight into the danger though. I wanted to mention the ride in this car, because inspect the larger wheels on this 20 inch wheels as opposed to the 19th which kind of standard, because they look better. I thought on a big car like this? Yeah, they definitely fill the arches more pleasingly. But, the ride was something I was then worried about. And the very first time I drove it. [UNKNOWN] I was actually quite pleased because the suspension it's not plush. Sort of ride, perhaps like you might expect for a big E Class. It's not as waft is some of them thoughts. It gives you a nice sense of connection with the road. I feel. Yes, it's probably a little bit more choppy and I think some of that is down to the larger wheels, but it's certainly Not in any way uncomfortable. For me, you just get a nicer sense of where the car is. It makes it slightly easier to place. And if you do drive quickly, then yeah, you get a better sense of just connection through the steering. And through the seat of your pants, which is important, I think in an AMG or something I've got an AMG badge on it. Finally on the tech aspect, I've had the Mercedes me app on my iPhone. And whilst I can't claim it, something that I would Particularly necessarily signed up to had I not been testing it. It's been quite useful at times that reminds you of because a lot of you are in a rush to get into a house or if for example a park quickly and then go through some shopping and halfway around if you've ever had that thing where didn't leave the catalog or And then I shut the front door. It will let you know if you haven't got the car, which is very nice. You can also if you park in a big car park or I use it's actually the Goodwood Festival speed. Big confusing car park where if you left the car and it will tell you. [UNKNOWN] surprising medium, just occasionally quite useful. So what conclusions have I reached after my nine months of this car? Well, it's been a wonderful thing to live with, as you'd expect, and I think that is its greatest strength. This is quite an all rounder. Under this E53 it doesn't have the outright performance of a C63. It doesn't feel like a fully fledged AMG. However, the drive train, as I said, this EQ boost system if I heard that this was coming out in the next C63 or something, then I wouldn't be at all disappointed, because I think in fact it's probably the chassis that feels Les playful doesn't feel like a full 63 I think the power train, I can see a place for that in a in a proper full blooded performance cards is that impressive. I just think that the four wheel drive system in this feels much more tightly controlled. So although it's good and I like the way it shuffles talk to the rear very quickly. It doesn't feel overall it's playful. For as you would expect of a full 63 and G which now very put a shot of an estate drifting around but you cannot do that in this and it doesn't feel up to that. But the drive train really really impressive. So yeah, well done Mercedes. I think the drive track. Undoubtedly a standard feature of this car, and I have loved getting to know it.