Mercedes-AMG has confirmed that the Coupe and Cabriolet versions of the recently facelifted E-Class will not be offered in full-fat E63 form. Boooo.

“At the moment we offer the Coupe and Cabriolet in the 53 version, and we will stay with this for the facelift,” said E-Class product manager Andrea Ruland. “We won’t offer a V8 on the Coupe and Cabriolet.”

Thankfully the saloon and estate variants of the E-Class (which were both unveiled back in March) will still get turbocharged V8 engines and 63 badging, and Merc has confirmed that these will be unveiled in the very near future.

For the two-door E-Classes, though, the straight-six-engined AMG E53 will remain at the top of the tree – despite our hopes that Merc would bring back the 600bhp+ V8 along with the new headlights in this facelift.

The E53 isn’t slow of course - 429bhp and 384lb ft of torque (with some electronic boost) means 0-62mph in 4.4 seconds for the coupe and 4.6 seconds for the cabriolet. Plus, the 53 now gets the option of an AMG DYNAMIC PLUS Package, which essentially means red brake callipers and the all-important Drift Mode – where 100 per cent of the torque can be sent to the rear wheels. This was previously reserved for AMG’s eight-cylinder models and wasn’t available on the pre-facelift E53.

There’s now also the option of the AMG Driver’s Package, which increases the 53’s electronically-limited top speed from 155mph to 168mph. Still, not a V8, though.

Oh, and the plug-in hybrid variants of the updated E-Class saloon and estate also won’t make their way into the Coupe or Cabriolet – but then they’re not V8s either…

Content published on 26th August 2018

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