Weekend With The Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe!

Independence Day isn’t only about flags and parades. It is about freedom and everyone has a different meaning of freedom. For some, it could be a break away from the daily monotonous life, for some it could be doing something that they’ve never done before, but for a petrolhead like me freedom is a long drive on good empty roads where it is just me and the car.

Unfortunately neither do we have good roads nor empty ones here in Mumbai, but hey, Mumbai is a really beautiful city especially early in the mornings and late nights. We do have a couple of good roads too like the new Coastal Road and the Atal Setu, both of which are engineering marvels. So, last Sunday, I woke up at 6 AM, fired up the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe parked downstairs and headed out for a quick solo drive.

Mumbai roads are usually very empty on Sunday mornings. There’s a nice sense of calmness in the city. I set off from my home and headed straight towards the Sea Link and then the Coastal Road. The beauty of the GLE 53 is that thanks to its high ground clearance, the vehicle is very usable even on bad roads and even though it is a little tall, it still has very car-like dynamics. The driving position is spot on and I truly enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to go sideways over every random speed breaker.

On the Coastal Ride I got a chance to push the GLE 53 a little and I played around with the driving modes as well. The vehicle feels quite calm in Comfort mode when you’re going easy on the throttle. It makes you feel as if it could be the perfect daily driver sports car. Even though the ride is stiff, it’s not jarring. You can make the exhaust sound a little louder using a button on the steering wheel. The 3.0 inline-6 engine making 429 HP is a powerhouse. It is smooth, responsive and well-tuned. Realistic fuel efficiency in a city like Mumbai will be 4-6 km/l.

I then shifted to Sport and eventually Sport+ modes and they truly ensured that the GLE 53 AMG started feeling more and more agile + responsive. I could sense that it was now feeling eager to be pushed hard. The Coastal Road has some beautiful curves especially if you take the Breach Candy exit and then re-enter from there to go towards Bandra. Amazing tarmac and a superb view of the city’s coastline. The good news is that the Coastal Road will now be open 24×7 today onwards.

After taking 2 rounds of the Coastal Ride, I exited at Marine Drive, drove through the quiet lanes of South Mumbai and headed towards the Eastern Freeway to climb onto the Atal Setu. The Atal Setu connects Mumbai to Navi Mumbai very efficiently but the road’s surface isn’t perfect anymore. There have been some patch repair works. I was also not pushing the GLE hard and was enjoying cruising down the road with some slow music on. The Burmester speakers sound really amazing.

I exited Atal Setu and stopped at the side to take some photos and videos. After a quick stop, I took a U-Turn, went on the Setu again and took the Coastal Road back home. It was a quick, fun and relaxed drive without the stress of having to deal with Mumbai’s peak hour traffic. I did stop by to try a new cafe in Bandra where some people took fancy to the GLE 53’s styling and Emerald Green colour.

I really loved my time with the Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 Coupe and it was the perfect partner for the weekend – offering power, control and comfort. This early morning drive was my idea of freedom, what about you?

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