Mercedes-Benz E400 vs Mercedes-AMG E43

What's the difference?

It is hard to immediately think of a country more suited to the convertible life than Australia. Even our coldest states (you know who you are…) are blessed with more warming sun than almost anywhere else on the civilised parts of the planet, so you’d think we’d be swanning about in dropped-top bliss almost year round.

But it’s actually in the UK (despite being cold, grey and almost always underwater) that convertibles really fly out of dealerships, with sun-starved Brits buying more than anyone else in the world. Weird, right?

Still, here they remain something of an oddity, sold in small numbers to drop-top diehards. At least partly because the convertibles of old were almost always slightly worse than their hardtop equivalents. 

But Mercedes - which makes more convertibles than most - claims to have mastered the soft-top formula with the E400 4Matic, a car it says offers all the perks of open-air motoring without any of the dynamic or practical downsides. 

When is an AMG not really an AMG, but still a fitting homage to the models that built the brand?

The new E 43 is the eighth '43 after the SLC 43, GLC 43, GLC 43 Coupe and four C 43s, all of which arrived last year, and plugs a mighty gap between the mainstream E-Class line-up and the upcoming full-house E 63 S, while forming an almost exact philosophical fit with the E 36 and E 55 that helped put AMG on the map in the 90s.

How? Unlike the angry dinosaur V8 growl, supercar-like performance and generally hardcore demeanour we love about the current top-level models, the E 43 is more of a rapid grand tourer than a four-door supercar. Which is kind of what the AMGs of old were, before they sprouted exhausts from both sides and became more menacing than Mercedes.

Explore the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class range

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Mercedes-AMG E63 S 2017 review | first drive

Mercedes-Benz E400 2017 review | road test

Mercedes-Benz E350d 2016 review | snapshot

Mercedes-Benz E300 2017 review | road test

Mercedes-Benz E220d 2016 review | snapshot

Mercedes-Benz E200 2016 review | snapshot

The E 43 still boasts a muscular 295kW/520Nm from its twin-turbo V6 and all-wheel drive, but cloaks it all in an air-suspended package that's barely distinguishable from the AMG styling pack available from the base E 200 up.

It's priced $20,000 higher than the E 400 but still around $90,000 less than the E 63 S that arrives in June, and does nothing to dissuade the notion that Mercedes makes a car for almost everyone. And we're glad they do, particularly when the latest addition boasts a 4.6s 0-100km/h claim that would trump most mid-engined supercars of the 90s.

It also promises to be a star-badged alternative to the new BMW 540i, Audi S6 and even the Lexus GS F.