Gsbt

Over the past few years, a number of automakers have sought to create a mid-range offering that occupies a space between standard models and hardcore high performance counterparts – as evidenced by the BMW M Performance, Cadillac V-Sport, and Audi S lineups. These models seek to find a balance between civility, price and performance, delivering a driving experience that’s more performance-oriented than the garden-variety model, but not nearly as hard-edged as the full-bore performance variant. For Mercedes, that comes in the form of the Mercedes-AMG 43 lineup, which in turn results in the E43 for the E-Class sedan. It slots nicely between the E300 and the gorilla-in-a-suit that is the 603 horsepower E63, and while it might be a bit closer to the E300 than it is the E63 as a package overall, the combination does an excellent job of closing the rather sizable performance gap between those two. Although the stats sheet of the E43 certainly looks promising, numbers don’t always translate