Faults:

Nothing, so far it has been perfect.

General Comments:

I love coupes, and looked at everything on the market. The BMW was overpriced, the Audi was underpowered, and the American choices didn't handle. And I like a car that is on the rare side.

Which lead me to the E550 coupe. It's the C-class chassis, so the size is a bit more trim than the E sedan, with a lower, sportier look. The interior is E-class luxury; it's about the nicest interior short of an Audi (the gold standard in interiors).

But the best part of the car is the motor. Gobs of torque, the thing just propels effortlessly like a jet plane taking off of the runway. With a nice little low rumble that says refined muscle car.

Things I don't like: off the line, the car could be a little faster - maybe it's the suspension, but it seems like the traction takes a second or two to properly hook up. The COMAND interface is a terrible design, as are a lot of the controls. It took me forever to figure out how to load a CD - that should be easy.

Gas mileage is pretty bad - 16 in town, 22 on the road, and about 12 if you hit the sport button and romp on it.

And the steering feels a little overly sensitive, like it's overboosted. I am glad to see Mercedes get away from the numb feel a lot of their cars have had recently, but the steering feels twitchy. I don't think I'd feel comfortable driving this at autobahn triple digit speeds (not that I ever will, I live in the US).