Legance on wheels elegantly wafting over the Tuscan hills: that’s all the new E-class coupe wants to be and do for you.

One of the bigger sensations of the 2009 Geneva Motor Show this past March was the long-telegraphed intro of the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan (designation “W212”) and coupe (“C207”).

This E-Class coupe is clearly an adapted CLK-class chassis upgrade, as the wheelbase at 108.7 inches is only 1.8 inches longer than on the old CLK, while the four-door E-Class wheelbase reads 112.4 inches.

One extra we would tack on to any E-Class coupe purchase is the Advanced Agility Control, which has a normal and sport mode for the chassis that gives you pretty close to two cars in one—depending on the road layout you’re driving through and your mindset at the time. Another dynamic plus no matter which model you choose is the added chassis rigidity at the base of where the B-pillar should be (if there were a conventional B-pillar). It’s a handling difference that we really felt when comparing it in our heads to our CLK experience. At speed over these Italian roads, the impressive 0.24 coefficient of drag honestly results in precious little wind noise.