• The latest Mercedes-Benz design
• Stacks of usable tech fitted as standard
• Classy materials, top workmanship

Like many of the latest Mercedes-Benz cars, the GLE Coupe comes with the excellent MBUX infotainment system. In this case, it involves a 12.3-inch digital instrument panel butting up next to a 12.3-inch central touchscreen. There’s still a useful number of physical buttons, but you can also operate many functions via touchscreen, touchpad or voice. And a head-up display makes it easy to see the most important information without taking your eyes off the road.

As well as being clever, useful and ergonomically very well sorted, the interior is fun. There’s ambient lighting that can be set to many different colours and configurations, the audio system is excellent and the voice control system will even tell you a joke if you ask it to.

The augmented-reality feature of the sat-nav, fitted as standard, isn’t always quite as useful as you’d hope – you have to look away from the road mid-manoeuvre in order to see what road position it’s suggesting – but the wow factor for passengers is immense.

It’s not always been the case that US-built Mercedes SUVs are top-quality, but this one certainly is. It feels like it will last a very long time.

Comfort

• Comfortable seats
• Good range of adjustment up front
• Good but not great room in the back

The rear legroom is good for adults, and those under six foot tall will be fine in the back, but if you’re any loftier than that then the curve of the roof will cramp your style a little. That’s not helped by the panoramic sunroof, which eats into the available headroom (but is on the whole a very good thing, brightening the ambience; it is, in any case, fitted as standard in the UK). Up front you’re in a car that’s as roomy as an E-Class.

The seats are a good size, good shape and multi-adjustable, and the ventilation’s easy to tweak so that all occupants are comfortable. In the cabin there’s a good smattering of cupholders, charging slots and cubbyholes, and rear passengers get their own heating controls.

Overall there’s a calm, refined air to the GLE Coupe that helps make it all-day comfortable for long trips, while also being user-friendly for shopping, commuting and the school run.