In this wrap‑up video, Chris Stout reflects on his 1.5‑year lease of a 2025 Mercedes‑Benz CLE 450 4MATIC Cabrio, describing it as a luxurious, comfortable cruiser that he enjoyed daily. He praises the car’s striking exterior, elegant interior, spacious four‑seat layout, high‑quality sound system, effective Airscarf, and the hybrid powertrain’s surprisingly good fuel economy despite a turbo‑charged six‑cylinder engine. Maintenance has been inexpensive, with only one oil change under $150 and no tire rotations needed yet. However, Stout criticizes several tech and design choices: the large central touchscreen with AI‑driven controls that lack tactile buttons, the column‑mounted shifter, and the fake tailpipes. He also misses the ability to quickly access information like tire pressure without asking the AI. After securing an allotment for a 2026 Porsche 911 Carrera T (manual 6‑speed), he decides to return the CLE and tease a new series on the Porsche. He invites viewer questions, encourages likes and subscriptions, and highlights the channel’s diverse content.
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Hi everybody, welcome back to the channel and to the series. I'm Chris Stout. This is actually going to be the swan song, the wrap-up of my ownership of the 2025 Mercedes-Benz CLE 4MATIC Cabrio, CLE 450. 50. Um, it's been a bittersweet journey. I love the looks of the car, love the interior, love having a convertible. That's just been very enjoyable, really a good time. But as I think I've mentioned in others, that this is a lease, and I knew that I wouldn't really have it for a terribly long time. I put in for an allotment with Porsche for a 911 Carrera. It actually hit, and I actually got kind of a, a bonus. Actually, I have a whole nother series on the channel check it out please if you're interested about that experience. So it turned out to be an allotment for a 911 Carrera T. So it's a 992.2 T, which means that touring technically, but that more importantly that it's going to be a manual 6-speed. So that will be taking delivery soon. So that's why this is kind of the swan song for this car. I have enjoyed it. It's a very much a luxury cruiser, uh, kind of as is Mercedes, unless I went with an AMG GT, which I had looked at and thought about, but it was really kind of too much car for what I could really use here where I live in Wisconsin. So, um, this has been— it's been trouble-free. It's been very inexpensive to feed and to manage. It's a hybrid, so I've gotten really good mileage out of it, which has been very, very nice. A little getting used to the whole hybrid thing. It's not a plug-in hybrid, but it's been very economical on the gas even though it's a turbo 6-cylinder. So it still has some pickup and giddy-up and go. Again, just really love the comfort in the interior. Love these seats. Love the blue color. I've gotten a lot of nice comments and positive feedback on the color, and it just really goes nicely with this light interior, which was also very forgiving in the summertime with more sun than what we're having today. Gosh, let's see. I am not a big fan of the AI. I'm not a big fan of the big iPad in the middle. It does goofy, interesting things. Turn the heat up and the vents turn red. Turn the heat down, they turn blue. You can change the color of the interior just by asking it to. I miss the buttons. I miss tactile buttons. So I'm going to be enjoying that, I think, back with the 911 and smaller screens. This screen, while it was configurable, was not terribly configurable to the way that I'd want. You can't see things like tire pressures. You have to ask the AI for it, and then it tells you. You can't turn on a button for the steering wheel heating. You have to ask the AI to do that for you. So, you know, there's those kinds of things that, uh, have just been sort of a little aggravating for me. So, and then I just basically miss— I like the tricked-out little steering wheel. It is an elegant interior. I like that kind of weave. It's not exactly carbon fiber, but it kind of mimics that rather than wood and whatnot. But again, super comfortable, heated and ventilated seats. It's got the Airscarf, which actually works very, very well. I've had the top down probably on days that I really shouldn't because I could get away with it with doing that. I don't like the fake tailpipes. But otherwise, honestly, for a cruiser, uh, and it actually comfortably fits 4, believe it or not, with this back, with the top up or down. But it served its purpose. Again, I very much enjoyed it. It's only— I, I don't know what all my gas costs have been, but they haven't been, uh, really problematic. And I should also say, just within— I've got, uh, oh, shy of 7,500 miles which obviously isn't much, but I've just done within that year's time that I've owned it one oil change that was under $150. I think it's like $149. I couldn't do a wheel rotate, tire rotation. It didn't require that yet. I think that's maybe at 10,000 miles, and I don't know how they do that other than maybe taking the tires off because the rear and front wheels are— have different offsets, so you can't just swap front to rear and rear to front. With those wheels and tire situation. So, gosh, that's really kind of about it for highlights. It's a great sound system, love the stereo, that's been great fun. And it, you know, it's utilitarian, it works for what it does. I think it tries to overdeliver with some of the tech. I mean, just because you can write certain code into a chip doesn't mean necessarily that you should do that. I'm also— this is probably just being picky, but I'm also not a fan. I miss having a shifter in the middle. It's here on the tree, reminds me of the old three on the tree, and to go back and forth between this car and any other car where the shifter is not there is a little discombobulating. I'm always either turning a turn signal on or doing a windshield wiper or something which I don't mean to be doing, or I'm looking to do it on this, or I accidentally try and shift it out of gear when I'm moving because I think it's a windshield wiper or something. So I That's— if you've got different cars that have different configurations, that can be unfortunately very confusing. Or maybe it's just me. So I hope you've enjoyed this series. If you have questions or anything specifically about really owning it versus just getting it from a dealer and going for a test drive, you know, ping me, ask me questions in the questions and comments below. If you have one, if you have different opinions about it, I'd be anxious to hear about those as well too. So I appreciate you watching all these episodes. If you like it, please do like, please do subscribe. It is quite an eclectic channel. We've got motorcycles and cars and documentaries and podcasts and all sorts of things that at least are of interest to me. So if they're of interest to you too, please do subscribe and don't miss any of our additions. So again, thanks for watching this series. This will be a wrap for that, and stay tuned for more in the 2026 Porsche 911 992.2 Carrera T. Thanks for watching. Drive safe.
