Remember the Mercedes-Benz GLE 450 AMG Coupe? The only GLE variant that comes with a V6 petrol motor under its hood? Okay, it is the GLE’s bootylicious cousin with a heavily raked C-pillar.

But what if we say you can now have a GLE with the same V6 petrol motor, retain all the rear seat headroom of a proper SUV. Wondering what’s the catch? Well, the only things you have to give up on are 34 horses, 40 Newtons, two gears and the AMG badges.

We’re talking about the GLE 400 4Matic that comes with the same V6 petrol motor that powers the half-baked GLE AMG Coupe. So, there’s 328bhp and 480Nm of torque that’s channelled to all four wheels via a 7-speed G-Tronic Plus auto ’box. This 9 per cent drop in power and a relatively slower gearbox result in a claimed 0-100kph figure of 5.9 seconds – that’s only 0.2s slower than the Coupe. Plus, at 247kph, the GLE 400’s top-speed is down by a paltry 3kph. Now that’s a fair drop, isn’t it?

What’s also interesting is that since this is a CBU, the GLE 400 is packed to the gills with features and safety equipment. You get five drive modes that also include Slippery and Off-road, covering most road conditions, Apple CarPlay-enabled 7-inch Harman Kardon music system, air suspension with adaptive dampers, six airbags, 360 degree parking assist and an updated COMAND Online system with Merc apps, sat-nav, Wi-Fi hotspot and internet among other things.

The 400 joins the 250 d, 350 d and the 450 AMG Coupe in Mercedes-Benz India’s GLE line-up. Which one would you pick: the practical GLE 400 or the exclusive and expensive GLE 450 AMG Coupe? Let us know in the comments section below.