The verdict: The Mercedes-Benz GLE was already an excellent mid-size luxury SUV, so AMG treatment just adds equal parts speed, silliness and serious bucks.

Versus the competition: In the realm of expensive, overpowered, medium-sporty luxury SUVs, the GLE53 fits oddly between top luxury and top performance trim levels of competing SUVs in terms of both price and power.

I don’t know how the German luxury brands are doing it. Go into any of their dealerships or peruse their various websites and you’ll find a dozen SUVs of slightly different sizes. Some are tall-riding “coupe”-style SUVs and some are more traditional, but each has several trim levels that amp up the power, style, performance and bottom-line price in increasingly complicated trim stratifications and an alphabet soup of model names. Mercedes-Benz is no exception.

This SUV is the 2021 Mercedes-AMG GLE53, a name that requires some deciphering (though not as much as do most BMWs). For starters, it’s Mercedes-AMG, not Mercedes-Benz, because it’s part of Mercedes’ sub-brand of AMG-branded performance models, and the GLE is the automaker’s mid-size luxury SUV. The number attached to those letters once denoted engine displacement, but now it’s just a number (53) that lets you know it slots between the lesser GLE450 and the more powerful, V-8-equipped Mercedes-AMG GLE63. Finally, note that the model discussed here is the GLE SUV, not the GLE Coupe. That model has a chopped roofline and less practical space — and it costs more money.

What’s confusing about the AMG GLE53 is that its competitors offer either more power for more money or less power for less money, but no model lines up all that directly with the GLE53. That said, we’ll talk about it here in a couple of ways: Is it any good on its own, and is there a better choice (either within Mercedes or from a competing manufacturer) instead?

Extra Dash

Powering the AMG GLE53 is a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder engine making a hefty 429 horsepower and 384 pounds-feet of torque, mated to a slick nine-speed automatic transmission that drives all four wheels through permanent all-wheel drive. It’s growly and responsive, and it can fling the SUV from 0-60 mph in 5.2 seconds, Mercedes says. That’s reasonably quick for a mid-size SUV, and the powertrain’s responsiveness is among the GLE53’s highlights.

Handling is another. Steering feel is excellent — nicely weighted, full of proper feedback and managed through a thick AMG-style steering wheel that feels good in your hands. The GLE53’s adjustable suspension does an admirable job keeping the SUV level in corners, but there’s no getting around the fact that you’re sitting high up with a high center of gravity. I’d happily trade one of this AMG’s sport modes for the Curve mode found in the GLE450, which is an adaptive suspension mode that tilts the SUV in corners like an airplane, minimizing lateral G-forces. The GLE53 is indeed sportier and more aggressive than a basic GLE450, and it brakes better and sounds better, but its level of “sport” adjustability borders on silly.

The AMG treatment is meant to make you think this is a track-capable sports machine, complete with special lap timers, gauges, super sport modes and more. But that concept is ridiculous; a tall-riding, five-occupant, family SUV is simply not what you drive on a track, it’s the thing you drive to the track — perhaps towing your sports car on a trailer behind you.

All the effort put into trying to create a “sports-car SUV” just seems wasted to me. It’s all about image; these AMG SUVs are far more likely to clog the valet stand at Spago than carve corners at Spa-Francorchamps. I’ve yet to see a driver take their “performance” SUV to a track day or autocross. A vehicle like this is at its best traversing the high-speed Autobahn between two European cities — or at least looking to other American “affluencers” as if that’s something you do.

So back to our original question: Is the GLE53 any good on its own? Yes, it really is. It provides a more engaging driving experience than a standard GLE, though it comes at the cost of that SUV’s stellar comfort and a few luxury amenities. It’s quick, it’s quiet and it’s certainly a better idea than the truly daft AMG GLE53 Coupe, which eliminates the standard GLE’s useful cargo area and backseat headroom in favor of questionable styling.

Comparing the AMG GLE53 SUV against competitors, however, makes the question more challenging. It really is in a class of one; competitor SUVs are either cheaper and less powerful (but sometimes quicker) or more expensive and a lot more powerful. But if the GLE53 can find a sweet spot, it’ll be as a more budget-friendly alternative to those models (if a $90,000 SUV can really be referred to as a “value” option) and a strong SUV on its own.