The most recent Barrett-Jackson auction I worked for SPEED television took place in Scottsdale, Arizona. I live near LA, so needed something fast and comfy for the long, straight, semi-boring 400 mile run along the 10 Freeway East. When it comes to high-speed stability and long-legged comfort, it’s difficult to beat a Benz. And I had yet to drive the new, second-generation CLS, so I tapped gently on the Mercedes-Benz North America press fleet door and one day last month, this Cuprite Brown over Almond/Mocha colored CLS550 appeared. The previous, first gen CLS “four door coupe” was a love it or hate it piece to many; they understood and enjoyed the racy roofline and chopped off tail, or they didn’t. The car was recently freshened with revised styling, updated tech, and some wonderful new engines for the 2012 model year — bring on Interstate 10!
The exterior design wears a face similar to the ultra hot SLS 6.3 AMG gullwing (and now roadster) which also harkens back to the smile of the original 300SL of the 1950s, and I totally dig it. The semi-fastback roofline remains, and while it does pinch off just a bit of headroom compared to an S-Class or an E-Class sedan, I say who cares. As GM design chief William Mitchell once said “forget passenger room; if it looks good enough, they’ll crawl in back.” Maybe true, maybe not, but this is a stunning car, particularly in dark colors.
Underhood is a new 4.6-liter, all-aluminum V-8 wearing two smallish turbochargers that help it spool out 402 horsepower and animpressive 443 pounds-feet of torque. This surprisingly efficient monster motor is super quiet, impressively smooth, and oxen strong. The only transmission offerred or needed is a 7-speed mutli-mode automatic that’ll do all the shifting work, or let you play it with the steering wheel mounted shifter paddles.
The cabin has it all; fabulous yummy leather upholsterey, genuine wood trim, and lots of technology and safety gear. The nav system works fabulously well and is easy peasy to program. The audio system worked perfectly on satellite radio or with my iPod Touch.
If I had to drive from LA to Boston just for the chowder, this is the kind of car I’d want for the job. It’s crazy fast (0-60 in about 5 seconds) super comfy, handles well, and tracks like its on rails at any speed.
Cheap? No.
My tester stickered at $71,300, and is really well equipped at that. But a whole host of options (several of which I’d pass on if I were ordering this car for myself) brought the grand total to $83,095, which sounds like a lot, but maybe isn’t so over the top these days. You won’t have any trouble seeing that money in this car; it’s all there — the performance, safety gear, superb luxury, lots of tech toys, and quality, looks, big label brand, etc.
The new Biturbo engine is superb, and the 7-speed trans is its perfect dance partner. The previous CLS wasn’t as fuel efficient as this one, didn’t look as good IMHO, and didn’t steer and ride like this car does. If you can find something about this car to complain about, please let me know. Otherwise, an attractive and masterful job, I’d say. Everyone else who drove it felt the same way.
Thanks to Kirk Gerbracht for washing the car, getting it serviced, and taking these photos while we were in Arizona
