Motoring in Spain - Mercedes CLS - Comments

Mercedes CLS

Poster: Charlie Flindt 01/03/2006

Motoring correspondent Charlie Flindt is delighted to report that Mercedes have excelled themselves with the CLS.

The last twenty years or so have been slightly awkward for Mercedes-Benz. It’s almost as is they have been having a mid-life crisis of some sort. Perhaps they have been sitting in an enormous corporate hot bath, staring at the taps and feeling melancholy. "Why are we here?" they have been asking themselves. "What’s the point?" And it could be said that some of their corporate decisions have shown that there’s a mini-crisis going on.

Now it’s a great joy and pleasure to report that the crisis is officially over. The boys at Benz stopped gazing at their navels, got out of the bath, and dried themselves off. They then sat down with a blank piece of paper, and set about coming up with a real Mercedes Benz – the sort of Mercedes that we all know, love and respect.

The Mercedes Benz CLS class is one of the most stunning lumps of metal I’ve had on my driveway for a very long time. It’s one of those cars that you just have to keep walking round and round, taking it all in. There’s the familiar grill and headlights, but plenty of new gorgeous curves, sweeping, flowing, making the CLS look poised and agile.

But the joy of the CLS doesn’t end with the stunning looks. It’s not as if that fabulous shape means compromises elsewhere – far from it. It is a proper four-seater executive machine, with a huge boot, acres of space and the most beautifully upholstered seats. My favourite interior feature was the massage function on the driver’s seat. You can set it to pummel, knead and caress your back during the driving experience. A word of warning though: try to avoid writhing in Meg Ryan-like ecstasy while this is going on. You get some very strange looks in traffic jams. I could have sworn I overheard someone say to her husband, "I’ll drive what he’s driving."

The seat can also be set to inflate and deflate during cornering; sweep round a left-hand bend, and the right hand side of the seat suddenly swells. You may be forgiven for thinking that this is slightly gimmicky. Is this really necessary? Well, the CLS isn’t just pretty on the outside and practical on the inside. Mercedes have made sure that it has performance to match its sporty coupe looks. Even the "base" 350 has a 0 to 100 kph time of only seven seconds. The 500 that I drove will whisk you to the same speed in 6.1 seconds, and the totally bonkers CLS 55AMG trims the time down to a devastating 4.7 seconds. Not altogether surprisingly, all three are limited to 250 kph top speed.

Best of all is the way that the CLS gets to those speeds, and then goes about its business of maintaining them. It sneaks up and down through the seven-speed gearbox (a world first in a passenger car) with the minimum of fuss. If you want to move away from fully automatic, you can, as is the norm these days, shift using the buttons on the steering wheel, or nudge the gearstick itself.

Drivers of a certain age will be shaking their heads at the idea of seven gears in a gearbox, and will probably be wondering how on earth we got by with just three. You’ll probably be remembering the lurch that the old three-speeds used to give during "kick-down". Floor the throttle in the CLS, and the ‘box drops up to four gears; the only "lurch" here is the one that throws you back into those luxurious seats.

If there is one niggle in the CLS, it’s the suspension. Yes, it’s adjustable, but only from firm to very firm; in an ideal world, a softer, gentler setting would not have gone amiss. I wouldn’t have minded a more supple ride at the expense of a little of its sports-car handling. Could be something to do with my dodgy back – now you know why I liked the massaging seats so much. It has to be said that, even at firm setting, lumps and potholes pass almost unnoticed in the cabin, even with the 30-series tyres on those elegant alloys.

The Mercedes CLS really is the complete package. It’s beautiful, practical and quick. It’s a magnificent drive and would be a joy to own – if a little pricey to run. But I dare say that if a CLS is on your shopping list, you’re past the stage of worrying too much about fuel economies and insurance costs. You’re probably past such little crises. The CLS shows that Mercedes are past theirs, too.

Mercedes-Benz CLS 500

Engine: 4,966cc,V8, 24 valve Power: 306 ps Max speed: 250 kph Performance 0 to 100 kph: 6.1 seconds Combined fuel economy: 11.3 l/100 km Summary: Mercedes-Benz back doing what they do best

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