Evolution in style
Cleaner, simpler lines make for one nice car that’s more high-tech, luxurious and sporty
BARCELONA, SPAIN— The third generation Mercedes-Benz CLS four-door coupe was unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year.
And after the big reveal of the new version in Detroit, they whisked us away to Spain to drive it. No arguments here. It goes on sale in Canada later this year. Pricing hadn’t been set as of press time; as a hint, the previous edition started at $93,500 for the “cooking” (regular) version, $130,400 for the high-performance AMG variant.
Expect a modest hit due to the added technology.
The new CLS coupe is based on the S-Class sedan but with a lower, sleeker roofline for those who value style over spaciousness. Peter Kolb, who headed overall vehicle testing for the new CLS, said that the styling was an evolution of the “Sensual Purity” design idiom of recent Mercedes, with cleaner, simpler lines, perhaps looking a bit more like the original CLS than the model it replaces.
No bad thing; this is a pretty car. Aerodynamically efficient, too, with a low (lower is better) drag coefficient of 0.26.
Kolb added that this new generation aimed for “more hightech, more luxury and more sportiness.” He could have added “more efficiency” as well, because the first thing that may hit you is that there is no V8 in the lineup. No, not even in the AMG iteration.
Instead, you get a 3.0-litre inline six — yes, Mercedes is backing away from the V6 configuration — in two states of tune, producing 362 horsepower (Canadian-spec), plus an added 21 ponies from the electrical boost function about which more anon, and 429 (plus 21) for the AMG.
For those of you lacking excellent memories or mastery of Google, those numbers are down significantly from the previous V8-powered CLS (402 and 577, respectively). But the 0-100 km/h acceleration numbers are approximately the same as before (4.8 and 4.5 seconds, respectively, base and AMG).
This is where the electrical stuff comes into play. An inte- grated 48 volt starter/generator call EQ Boost can add up to 184 pound-feet of additional torque to the proceedings, which not only helps move things along, but also masks any turbo lag. It also offers a “sail” function, whereby the car can glide along for a few klicks on pure electric power to save fuel.
Other markets will get additional engines including a four cylinder, but we won’t. And no, we also won’t get diesel versions.
Kolb noted that the car is wider than before, and the seats are also thinner, allowing the interior to be configured for five people rather than four as in previous CLS models. You might not want to ride crosscountry in the middle position back there, but it would beat walking home in the rain.
The interior features a large, central screen which will take you time to master, but once you get used to it, it will probably be no worse than any others of its ilk. At least the graphics are nice and clear.
I started Day 1 with the base car, for a couple of reasons. First, I figure it’s best to move up the model line-up rather than down, so you won’t be too disappointed when you switch models. Second, only the base car in our test fleet came in the brilliant “designo Hyacinth red” paint job you see in the accompanying photo here. The AMGs were in duller shades, and the weather for Day 2 was looking like it might be bleaker, or even rainy. Not good for pics.
They learned early on how to play the European Union game, and get a bunch of money from Germany to build new highways. Clever. Then the Germans bring their press events here. Doubly clever.
The base car performs very well. Torque delivery is smooth and linear. As with most Mercedes, the car seems to shrink around you as you pick up speed. Some of the roads we were on were narrow, but the car never felt unwieldy. Spanish roads are in remarkably good shape. I messed around with the drive mode selector function, but ended up leaving it most of the time in the sportiest setting. Ride quality was still more than acceptable, and throttle response was crisper.
All high-end Mercedes come with stuff you wouldn’t believe, including a scent system which can pump any of a number of aromas into the car. My co-driver happened to have certain allergies; we pulled the bottle of smell out of its holder and just enjoyed the olfactory ambience of the high-quality leather. The round A/C vents and other details of the interior can also be lit up with a wide variety of colours, perhaps according to your mood? Beats me; who thinks up this stuff?
The quasi-self-driving driver assistance system used in other S-Class models is standard. That's the bad news; when I tested this a year and a bit ago, it tried to kill me three times in a day and a half. The good news? You never have to turn it on.
Day 2 was a shorter drive, and turned out to be rain-free, so our decision to make this the AMG day kind of backfired. The hotter car has a number of styling cues to let your neighbours know you paid more for your CLS than they did for theirs, including a double-barred grille, additional badging, some chrome trim pieces and lovely four-outlet round tailpipes.
Inside, the sports seats provide improved lateral support for the higher performance you are likely to demand of this version of the car. While it did feel quicker than the base car, again, the power delivery was so smooth and linear that it didn’t subjectively feel that much faster. The option list for almost all high-end cars is lengthy. You can tailor the car to just about any spec you can imagine, and many you probably can’t. Regardless, with the CLS coupe, you will get a stylish car with excellent handling and performance.
For once, I might be strongly tempted to go for the base mod- el, rather than the pricier AMG because subjectively, it didn’t feel that much quicker.
These cars are branded Mercedes-Benz CLS 450 4MATIC and Mercedes-AMG CLS 63 4MATIC. Mercedes seems to be in the process of changing this system, and I’m not sure the new one is any better. The first letter used to always be the family — C-Class, E-Class, S-Class, etc. That’s still the case with the sedans, hence C 300, E 400, S 450, etc. But for the coupes, the family is the third letter — hence, today’s subject, the SClass coupe, is the CLS.
Presumably, the “C” stands for Coupe, but it’s at the beginning of the label. Don’t you think people might think this is based on the C-Class sedan? It isn’t. The “L” originally stood for “leicht” as in light (as in not heavy). Clear? Not to me either.
The numeric part used to describe engine displacement. These cars have a 3.0-litre engine, so what does the 450 stand for? Apparently nothing.
Likewise, the 63 for the AMG. Why only two figures? It is apparently an AMG thing. And what do they stand for? Again, apparently nothing.
But again as they say, a rose by any other name …