Let’s start with an apology to Mercedes-Benz for the headline. This is a beautiful car that has both presence and finesse. However, tell someone you are driving a CLS and they will look puzzled. Try and describe it to them and sooner or later their eyes will light up as they exclaim, “Aah, the one that looks like a banana?”
Sitting in the banana, the dashboard’s walnut-effect is unconvincing and the steering wheel plastic feels a little abrasive for such an expensive car. This is a strange contrast to the expensive, beautifully upholstered soft leather seats and door trims. Running from the rear seats through to the centre console in the front is a large armrest. This makes for four individual booths that cocoon you in your own upper-class space. Sadly, the car’s styling meant bigger passengers (6” and above) found the rear cramped, as they would in an older Jaguar XJS.
Tuning the stereo vexed a few passengers; there is no getting away from the fact you need the handbook to figure it out properly. The sat nav is not touch screen and the entire centre console screen and related ‘infotainment’ system is a fair way from intuitive - a surprise when you consider you can connect your iPod to the system.
At first, the car’s shape is intimidating to the driver in that it seems to create a lot of blind spots: the entire rear of the car is out of view, but that can be said of a few saloons and is relatively easy to adjust to. It is the A-pillar’s (either side of the windscreen) that gave me more concern. Whenever I needed to pull out of a difficult side road onto an A-road, I found myself bobbing back and forward trying to decide which side of the pillar gave me the best view of the road in each direction.
But these niggles fade way, way into the background when you live with this car.
Every contact and sight of the car is an emotive experience. As you walk to it in the daylight it stands out from the crowd and its beauty, while not instantly apparent to all, manifests itself over time. Climbing in and driving away, you get a sense (false in my case) of achievement as the car’s owner/driver. Walking away at night, in those few seconds while the parking lights are still on, the car’s importance is impossible to miss. Its daytime elegance and sophistication step back and let its more aggressive, slightly gangster, side through.
On the motorway, even with its smallest, most thrifty engine – I use the term advisedly as it is a 3.2 litre diesel – the CLS glides along. There is not a hint of road or wind noise for the majority of journeys and while the engine doesn’t give the car the urgency that it delivers to a lighter E-Class, it is more than adequate. In fact the absence of excess power contributes to the CLS seeming that bit more refined. I also found it less inclined to surprise me when I looked down to see what speed I was cruising at (compared to the Mercedes E-class reviewed in Used Car Expert July 08 – available online).
Off the motorway and weaving around Buckinghamshire’s country lanes, the CLS surprised me again. It is not just billed by Mercedes-Benz as a coupe to explain its bold design – it actually is a coupe. It handles exactly as a GT car should. The steering gives a lovely feel – just the right weight for each speed. The car turns in precisely, calmly and the car has poise and grip through hairpins and fast sweeping corners alike.
Every journey in the CLS was an absolute joy, not just for me and my passengers, but for the pedestrians that always checked it out too. It doesn’t seem to give off an arrogant aura like some of the Mercedes can – people actually let me out in the CLS.
The best bit is a two year old car, with low mileage and in perfect condition is less than £23,000. Some spend that kind of cash on BMW 3-Series or Audi A4s. With 37.2 combined average mpg it won’t cost that much to run either. For those that want a quality car, the CLS quite possibly represents the classiest, most savvy buy on the used market today.
Summary
A car that feels worth every penny of its £45,000 price tag. Elegant to look at, satisfying to drive and comfortable to be driven in. Not as practical as the E-Class, but that’s not the point. The CLS is a 4 door coupe, not a luxury saloon.
Road test car details:
Mercedes-Benz CLS 320 CDI
OTR: £45,278 (new price – see the luxury car section for the current used prices)
MPG: 37.2
0-62: 7 secs
Co2 /KM: 200
By: Matthew Tumbridge