Mercedes-Benz of Pittsburgh

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Walk Around

There are high expectations for cars in the CL's rarefied league, which consists of a very few automobiles and includes the BMW 6 Series and Bentley Continental GT. Ultra-luxury coupes are a statement of style and panache, capability and quality, and they ought to look as expensive as they are. Mercedes has been making range-topping coupes for many years, and it knows the game. The CL's styling does not disappoint.

From nose to tail, the CL is something out of the ordinary. Seen from the front, it's instantly identifiable as a Mercedes-Benz from its three-slat grille, long a staple of Benz sport models and SUVs. The famous three pointed star emblem is front and center and as large as a dinner plate, just to be sure you don't mistake the CL for any other brand. As if you could.

At 199.4 inches long, this is a large car, and its size gives it presence.

The front end stretches wide and sweeps back into a pair of prominent flared front wheel openings, a design element derived from the S-Class sedans with which the CL shares its underpinnings. Its 73.7-inch width makes it look solidly planted and substantial. There's surprisingly little chrome up front and we think it could use a bit more twinkle to announce its arrival. But it's still a knockout first impression. Projector beam headlights add the final bit of modernity to the nose.

It's the sweep of the roof that makes the CL's compelling style statement. The top arcs dramatically over the side glass and down into the C-pillar without the interruption of a B-pillar, the central support post most cars have between front and rear side windows. The roofline is sleek. And this is a true hardtop; you can drop the large side windows down for a panoramic view and an open-air feeling. Handsomely wrought chrome trim framing the large side-window opening emphasizes both its shape and the absence of the second pillar. In profile, the CL is gorgeous and sporty.

Even as it drives away, the CL keeps your attention. The rear window's horseshoe-like shape is especially intriguing, and not seen anywhere else in the automotive kingdom. Below the backlight (rear windscreen) the tail tapers gracefully into a pair of large taillights and a taut trunk lid wearing a subtle built-in rear spoiler at its top edge. Sedans don't look like this, and that's just the point.

Outside of the model nomenclature on the deck lid, the CL550 4MATIC and CL600 models are essentially identical from the outside.

The AMG models can be identified by distinctive grilles, wherein the Mercedes star is supported by four chrome bars over black mesh, and by their more muscular-looking front bumper with large air intakes housing round, chrome-ringed fog lights. Contoured side skirts carry the aggressive lines of the front bumper to the rear, where four oval exhaust outlets punctuate the black air diffuser set into the unique rear apron. Front fender badges read 6.3 AMG on the CL63 AMG and V12 Biturbo on the CL65 AMG. Both roll on 20-inch, five-spoke alloy wheels, but with a slimmer-looking twin-spoke design on the CL65 AMG.

Interior

2009 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class

Pulling open the door is the moment of truth in an ultra-luxury coupe. Buyers in this class are expecting sumptuousness, high-end materials and sophisticated design that convey the promise of being coddled. Everyone who looked inside our CL550 test car uttered an involuntary wow. It's beautifully designed, richly appointed and finished with a fanatical attention to detail. And the sheer number of luxury features is almost overwhelming, another sign that the big sticker price delivers something extraordinary.

Ensconced in the driver's seat, you immediately register the raked-back windshield and low roofline pressing down from above, creating a narrow viewing port ahead. The CL is just 2.2 inches lower than an S-Class sedan, but it feels much lower than that.

The surroundings are a sybarite's delight. There's almost nowhere your hand falls that you're not touching either glove-soft leather, burled walnut, brushed aluminum or chrome. The instrument panel cover is stitched in leather, as are the door panels and seats, buckets front and rear. The steering wheel is wood with leather grips at the nine and three o'clock positions. It houses buttons in front for the phone and COMAND system, and switches behind the top spokes for manually shifting the seven-speed automatic transmission.

The exterior's curvilinear theme is repeated in the interior. The center console curves gently into the center stack, and the interior front door panels arc outward subtly at the elbow area, the shape accented by delicate chrome accent strips. The door armrests are an artful combination of burled walnut stacked with leather covered padding. At night, soft ambient light glows from tiny hidden light strips in the doors' upper sections and across the middle of the dash. The only plastic pieces of note are the speaker covers in the lower front corner of the doors, where you hardly notice them.

The walnut trimmed center stack contains a thin row of easy-to-operate brushed aluminum climate control switches, a hidden compartment for the CD changer and a pair of vents flanking a square analog clock that looks like it could double as Patek Phillipe wristwatch.

Living in this car is every bit as satisfying as looking at it. The center console is home to a push-and-turn mouse-type knob that is the main interface to the COMAND system and its thin-film transistor (TFT) display. The screen is housed in a hooded binnacle to the right of the driver's gauges, which also are TFT technology.

For cars equipped with the optional night vision system, the large speedometer in front of the driver transitions to a second viewing screen whenever the system is activated. Several other buttons arrayed around the mouse control the suspension's sport and comfort modes (linked to the transmission shift program), the sound system and the multi-function seats' firmness and adjustment.

Between the steering wheel buttons and mouse, you're afforded several paths of access to the multiple layers of the CL's navigation, seating, climate control and sound systems. You can set your preferences for everything from radio stations to auxiliary lighting. You can program the voice control to recognize your particular intonations. You can input GPS travel information and requests. And you can access, activate or cancel dozens of other systems, including radar distance sensing, daytime running lamps, tire pressure monitoring, and much, much more.

At times we wished it were easier to access some of the systems through COMAND; it took several steps where one touch of a conventional button would have worked more directly. But owners of similar systems in Mercedes-Benz and other luxury cars say that after an initial acclimation period, using the system becomes less cumbersome. And realistically, for a vehicle with this many features a centralized computer interface is the only way to accommodate them.

At least you'll never want for aural entertainment. The harman/kardon system's performance through its 11 speakers is purely angelic. And the GPS works about as well as any we've encountered, with an easy-to-read rolling map and good graphics.

The CL's front seat comfort is beyond reproach. The front cabin offers all the legroom, width and headroom anyone but an NBA forward could need. The power front seats are wonderful; the width and pocketing of the cushions provide just the right amount of support to the back and under the thighs, and, with the full range of adjustments available, almost anyone can get comfortable. Even the length of the front-seat lower cushions is adjustable for just the right amount of under-leg support. Our car was equipped with the optional active ventilated seats, which contain several small fans to circulate cool or warmed air through the perforated leather seat covering. Pneumatic bladders built into the seats can be programmed to adjust the firmness of upper and lower side bolsters, back rest, and shoulder area, as well as lumbar support firmness and location. The seats also offer a massage feature, and it's quite nice, actually. We preferred the fast and vigorous setting; imagine a soft rolling pin making its way from your lumbar region to upper back. The programming is controlled through the COMAND interface using clearly marked pictograms.

The seats can be programmed to automatically inflate upper and lower bolsters when the car turns a corner to provide the driver and passenger with extra lateral support. In that mode we found them abrupt, at times taking us by surprise, and too aggressive. We left that feature de-activated, and opted for more massage.

The AMG models feature a unique sport steering wheel with distinctive aluminum shift paddles, and multi-contour leather sport seats finished with special piping. Completing the AMG interior package is an exclusive analog clock based on the design of the IWC-Ingenieur series.

We found using the COMAND system while underway distracting, but we didn't have much practice. It is complicated enough that it will take an owner a period of time to absorb the combination of button-pushing and knob-twirling-and-tapping that best accesses and adjusts the CL's many features. Exploring the system while on the road divides the driver's concentration. In our week-long test session, we found it best to slow down, pull over into the right lane and stay out of the way while fiddling with the system. We figure at least a month would be required for an owner to fully master COMAND, maybe more.

The CL interior's only real negative is rear seat room. There isn't much. Though the rear buckets are as handsome and almost as comfortable as the front (they lack any adjustability), this is a not a place to spend much time. Despite its full-size 116.3-inch wheelbase (albeit 8.2 inches less than that of the commodious S-Class sedan), the CL's dramatic dimensions mean rear legroom in the small-car range. Plant a six-foot driver behind the wheel and a six-foot rear-seat passenger's knees are jammed against the front seatbacks. Kids and anyone less than 5-feet, 6-inches will fit well enough. And most people will be able to handle the tight rear quarters for local trips to the mall. But this is not the car to take on a cross-country jaunt with four average-sized adults.

Oddly, that lack of interior room may be one of the CL's strongest luxury statements: It's a large car that can afford to ignore the everyday requirement of passenger-carrying practicality. Need more space? Take another car. This is apparently okay in this class: The Bentley Continental GT and BMW 6 Series have even less rear legroom.

Cargo room is just the opposite. The trunk is deep, commodious and finished in a handsome gray carpet. Under the trunk floor is a shallow but still useful cargo tray, and under that a full-sized spare. Liftover height is about average, and the electric powered opening-and-closing feature is always appreciated.

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