My friend came home from work in a 55 plate CLS AMG yesterday and i was fortunate enough to have a go in it.....
It has to be the most powerful and fastest car i have EVER been in, it was just awsome. The best way to describe the instant power is its just like a really powerful electric motor, you just tap the throttle and "BANG" 100 mph in seconds.
476HP although its a big car i was still very impressed with it and if i was in a position to spend 70k on a car this would be a serious contender.... unfortunatley it made my s feel rather slow after climbing out of the merc, but that wont last long i will soon be again and i wont try to take on one of those babys!!!

 

Interesting. My better half went to Merc sponsored track day yesterday. Drove a big range of Merc's including this one. (Aside - god she has a hard life )

Her conclusion was that the smaller Merc's are better alround packages than the bigger barges. Fastest lap of Thruxton was in the 220 CDi (or whatever MB call their C class diesel).

Lurid tales of spped through the complex all last night!

 

If I were after an uber Merc, I would get the new CLK63 AMG with its 481bhp engine

I think all the '55' AMG cars are moving over to the new AMG '63' engine and each will be tuned to suit the car.

I have always said that if I won the lottery a black SL65 AMG would sit in my garage for its stupid bhp and the fact that the engine is handmade.

 

To be honest i never really considered a Merc befor i had a go in the CLS and i must say i am smitten. the amount of luxury, the gadgets, the power, it had a couple of settings for the suspension (we had it in sport mode) and the ride felt hard and firm but we were a bit too afraid of ragging this thing around bends for fear of losing it as the power takes some getting used to.
I often get the chance to drive my boss's XKR which is supercharged too (not too sure of the HP) but the Merc would have destroyed it IMHO.
So all in all a top motor (wants to be though for 70k) although the XKR convertable was more!! i know which one i would have.......AMG.

 

IIRC the XKR is 400bhp which is pretty good. Don't think the driving / handling dynamics of the old XKR could get close to the CLS though.

 

I'd always assumed those AMGs are a bit of a one trick pony.

I'm sure the power is stunning on a test drive, but how quickly would you get bored and crave something that handles properly and takes some skill to learn to drive.

Give me light weight, skinny tyres and a reasonably powered engine any day

 

I think the CLS is a beautiful car. The guy who owns the indian restaurant facing the beach round my way has one and it's very nice.

 

I truly believe that you would never get bored of this thing, it is just amazing, and as for skill i felt that due to the massive amount of torqe/power that it would take a considerable amount of skill to master.

 

Yawn. Great day to day A to B car, but for that kind of money you can get a real sports car, or maybe an M5 and an ariel atom.

 

Fantastic looking car, my fav merc.

The most powerful car I've been in is my Boss's bmw alpina b12. Wicked car.