dom

I've given this round to the BMW and the M5. Something just does'nt look right about this cars styling. Now throw in the V12 with 612 or so lb-ft and that gap closes.

GALANTVR4

That car is beautiful!

yuhoo22

I agree with you....the M5 still looks like the better choice. I think it looks awesome though!

Professor Gascan

The headlights are the main problem I have with this car, the rest looks pretty good to me, especially the profile.

SPUDMTN

This is great...I finally get to do this...and better yet, to a MOD!



http://www.acura-tsx.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11867

Zapata

analog clock teh :ghey: I just don't get MB styling. It just doesn't flow.

SPUDMTN

The CLS definitely has a unique look. It really is a sleek car. I don't exactly know what to think of the interior--the dash looks like a Jaguar's (the HUMONGOUS slab of wood running from left to right ) The exterior is pretty hot...it's sooo slinky. It looks more like a concept car, to me

My understanding is that this is positioned right below the S-class, but right above the E-class. But at the same time, it's supposed to be sportier than either of them. It's kind of interesting to hear it called a coupe

I'd get a CLS

ItalianStallion

thats the only thing i could do without in the new benzes. my mom's e500 has that analog clock and its freakin weird. why not just put the time in the screen in the middle?

btw, when i drove the new CL55 a year ago the tachometer is a little more than 1/4 of a circle and it is 0 at the top and 8000 or so at the bottom, so when you accelerate the needle goes down, that takes getting used to but for 500hp i'm sure i'd adjust fairly easily.

dom

Merged.

At least when I repost its within a matter of mintes not days :fingerfawk:

SPUDMTN

Thank you I can rest easier now Keep up the good work

dabuda

i like the look of this better then the M5

ClutchPerformer

It won't be spoiling much without a manual transmission. Although I guess it remains to be seen whether the M5 will have one.... Arrrrgh...

dom

I think I'll change my screen name to "NoClutchPerformer" just to piss you off

I thought it was decided that the M5 was SMG only?

I think we can guarantee that this CLS will not have a manual tranny.

ClutchPerformer

If this is true, I have no more reason to live...

Mercedes doesn't do manual trannies on cars with any kind of power. I'm not sure why.

SPUDMTN

It's the whole German superiority thing. You know, "The CLS knows best". A dominance attitude...

Professor Gascan

You might have to stop living then. j/k

If the rumours are to be believed from the new M5 on all BMW M cars will feature the SMG transmission exclusively. This includes the M3. I have trouble believing that the cheaper M2 will go this route though.

At least BMW uses the SMG (which we all know is a computer controlled manual) as opposed to M-B, which insists on using torque-converter sapped slush-boxes. They are getting pretty damn good at it though, but you can't help to wonder how much more fun something like the CLS55 AMG would be with a full manual.

dom

No I just think MB knows that a very small percentage of their customers would opt for the MT option so they're saving their time and money.

Dan Martin

With 612bhp and 738lb ft on tap I'm not too worried about driveline loss.

Still I like the directly connected feeling you get with a MT car. Something tells me that you'd have to go for SMG with this car vs a conventional MT just because the clutch would to be too heavy for a daily driver.

dom

Dan it has the V8

"Powering Stuttgart’s latest Bahnstormer is AMG’s supercharged 5.5-liter V8 delivering 476 hp and 516 lb-ft of torque."


Read my first post in this thread.

leftride

iTrader: (1)

damn that's hot. I think i would just have to buy the CLS and the M5 so I wouldnt have to choose.

ClutchPerformer

...... :'( ...... ......

Is this kind of car really meant to be a daily driver? And is driving a car with 500HP supposed to be easy and relaxing?! NO!

I didn't mind iDrive. I think the 7-series looks good. I don't even mind the new 5-er too much. But BMW has made a big mistake if this is true....

Now, my dream fleet of cars will never be complete. you BMW!!!

I might as well just get an E55 or an RS6.... Sheesh!!!

joerockt

That is just insane when torque surpasses hp by that much

Dan Martin

MB is the king of Bahnstormers. They never really want to be known as a hardcore sports car builder. They want to be equal parts luxury and performance. Every one of their AMG models is designed to be a daily driver. If you want 500hp as raw as it comes, then buy a Viper.

ClutchPerformer

Vipers don't have four doors and the interior is crap. I don't want 500 HP as raw as it comes, but I'd like to at least have access to some rawness if I choose. That's the beauty of controlling your own clutch. It's as raw as you want whenever you want. And you can decide exactly how raw it is on each and every shift. I'm sure you know this...

BTW, I'm not trying to attack you. BMW was the last beacon of light in an increasingly automatic world. I'm just disappointed in them, that's all.

dom

We need a broken record smiley

ClutchPerformer

:P

The truth is: no car does what the current M5 does quite so well. That's why it's been described as "the most desirable sedan at any price, ever". And now not even the M5 itself will do what the M5 does anymore. I think that's a tragedy.

Professor Gascan

Well, If Porsche does indeed come out with their GT sedan, I guarantee that it'll have a manual tranny.

ClutchPerformer

That car is a SERIOUS long-shot, IMO. But hey, I'll take it.

Professor Gascan

True, but we can dream can't we?

phile

I agree about the headlights...too Japanese in an otherwise German looking car, and a good looking one I might add. But the interior blows the M5's interior away.

kurt_bradley

I kinda like it. Even if MB won't use a stick or rack and pinion steering.

NeoChaser

damn those press pix can make any car look great

iamhomin

Wow, looks nice.

Yumcha

Here are the first drive impressions courtesy of Edmunds!
Dang, I want one...

==================

World Premiere -- First Drive: 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLS55 AMG
Muscular Magic From Mercedes
By Jim McCraw
Date Posted 09-27-2004






Mercedes-Benz builds more different kinds of cars for more different market segments than any other car company, and it can't seem to resist slicing and dicing the market into smaller and smaller segments as it goes.

A prime example of that is the stunning new CLS55 AMG. The CLS family of sedans, shown at the Geneva Auto Show last March and at the recent Paris Auto Show, is a radical design departure from any existing Mercedes sedan, with a sports-car grille, a four-door coupe shape unlike anything else on the market and a brand-new interior design scheme. It is meant to fit into the Mercedes-Benz sedan family a notch above the E-Class and a notch below the S-Class, and in spite of the first letter of its new family name, has nothing whatsoever to do with the previously existing C-Class or the sporty CLK. Underneath the spectacular sheet metal, there is an E-Class chassis modified here and there to fit the new shape and size.

Now, the "regular" CLS that the U.S. market will get, the CLS500, will come with a 302-horsepower, 5.0-liter three-valve V8 engine and one of the new seven-speed overdrive automatic transmissions, starting in January of next year. In that form, it is a traffic-stopping, mile-eating roomy family cruiser (in spite of that low, swoopy roofline) that is aimed at the luxury car buyer looking for something new, special and different. We drove the CLS500 only days before the world debut of the second member of the CLS family, and enjoyed every minute of it. But now comes the high-performance CLS55 AMG version, designed by the performance and racing specialists at Mercedes-Benz's AMG subsidiary in Affalterbach, Germany, a few miles south of the company's Stuttgart headquarters.

The CLS55 AMG, which is expected in the U.S. next March as a 2006 model, will be sold in limited volume, only about 1,500 units each year for the next several years, and is aimed at a very special customer who wants the stunning new coupe/sedan look of the CLS500 but with a lot more all-around performance, which includes more power, more torque, better handling and cornering, and even better brakes than the monster ABS brakes that come on the CLS500.

The 5.5-liter, three-valve V8 engine in the CLS55 AMG is supercharged, using a Lysholm blower unit and generating a staggering 469 hp at 6,100 rpm and 516 pound-feet of torque between 2,650 and 4,500 rpm. That's enough pure grunt to move this lithe and lovely 4,200-pound sedan from rest to 60 mph in only 4.5 seconds, running up to a governed top speed of 155 mph. And enough to displace the E55 AMG, by a couple of tenths of a second, as the quickest and fastest sedan Mercedes-Benz has ever made.

AMG surrounds the supercharged engine with an enormous array of complementary equipment, starting with a tweaked seven-speed transmission with full manual control via either the shift stick or steering wheel-mounted buttons. The suspension, which is lowered all around by 10 millimeters compared to the CLS500 setup, is an AMG-modified version of Mercedes-Benz's AirMatic DC semiactive, self-leveling air suspension with its own electronic calibrations for better cornering and ride performance at high speeds. The tires are upgraded to 235/35ZR-19s in the front and 285/30ZR-19s at the rear on AMG five-spoke alloy wheels. The brakes are, in a word, enormous — 14.2-inch front ventilated disc brakes with eight-piston calipers, with 13-inch ventilated discs at the rear, operated by four-piston calipers. A set of cooling fins and an oil cooler have been added to the differential for sustained high-speed running, and keep the lubricant nearly 60 degrees cooler.

In addition to the complete mechanical makeover than turns a CLS500 into a CLS55 AMG, there is a special interior package with napa leather seating, special multicontour sport seats up front, an Alcantara leather headliner, AMG gauges in black on white, with an AMG logo on the clock face and "V8 Kompressor" on the tachometer face and the buyer's choice of either matte or glossy burled wood trim on the instrument panel.

The CLS55 AMG coupe/sedan also has special AMG body styling, including a new front lower valance with large air intakes and round foglamps, side skirts and a prominent diffuser-style rear valance and two oval, chrome-plated tailpipes of the AMG sports exhaust system. The body carries V8 Kompressor fender badges, an AMG logo on the deck lid and an integrated spoiler lip on the deck lid that reduces lift at the rear axle by about 30 percent, improving high-speed stability.

As you would expect in a car of this pedigree, the CLS55 AMG comes with all of the things that make a Mercedes a Mercedes, including ABS, traction control, ESP chassis control, tuneable shocks absorbers and variable ride height, all retuned to AMG specifications, a big-time audio system and every conceivable power and comfort accessory as standard equipment. Options will include satellite navigation, Parktronic distance warning, Distronic proximity-limiting cruise control, dynamic multicontour bucket seats or power ventilated seats, remote trunk locking, the Keyless-Go credit-card locking and starting system, a tire-pressure monitoring system, a surround sound audio system and the Linguatronic voice control system.

During an all-too-brief test-drive, the CLS55 AMG showed the breeding that comes of 35 years of AMG's evolution, with a sporty, snarky, ready-for-battle look about it, a jaunty stance and a willingness to impress even the most jaundiced critic with its flashy performance. When you open the electronic throttle all the way into the plush carpeting, it takes a big, deep breath, throws you back into that left front bucket and gets through six gear changes with the speed and authority of an automatic rifle, all the while pumping sweet music through its mellow exhaust system.

Upshifts and downshifts with the wheel-mounted buttons are instantaneous, and this automanual stays in each gear right up to the redline and will not shift up automatically as some do. The power steering effort goes up with the speed and stays nice and hefty until you're back down to parking/crawling speeds. The air suspension system simply eliminates the small impacts and keeps the car flat and buttoned down even at ridiculously high speeds in sweepers and corners, no matter the quality of the pavement. Under emergency braking conditions like those we encountered, the big wide tires and the race-quality brakes shed speed so quickly and deftly that the car seems to weigh one ton instead of more than two. When you're out of the throttle, cruising on overdrive 7th gear, it's as much a pussycat as its CLS500 sibling.

The CLS55 AMG is a very serious car for the discriminating driver, and at about $85,000-$90,000 and 1,500 units per year, you won't see many of them in your neighborhood.

bkknight369

lol hate to say it but $85k is pretty CHEAP compared to the price of m5/m6

though they are pretty different

Reddly9007

very very impressed, I like the look of the CLS

cob3683

2 things I am wondering:
1) I thought no AMG was offering the 7 speed? Have read this alot of places.

2) This thing will be closer to $100,000. If it sits between the E and S price ranges, $85K is the cost of an E55 so I am thinking it will start low90's and build up to 100K when decked out.

majesty

MB can do no wrong....sad to see BMW going to the wayside...

astro

sexxxxxxy cars

gavriil

1. Nope. Others are as well, like the SLK 55 AMG which just came out.