Introduction

Everyone knows Mercedes-Benz occupies one of the high rungs on the prestige ladder. It takes a long list of words to describe the characteristics that make the broad range of cars and SUVs from Stuttgart so desirable: they're luxurious and expensive, to be sure. But they're also known for handsome, modern design; superlative engineering; bank-vault solidity; precise build quality; an abundance of safety and security features; sportiness and European flair. Most of these traits come together in the all-new 2007 Mercedes CL coupe. The CL is the seventh generation of a line of range-topping coupes dating back to the 1952 300S that have appeared sporadically through the years. Like those cars, the CL is a smaller, sportier version of Mercedes' big sedan line, in this case, today's S-Class. This time it follows the previous CL without interruption and its mission remains the same: high-performance and maximum luxury in high-style package. This is a car in which style purposely trumps practicality. Pounding the point home is its hardtop design; there is no central B-pillar holding up the roof aft of the doors to break up the sleek lines of the body. With the windows down, the look is sexy and the view out is panoramic, recalling cars of the Fifties and Sixties when hardtops were in vogue. Securing the right exterior proportions meant making the CL significantly shorter than the S-Class. This results in a close-coupled, intimate interior, the kind historically associated with coupes from time immemorial. We'd call the rear passenger area cramped, though similar models from BMW and Bentley actually have even less rear legroom. The CL is for being seen in. If you want practicality in a Mercedes, buy a different model. The CL is also a car that's wonderful to be in, at least in the front seats. Its interior is sumptuous and inviting, dressed in the finest materials and tailored to perfection. Burled walnut, supple leather, brushed aluminum and designer-quality knobs and switches are everywhere you look and touch. The standard equipment list bulges with luxury items no one actually needs but almost anyone would love, from a Harman/Kardon 600-watt, 11-speaker audio system to soft ambient mood lighting. Through the Mercedes COMAND central computer interface offers many dozens of settings for seats, climate and sound system, lighting, GPS and much more can be customized to your personal preferences. Like its predecessors, the CL manages to be sporty without being a true sports car. It comes in two versions: powerful or insanely powerful, with a choice of either a 382-hp V8 or a 510-hp V12. Its road manners are sophisticated, hushed and luxurious rather than aggressively aimed at carving up twisty roads. It offers a breathtaking array of safety technology as standard: nine airbags; dynamic stability control; traction control ABS anti-lock brakes; automatic brake drying; seatbelt pre-tensioners, and automatic window closers, to name a few items. The CL is ultra-luxurious, sexy, technologically advanced and very stylish with excellent all-around driving capabilities. With its occasional rear seating for two, it's roomier than a sports car but smaller than a sedan. We think the CL will be extremely appealing to a relative few drivers who fall in love with it and can afford the luxury of stylish lines over day-to-day practicality.

Walkaround

There are high expectations for cars in the CL's rarefied league, which consists of a very few automobiles including 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 off and on for many years (this is the ninth generation since the 1950s) 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 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 dinner plate, just to be sure you don't mistake the CL for any other brand. As if you could. At 199.4, 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 this car shares its underpinnings with. The width makes it look solidly planted and substantial. There's surprisingly little chrome up front. The CL 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. No, standard sedans don't look like this, and that's just the point. Outside of the model nomenclature on the deck lid, both CL models are essentially identical from the outside.

Interior Features

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 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. 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 it's thin film transistor (TFT) display. The screen is housed in a hooded binnacle to the right of the driver's gauges, which too 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, miles-to-next-vehicle display, 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 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&