All Entries Tagged With: "luxury"
Second Generation Mercedes CLS Takes A Bow
by Gunnar Heinrich ::: img Daimler AG ::: 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class
SEVEN years after forging a new niche – the four door coupé (with careful emphasis on the accent aigu over the “e” in coupe) – the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class embarks upon its second generation which bows in Paris. Only this time the CLS will face plenty of competition; from the Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera to Audi A7 and BMW Gran Coupé. And despite the original CLS’ dowdy appearance that many misguided critics thought “sexy”, we should thank Mercedes for having the foresight to attempt to reintroduce sex into the sedan marketplace.
The first (C219) and likely the second generation CLS-Class coupés were/are based on the (W211 & W212) E-Class, only the new CLS is sculpted to appear even more provocative with “refined sportiness”, “athletic proportions”, and a “perceptible design idiom.” I’m not actually sure what that last bit meant but only know that Mercedes means business when they say it.
The original CLS-Class sold 170K units worldwide. With all-LED exterior lamps (71 bulbs in all) and more flame surfacing than a crême brulée shop (there’s that accent again!) we can expect similar enthusiasm particularly from the newly moneyed East.
As for skeptics, given that some of us thought the original CLS looked like it owed much to the late 90s Mercury Sable, the jury’s still out on the next generation.
ADL’s “F” List
Might have sold well in 1999.
“F”for “Awful, Frankly”
Cadillac XLR-V
My co-producer Neil Rogers, my uncle; former NHRA dragster Joe Ficca, the ADL production crew, and half the city of New Haven, Connecticut will disagree with me when I write that the XLR-V is a terrible car. They loved the XLR-V for all the wrong? right? reasons; the Cadillac name, the angular looks, and its chrome street cred.
Neil lovingly called it the “Batmobile” and his eyes welled up a little when GM came to take it back. I said good riddance.
Driving through the Elm City, the homeless and collegiate alike would offer enthusiastic thumbs up. The XLR-V drew attention. One kind old gentleman, was so astonished with the car and my willingness to demonstrate various features like the electrically retractable hardtop that he thanked me with a “God Bless You!” And of all the BMWs we tested on camera, the Caddy and the camera were the fastest of friends.
That said, the XLR-V is Cadillac’s Allante for 2008-09. Cheers to GM for being gracious enough to send us a $60K Vette in heavily clad $100K + Caddy garb to review before anyone else on the east coast.
The test car came to us half-baked from GM design circa 2004. It stems from an old Detroit business plan: you take a cheaper car’s platform put a badge on it and slap a steep premium on the MSRP. Let’s be clear, the XLR-V cannot either by performance or in gadgets substantively compete with a BMW M6 convertible or a Mercedes-Benz SL63 AMG.
Why? Because it has all the quiet dignity of an 80s Firebird, the haphazard build quality of a 90s Peugeot, and is bedeviled in the details; rotten interior materials, mushy brakes, small cabin space, smaller trunk space, on and on… The XLR-V also offers the dullest driving manners round town this side of a Toyota Sequoia.
On track it went like hell-for-leather, but it did so only after wasting precious time waiting for the automatic to do its thang. After it it did, good luck holding that corner. The warmer they got, the more the car’s Pirellis lost their grip.
Cutting back to brass tax, I asked six people to give me their best guess as to how much the XLR-V cost. The highest figure given was $45,000. Bottom line: you’re better off buying an ’07 Corvette for similar money.
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Cadillac CTS-4 Direct Injection
This is the most disappointing Cadillac ever made despite being the most handsome executive sedan on the market. And that’s a hard reality to cope with, because on looks alone the mid-price luxury field with its 5er, E-Class, XF, MKS, and GS rivalry – is duller than dishwater, as the man says. It needs a handsome entry like the CTS.
True, GM’s put Caddy badges on worse cars (the XLR-V for instance) but because so much depends upon the marque’s newest and sharpest, everything should be perfect- which, sadly, it ain’t.
It’s like managing to do 95% of the job and then not bothering with the remaining 5% when your competition is operating at 99.5% on up. Even though that’s 16% better than your previous effort, landing fifth or sixth place doesn’t get it off the dealer’s lot.
Where the CTS-V performs magnificently, the standard CTS falls, stupidly.
The D.I. model’s anemic V6 pumps the tamest (and lamest) 300 horses I’ve ever whipped. There’s no bite, no bark, no pull, no thrill. It did manage a so-so 20 mpg, though. Propulsion starts to happen at 4,000 rpm and that’s after the automatic gets its okay from Congress to downshift.
Meanwhile, that angry semi’s looming larger in those oddly shaped rearviews…
Our particular test car neither rode well nor cornered. I tested the CTS on the same right hand corner and over the same bumps back to back with a Mercedes-Benz E350 4-Matic and BMW 528xi.
The BMW carved through the corner at 40 mph; quickest and flattest of the three; while managing to ride comfortably over raw surfaces. The Mercedes rolled a little when negotiating the right hand sweeper, but it tracked true, all while snuffing out potholes. Tyres howling, the Caddy understeered cross the road while riding roughshod over bad surfaces. Painful.
And despite having all-wheel drive, chasing an Audi A6 would’ve sent the midsize porkchop (all 4,000+lbs of car) off road when following in curvy pursuit.
Interior materials also lagged despite the advertised effort to match Mercedes-Benz grade. But then again, Mercedes’ quality hasn’t been up to snuff for a while, either.
Best advice: spend more for the CTS-V or save on a Pontiac G8 GT, instead. Or, if you must, an Audi A6.
[Linked: Cadillac]
For Luxurious Alternative Fuel Options, It’s The Seventies All Over Again…
By Gunnar Heinrich
SEE if this passage from an October, ’74 Road & Track review of Benz’s (W115) 240D strikes a familiar chord.
“It seems to us that no American who can afford an $8,250 [($35K in 2008)] needs fuel economy badly enough to put up with the diesel’s shortcomings.”
Funny how the commercial expense of efficient transport outweighs the fiscal benefits of using it.
Consider then, the current attention given to luxury hybrids.
The Lexus GS450h with its lofty starting MSRP of $55,800 stands some 11 grand taller than the standard GS350 ($44K) that uses the same, albeit de-fanged 3.5 liter V6 engine sans the aid of toxic hybrid batteries.
Plotting a trip using AAA’s Fuel Cost Calculator – one way from New York to Los Angeles tells a curious tale.
In the 2763 mile trip between Gotham and the City of Angels, the GS450h uses 110.52 gallons of gas and costs its environmentally conscientious driver $471.37.
By contrast, on the same trip the milder GS350 drinks just 102.33 petrol gallons and costs less at $436.45.
And to put it all into perfect perspective, the Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec – operating on an old concept (oil burner) – will use just 86.34 gallons of diesel and cost the driver even less – $368.26.
Trouble is the E320 Bluetec starts at a fiscally unsound $53,775. And that’s with MB-Tex upholstery, not ($1,570) leather, thank you.
Makes you wonder if we weren’t better off in 1974.
Completing The 560 Range: Benz’s Magnificent 560SEC
By Christopher P. Davis
IN a perfect world, the elves from the Black Forest pictured a three-car garage.
In it sat a 560SEL – which would propel you to your daily slayings in the corporate world – to the right, a 560SL – for open-top boulevard cruising and of course the occasional weekend picnic – and, finally, the 560SEC.
Sporty yet refined. Classic yet modern. Sadly, one of Benz’s best is now just some forgotten coupe. Perfect for a night at the opera, and maybe a Friday car, like the current CL-Class, the SEC was an expensive, low volume choice. So much so, the “E” is SEC should have stood for “exclusive.”
Arriving in an S-Class coupe, you made a statement, frankly, that money was no object and that practicality was for “the little people.” Sure, for a little less money (the coupe’s MSRP was north of $70,000) you could have a 560SEL and two more doors, but who bothered to count? You had accountants for that.
Confronted by a 560SEC, there’s little room to doubt that it is a true Mercedes-Benz. The Tri-Star logo, representing land, air, and sea is prominently featured, much in the way it currently is on the CL and on the new C-Class Sport.
The star has an angular front, which through former Benz Design Chief Bruno Sacco’s genius avoids being overtly “sporty” or ostentatious. Simply told, it’s the embodiment of the balanced design ethic that was part of every model Mercedes produced in the 80s.
On the headlamps rest diminutive wiper blades, a feature that I always thought to be rather cool and somewhat practical, but overall, just plain cool. On top of the hood where a star ornament would usually stand, is a larger blue-white star and laurel roundel that’s featured on nearly every Mercedes two-door.
From the side, your eye sweeps across the car, as the design is completely fluid, there is no rough spot, just one beautiful automobile. The 560 SEC is a pillarless coupe, a fact that greatly enhances that sweep.
In a December 2006 edition of British Mercedes-Benz magazine Mercedes Enthusiast, Bruno Sacco was reported to have recently acquired, as the writer put it, “(A) low mileage 560SEC in Anthracite with black leather and burr walnut. ‘It is now almost perfect,’ he murmured, eyes twinkling.”
From the rear, the 560SEC is very similar to any other W126. The only difference between the rear of sedan is that the coupe sports a slightly larger rear windscreen.
On the interior, a 560SEC has all the sharp fit and finish of its four door sibling.
One novel feature is a seat belt presenter – a think black plastic arm that extends the belt out for you from a chrome ringed cavity beneath the rear window sill. Although novel in the 80s, it’s a feature that time has shown to be just a tad temperamental.
Between the back seats of the SEC was a beautiful burled wood retractable console. Similar to that found on current CL-Class models, although on the 560SEC it is much larger; the amount of burled wood is stunning!
The 560SEC is a big car by any measure. It weighs in at over 3960 pounds and covers just over 199.2 inches of asphalt stem to stern.
In today’s world of Prius’ (or is it Prii?) the 560SEC is a throwback to a bygone era – the decadence of the 80’s.
Supreme excess.
Owning one today is as much a statement as it was then. It denotes success, style, intelligence, and class. It’s a designer tank, engineered unlike any other car in the world and styled to please even the most fashion conscious.
“Luxury cars” abound, but 560SECs do not – with only 28,929 of these beauties made. What’s more, a well cared-for example will mechanically stand the test of time at least as well as its classic good looks.
The 560SEC is the perfect coupe to complete anyone’s garage.
[Images: 1986 Brochure by Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc.]
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*Note* An avid reader since early 2007, Mr. Davis is a new contributor to Automobiles De Luxe.
Mercedes-Benz 560SEL US Brochure Pictures
By Gunnar Heinrich
“REPOSING in the rear seat of the 560SEL Sedan, basking in near-limousine spaciousness and an atmosphere of blissful peace and quiet with almost every conceivable amenity at hand, you might find it difficult if not impossible to think of this as anything but one of the most supremely livable automobiles ever built.”
When can I move in?
Truth in disclosure, your faithful publisher owns one 1986 navy blue over grey 560SEL which helps fuel an everlasting adoration of three box German sedans.
These are some scanned images from a period US brochure showcasing the former flagship that set the modern benchmark for what a solid luxury grand touring motor car should be.
The standard of excellence that Bruno Sacco penned and the volk auf Stuttgart manufactured has endured long after the W126 series ended in 1991.
Perhaps that’s why so many are still in service, cared for, and remain “supremely liveable.”
[Linked: fuenfkommasechs.de]
