Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG 2011 Review

Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG

Mick Doohan is a hard act to follow. That's a literal statement of fact when he's charging around the Albert Park F1 street circuit in Benz's bright orange ('Jaffa') C 63 AMG -- and your humble Carsales Network correspondent is slogging away behind in the heavier CLS 63 AMG.

Apart from the very fact that the C 63 was pulling away along the straight from the CLS 63, which was being asked to deliver full-throttle performance, no one was calling on motorcycle champ Doohan to exercise restraint in the corners. In contrast, this writer was being carefully monitored by a racing driver sitting alongside who set more conservative limits for our attack on the course.

All that said the CLS delivered some actual dynamic capability that placed it within cooee of the C 63's pace, despite the smaller C-Class variant's Performance Pack PLUS features fitted. In fact, it was easier to finesse the throttle of the twin-turbo V8 on the exit from corners, in the opinion of this reviewer.

Whether due to a little turbo lag, more weight to move or a different traction control setup, the CLS didn't require the same care in use of the throttle. The driver could just squeeze the accelerator pedal and extract the right sort of power delivery, whereas the aggressive throttle response from the C 63 was potentially a problem until the driver had a few more laps under the belt, and had more of a feel for the car.

At full cry, the CLS was pulling indicated speeds above 200km/h along the circuit's longest straight, and with each up-shift the exhaust woofed as the electropneumatic converter opened the wastegate valve and the engine momentarily reduced torque. With the exhaust note stifled by the forced induction system, the CLS isn't quite as raucous as the C 63, but owners won't be disappointed.

Boasting a wet-plate clutch in place of the conventional torque converter, the seven-speed (MCT) automatic transmission was highly adaptive and would downshift readily without any input from the driver. At such times, the transmission provided the optimal gear for the job -- and the V8 was always pulling the right revs, whether compression braking to help shift some weight to the nose of the car or delivering positive torque exiting the corner and aiming the car along the next straight. There was simply little reason to shift manually, other than for the enjoyment of it.

Mick Doohan, in the C 63, used the shift lever to downshift sequentially, but then left the transmission to shift up automatically as the engine reached redline. Around Albert Park he didn't use the shift paddles at all. When asked, he revealed that the shift paddles, which turn with the wheel, might elude his grasp with hands full of lock, so he preferred to use the lever for downshifts. And plainly, there's no real need for the driver to upshift manually at all -- when the vehicle will do it for you, faster and smoother.

Such awe-inspiring performance demanded equally awe-inspiring brakes -- and the CLS came up with the goods. This writer was exhorted by the instructor to brake heavily in the lead-up to each corner, but the CLS's braking system seemed more than up to the job. It wasn't merely a matter of finding how far the car's brakes could be pushed as striking a balance between what the driver felt was 'committed' and the instructor felt was 'realistic'. In reality, the CLS's brakes provided good strong pedal feel for easily moderated braking effort -- but there was even stronger braking available.

The problem from those sorts of speeds wasn't so much a question of braking power as directional stability -- although that's overstating the issue. Under such heavy braking, the rear of the car could be felt 'wagging' ever so slightly, even in a straight line, as the safety aids constantly adjusted braking pressure to the individual wheels. There was never any doubt that the electronics would have kept up, even with the brake pedal absolutely mashed to the floor -- the car was running in ESP Sport mode -- but bear in mind also that the CLS was being flogged in ideal circumstances -- warm, dry day and each 'competition' lap being bookended by cool-down laps and (brief) stops in an ersatz pit lane while drivers changed over.

The only smoking brakes we saw during the track session were at the rear of the 'Jaffa' C 63 after Mick Doohan had hammered it around the track with three journos on board.

In the corners the CLS exhibited ready turn-in and good feedback through the wheel. Roadholding felt stronger than the reviewer was entitled to test, under the watchful gaze of the instructor, but there was nary a sign of understeer unless the braking was left too late. Doohan provoked a smidge of oversteer in the C 63 while entering a corner on a trailing throttle. With a slightly higher entry speed in a rally-rather-than-race style, the CLS would have reacted similarly. The writer wasn't able to test the theory, being locked into the instructor’s 'slow in, fast out' method.

In other respects, the AMG-powered CLS was much like other variants. A gear selector in the centre console would select reverse when pushed forward, or drive when pulled back. For Park, there's a button at the top of the quadrant. Seats are heavily bolstered, but very comfortable, and adjustment is effected in the bespoke Benz way -- with controls mounted on the door caps, shaped to reflect the ergonomic function.

It's not bound to be a major packaging problem, but the low roof of the CLS doesn't leave much room for a driver wearing a helmet...

Peak power of 386kW, combined with a torque figure of 700Nm, propels the CLS 63 AMG to 100km/h in 4.4 seconds. AMG's new 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 with direct injection resides under the bonnet and, for all its irresistible performance, uses 9.9L/100km in combined-cycle fuel consumption testing. CO2 emissions in the same test cycle are rated at 231g/km.

Pricing for the CLS 63 AMG is yet to be decided, according to Mercedes-Benz spokesman David McCarthy, but by the time the car goes on sale here in June will be priced "pretty close" to the asking price (manufacturer's list price) for the current generation car, $278,700.

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