Take time to dream together with me.
You have a very nice house, but you could use a little more space.
You could pack up your stuff and move, but you could also expand your nice spot a little bit.
That is exactly what Mercedes-Benz has done with the CLS. A nice house, but now with an extended living room. Meet the shooting brake!
And, do you like it? This car sure makes people talk, it's a statement on wheels.
but let's see where the name shooting brake comes from.
According to the history books, the British royals used shooting brakes to brake the moving power of wild horses, or to break their resistance.
The first explaination is the reason we write the name of this car as BRAKE.
The British started to use their vehicles while hunting, and thus the name Shooting Brake appeared.
This car has nothing to do with that history anymore. This is the embodyment of a new niche in the car world.
The four door CLS started the niche of the four door coupé, this one starts the niche of the estate versions of those coupés.
But you'd better get used to this, because other brands (like Porsche with the Panamera Sports Turismo) are coming with competitors.
The new rich mans toys, are here to stay.
This car is the best what Mercedes-Benz has in store for us. This CLS is way up there.
Take the engine, a twinturbo V8 with 408 hp, fits perfectly with the cars character. It boosts 600 Nm of torque
so there is enough power to speed up without shifting down, but when you need power... There is is!
Completely convincing!
The way it drives is just as convincing. It's a big car measuring 4.95 metres, but it does a good job in hiding that.
It's pretty agile, the steering is quite direct for a Mercedes, that's good.
This car has air suspension and that ensures a high level of comfort. It's very smooth, even on bad roads.
Although it does feel a bit more nervous than the E-class I drove not too long ago, but could also be inside my head...
This car covers you in a cocoon of comfort. It's very nice to be inside it.
It's nice and alert for such a big car, but comfort is it's main objective.
Smoothness and comfort, those two words describe this car very well.
You can fit it with all kinds of systems that make your life easier. Massaging seats with cooling or heating, active side bars that keep you in place in corners.
A truly wonderful sound system, and there is even a possibility to get a trunk floor made out of wood from American cherry trees.
How cool is that!
And then there are systems that keep you in your lane, and so on... And the good thing is with Mercedes that stuff like this works perfectly.
Take Distronic Plus, the radar-guided cruise, I can name few cars in which the system works so brilliantly.
There's a car in from of me. I set the speed, the radar does its job, brakes smoothly. And in traffic jams as well...
It stops automatically when needed, shuts down the engine, starts on its own again, and follows the cars in front of you.
Seriously, those details make you feel completely at easy in this machine. And I think that is exactly what Mercedes intended.
Mercedes-Benz has made a very good car with this CLS Shooting Brake. A big car as well, with enough space in the back seats as well - except for your head.
But dispite all of those advantages, there's one thing that keep annoying me.
Even though this car costs about 140.000 euro's, I still don't have a trunk lined with American Cherry wood... And let's be honest: that is what you want in this car.
So there's nothing else we can do...
(arrives at DIY-store)
+ (Design) statement on wheels + Combines smoothness with dynamics - Lack of head room - Not everyone likes the looks...