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Sorry if you missed it, but January 2011 was the official 125th birthday of the motorcar – on that date back in 1886 Carl Benz filed a patent application in Berlin, Germany, for a three-wheeled motorwagen.
Later that year Gottlieb Daimler hit the road with his four-wheeled “motorised carriage” and look where we are now...
Well, to be precise, on the eve of the auspicious anniversary, I was in Johannesburg driving the latest, most sophisticated, versions of the Benz-Daimler conspiracy – the face-lifted CL-Class, complete with a new and more powerful twin-turbo V8 engine and a raft of new technology.
FOUR NEW VERSIONS
If the “space race” of the 1950’s and 1960’s had accelerated as fast as the development of the automobile then modern equivalents of Noah’s Ark would by now have been showering down in distant galaxies...
Anyway, the four new versions of the CL coupe – CL500, CL600, CL63 AMG and CL65 AMG – make you wonder just how much further the “motorwagen” has go before it comes up against a technological brick wall that will need anti-grav to get over.
As Eckhart Mayer, South African divisional manager for Mercedes cars, put it on Friday: “The supremacy of this updated flagship is the embodiment of auto refinement – the benchmark for power with efficiency.”
Of the four, it’s the CL63 AMG that has taken the biggest leap forward with the introduction of a 5.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine that has brought a significant increase in power (to 400kW and 800Nm), a 25 percent reduction in fuel consumption (to 10.5 litres/100km* – a reduction of four litres/100km).
LESS IS ENOUGH: No, not one of the AMG versions but, unless you're aiming to strip what's left of Gauteng's tar off the hardcore, there's plenty of power in the CL500.
Adding the option of a “performance package” for a mere R71 800 will take the power and torque readings to 420kW and 900Nm, great for bragging rights at the golf club but of little practical use on SA’s clogged, pot-holed and dangerous roads.
And anyway, it isn’t the most powerful of the quartet; that honour goes to the mighty CL65 AMG whose six-litre, bi-turbo V12 is capable of 463kW (no “performance package” necessary, dankie) and 1000Nm. The other two important stats here are fuel consumption – 14.3 litres/100km – and the number of years you might spend in jail if you take the car to its rated maximum of 300km/h without the benefit of flashing blue lights. The speedometer, by the way, reads to 360km/h
The normal engine is good for a 4.5sec 0-100km/h sprint and 250km/h top speed – both of which, of course, are purely academic because, really, who would be so crass as do actually do it on the open road?
The previous engine was a 6.3-litre (hence the now misleading badging) non-turbo lump that produced 34kW and 270Nm less than the new engine. CO2 emissions have been cut by almost 30 percent to 244g/km.
And, for the record, yes there are diesel versions of the CL but they won’t be coming to SA because, simply, the crappy fuel generally available here is just not good enough for these super-clean engines and they are not, MBSA says, “financially viable”.
Frankly, the cars won’t be viable for many of our population anyway; here are the basic prices. You can spend many, many thousands more or choice options for factory fitting on everything from tyres and rims to fridges, Distronic autocruise, trim parts, paint jobs, “night view” and entertainment upgrade packages.
So...
CL500 – R1 618 900
CL600 – R2 107 280
CL63 AMG – 2 130 610
CL65 AMG – R2 443 300
...and no, MBSA isn’t doing 125th Birthday Specials.
Check the full list of options.
Much of the fuel-saving can be attributed to Mercedes adding stop/start technology to the CL-Class electronics. It’s a new science: simply, as long as the car is being driven in ‘C’ (for ‘controlled efficiency”) the engine will cut out every time the vehicle halts, for whatever reason, and start immediately the accelerator is pressed again.
There are a number of default conditions under which the engine will NOT stop or will (sometimes inconveniently, restart) –most of which involve battery overload... think aircon on high or engine oil not up to operating temperature.
All four models also employ the latest Mercedes Speedshift auto/manual sequential paddle-shift sports transmission and the CL63 AMG has a “kers” system, using kinetic energy on overrun to charge its batteries.
The car is the only one in the range to get something of a body reshape, too, with new bonnet, headlights, grille and tail lights and triple-spoked 19” wheel rims wrapped by 255/40 front and 275/40 rear rubber.
The 2011 model also gets ‘torque vectoring’ steering (the inner rear wheel is slowed during cornering) and crosswind compensation that adjusts shock-absorber resistance within milliseconds according to info from the car’s yaw rate and acceleration sensors in the electronic stability system.
LESS GLAMOROUS, STILL STUNNING
The same systems are also fitted to the V12 CL65 AMG units. This model also has some minor design changes and also comes with its own special double-spoked, 20” wheels bearing 255/35 rubber at the front and 275/35 at the rear. Chunky stuff, indeed...
Perhaps less glamorous but certainly still stunning are the two “lesser” models in the 2011 Mercedes CL-Class – the CL500 BlueEfficiency and the CL600. Neither is anywhere near so thrilling to drive as the AMG models but then there are people more concerned with the quality of their overall life than merely how fast their car can go.
Yes, there are!
Anyway, MBSA says the CL500’s 4.7-litre, 320kW V8 biturbo engine, with its claimed fuel consumption of 9.5 litres/100km, is “a new dimension of efficiency in the luxury coupé category. Its NEDC figures show savings of as much as 23 percent over its predecessor and its CO2 emissions are down from 288 to 224g/km”.
FIVE-SPEED THIS TIME
Most of the consumption savings come from extra controls on the alternator, fuel pump, aircon compressor, steering power-assistance and low rolling-resistance tyres. The CL500 is 12 percent more powerful than its predecessor at 285kW and torque is up from 530 to 700Nm – and is less than a half-second slower than the AMG models to 100km/h.
The CL600’s V12 biturbo engine has had no technical changes so still produces 380kW/830Nm, uses 13.8 litres/100km, puts out 322g of CO2/km and hits 100km/h in 4.6sec. It also has only a five-speed auto gearbox.
*All fuel consumption figures are in perfect conditions on a specified circuit and bear little resemblance to real-life operation.
Full specifications and other information on the Mercedes-Benz SA website.
Later that year Gottlieb Daimler hit the road with his four-wheeled “motorised carriage” and look where we are now...
Well, to be precise, on the eve of the auspicious anniversary, I was in Johannesburg driving the latest, most sophisticated, versions of the Benz-Daimler conspiracy – the face-lifted CL-Class, complete with a new and more powerful twin-turbo V8 engine and a raft of new technology.
FOUR NEW VERSIONS
If the “space race” of the 1950’s and 1960’s had accelerated as fast as the development of the automobile then modern equivalents of Noah’s Ark would by now have been showering down in distant galaxies...
Anyway, the four new versions of the CL coupe – CL500, CL600, CL63 AMG and CL65 AMG – make you wonder just how much further the “motorwagen” has go before it comes up against a technological brick wall that will need anti-grav to get over.
As Eckhart Mayer, South African divisional manager for Mercedes cars, put it on Friday: “The supremacy of this updated flagship is the embodiment of auto refinement – the benchmark for power with efficiency.”
Of the four, it’s the CL63 AMG that has taken the biggest leap forward with the introduction of a 5.5-litre, twin-turbo V8 engine that has brought a significant increase in power (to 400kW and 800Nm), a 25 percent reduction in fuel consumption (to 10.5 litres/100km* – a reduction of four litres/100km).
LESS IS ENOUGH: No, not one of the AMG versions but, unless you're aiming to strip what's left of Gauteng's tar off the hardcore, there's plenty of power in the CL500.
Adding the option of a “performance package” for a mere R71 800 will take the power and torque readings to 420kW and 900Nm, great for bragging rights at the golf club but of little practical use on SA’s clogged, pot-holed and dangerous roads.
And anyway, it isn’t the most powerful of the quartet; that honour goes to the mighty CL65 AMG whose six-litre, bi-turbo V12 is capable of 463kW (no “performance package” necessary, dankie) and 1000Nm. The other two important stats here are fuel consumption – 14.3 litres/100km – and the number of years you might spend in jail if you take the car to its rated maximum of 300km/h without the benefit of flashing blue lights. The speedometer, by the way, reads to 360km/h
The normal engine is good for a 4.5sec 0-100km/h sprint and 250km/h top speed – both of which, of course, are purely academic because, really, who would be so crass as do actually do it on the open road?
THIS IS THE AMG: The Mercedes CL-Class might be all about luxury - as it should be, at the prices! - but there's a definite sporting edge in the cabin of the CL63 AMG.
The previous engine was a 6.3-litre (hence the now misleading badging) non-turbo lump that produced 34kW and 270Nm less than the new engine. CO2 emissions have been cut by almost 30 percent to 244g/km.
And, for the record, yes there are diesel versions of the CL but they won’t be coming to SA because, simply, the crappy fuel generally available here is just not good enough for these super-clean engines and they are not, MBSA says, “financially viable”.
Frankly, the cars won’t be viable for many of our population anyway; here are the basic prices. You can spend many, many thousands more or choice options for factory fitting on everything from tyres and rims to fridges, Distronic autocruise, trim parts, paint jobs, “night view” and entertainment upgrade packages.
So...
CL500 – R1 618 900
CL600 – R2 107 280
CL63 AMG – 2 130 610
CL65 AMG – R2 443 300
...and no, MBSA isn’t doing 125th Birthday Specials.
Check the full list of options.
Much of the fuel-saving can be attributed to Mercedes adding stop/start technology to the CL-Class electronics. It’s a new science: simply, as long as the car is being driven in ‘C’ (for ‘controlled efficiency”) the engine will cut out every time the vehicle halts, for whatever reason, and start immediately the accelerator is pressed again.
WORK OF ART: All cars with an engine as brilliant as the Mercedes CL63 AMG should have a transparent bonnet because works of art should always be on show. Pity this isn't the real thing.
There are a number of default conditions under which the engine will NOT stop or will (sometimes inconveniently, restart) –most of which involve battery overload... think aircon on high or engine oil not up to operating temperature.
All four models also employ the latest Mercedes Speedshift auto/manual sequential paddle-shift sports transmission and the CL63 AMG has a “kers” system, using kinetic energy on overrun to charge its batteries.
The car is the only one in the range to get something of a body reshape, too, with new bonnet, headlights, grille and tail lights and triple-spoked 19” wheel rims wrapped by 255/40 front and 275/40 rear rubber.
The 2011 model also gets ‘torque vectoring’ steering (the inner rear wheel is slowed during cornering) and crosswind compensation that adjusts shock-absorber resistance within milliseconds according to info from the car’s yaw rate and acceleration sensors in the electronic stability system.
LESS GLAMOROUS, STILL STUNNING
The same systems are also fitted to the V12 CL65 AMG units. This model also has some minor design changes and also comes with its own special double-spoked, 20” wheels bearing 255/35 rubber at the front and 275/35 at the rear. Chunky stuff, indeed...
Perhaps less glamorous but certainly still stunning are the two “lesser” models in the 2011 Mercedes CL-Class – the CL500 BlueEfficiency and the CL600. Neither is anywhere near so thrilling to drive as the AMG models but then there are people more concerned with the quality of their overall life than merely how fast their car can go.
Yes, there are!
Anyway, MBSA says the CL500’s 4.7-litre, 320kW V8 biturbo engine, with its claimed fuel consumption of 9.5 litres/100km, is “a new dimension of efficiency in the luxury coupé category. Its NEDC figures show savings of as much as 23 percent over its predecessor and its CO2 emissions are down from 288 to 224g/km”.
FIVE-SPEED THIS TIME
Most of the consumption savings come from extra controls on the alternator, fuel pump, aircon compressor, steering power-assistance and low rolling-resistance tyres. The CL500 is 12 percent more powerful than its predecessor at 285kW and torque is up from 530 to 700Nm – and is less than a half-second slower than the AMG models to 100km/h.
The CL600’s V12 biturbo engine has had no technical changes so still produces 380kW/830Nm, uses 13.8 litres/100km, puts out 322g of CO2/km and hits 100km/h in 4.6sec. It also has only a five-speed auto gearbox.
*All fuel consumption figures are in perfect conditions on a specified circuit and bear little resemblance to real-life operation.
Full specifications and other information on the Mercedes-Benz SA website.
