If style is important to luxury shoppers, the 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class has the upper hand over other sedans on the market.
The radically shaped four-door — it's sometimes called a coupe because of its sporty roofline, and because there are just two seats in back — has been redesigned for 2012, and it looks terrific in its new skin.
The original CLS was no slouch, either; it set the auto world aflutter with its style, but it was hard to see out of, and it had a cramped interior and didn't offer enough performance to satisfy shoppers. Not surprisingly, its success waned quickly.
The 2012 has better visibility, tremendous performance chops — especially the AMG model — and when you compare its interior room with the traditional Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan's, it barely gives an inch.
There's a price to pay for these improvements, though: $10,000 when you compare it with an E550 sedan.
Style
There are just two elements that could account for that price difference: The CLS' more advanced V-8 engine and its darn appealing, elegant design. Like most new Benzes, the CLS features a large, dominant grille, in this case embedded with a gigantic three-pointed star. And of course there are optional full LED headlights. Luxury automakers are in a war to see which can use more LEDs to illuminate our roads, and the CLS comes to the fight with two stories of LED strips in the headlight cluster — to great effect.
The CLS' design trademark is the sloping roofline that many other vehicles have emulated over the years. For 2012, the car allows for a more traditional profile, albeit one dressed up with scallops running along the doors. It then radically drops off in the rear in a rounded truncation.
It's a startling effect, set off with giant taillights, yet whenever I try to describe it I end up using the word "droopy."
The CLS63 AMG has larger, 19-inch wheels, a more aggressive front bumper, a chin spoiler and quad exhaust.
Performance
Unlike most Mercedes, there is no V-6 option for the CLS. The model range starts with the CLS550 and ends with the CLS63 AMG, with nothing in between. That means you have the choice of either a 402-horsepower, twin-turbo 4.6-liter V-8 that bursts up highway on-ramps with aplomb, or a 518-hp, twin-turbo 5.5-liter V-8 that can blow the doors off most muscle cars revving at a stoplight.
The CLS550 has enough power to satisfy most drivers. It's so close to BMW's new twin-turbo V-8 in terms of real-world response that I don't think either company has an edge under the hood. However, the CLS has a nasty habit of lagging when taking off from a dead stop. All the Cars.com editors who tested the 550 bemoaned this attribute. I drove it the most and learned to massage the accelerator pedal just right to overcome most of the lag, but it's hard to pay that much attention all the time.
The E550 features the same V-8 for 2012, but its lack of crisp handling is what might lead more buyers toward the CLS. The CLS may not handle like a sports car, but its steering is precise when taking twisty roads at speed, yet it isn't overly heavy for long highway slogs.
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