OMG! It's an AMG - Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG to be precise.
In these days of twin-turbocharged V-6 engines, this rare breed does the job with cubic inches and an exhaust bellow like muscle cars of old.
The flagship coupe of the line, until the 563-horsepower SLS supercoupe arrives, CLs come in four flavors -382-hp CL550 4MATIC and the rear-wheel-drive CL600 (510 hp), our 518-hp CL63 AMG and CL65 AMG (604 hp). That's darn close to a supercar, a 4,599-pound presence to be reckoned with.
- Benz body:
AMG is Mercedes-Benz's in-house hot rod tuner, so the latest iteration of the S-Class sedan's coupe cousin gets muscle in its wedgy aero-shape. This kind of full-sized four-seat ?ber-coupe has been in Benz's menu for 30 years.
This newest version gets almost 3 inches more wheelbase and a sculpted shape that starts with a more upright three-bar grille to meet pedestrian safety standards, its star hiding the radar cruise unit. Twin-element headlights get light bar "eyebrows" for an angry look, with big lower air intake and side intakes with fog lights getting alloy trim over winglets.
The front fenders get big flares that flow off the headlights, framing five-spoke AMG wheels on low-profile ZR-rated Continental rubber with big drilled, vented discs and gray AMG-badged calipers visible. Side skirts match the accent line that runs off front flares and over rear wheel wells with wider 20-inch rubber. The fastback roofline merges into a wide tail with wedge lights and quad pipes. Titanium Gray covered a very well-made body that lots of people looked at.
- CL63 comfort:
Swoopy lines delineate the flagship S-Class-derived interior swathed in aromatic stitched leather with black ash wood trim and Alcantara suede headliner. A four-spoke power tilt/telescope leather-wrapped wheel has soft-touch trip computer and cellphone volume controls over voice command and "return" buttons. Cool aluminum shift paddles fall at hand behind it.
The central 200-mph speedometer is an LCD screen that displays trip computer information in the center as the white needle floats around. Analog 8,000-rpm tach, gas and temperature gauges flank it. The big LCD navigation screen also showcases the 11-speaker harman-kardon AM-FMHD-Sirius Satellite-CD sound system with integrated Bluetooth and a 4-gigabyte music hard drive, plus a USB port and SD card socket and a disc player underneath that plays DVD video (when parked). Alloy climate buttons accent the rounded center dash under a cool aluminum dash clock made by IWC-Ingenieur. The glove box and twin center-armrest storage areas are big, the bottom one air conditioned.
All tech can be controlled by voice or via the COMAND dial in the center console. The car comes complete with a padded wrist rest which hides a telephone keypad, and you get an alloy twist-and-tap control that falls right at hand, with audio and navigation main buttons and a handy "back" button. Buttons for the transmission, rear sun shade and head restraints, stereo volume and "screen off" buttons are there.
We liked the amber, white or blue ambient-light accent along the dash and doors. Front seats offer 10-way power adjust with active bolsters that inflate in turns (overkill), plus four-way power massage, heating and cooling, and power side bolsters and lumbar support with three memory presets each. They were form-fitting, comfortable and warm during a freezing week. Back seat offers tight leg room unless the front seat is moved. The trunk is deep - if shallow - with a power lid. One note: Our 5,000-mile-old tan seats showed some dirt.
- AMG acceleration:
Our 6.2-liter (384-cubic-inch) V-8 produced 518 hp and 465 pound-feet of torque, a powerful naturally aspirated engine that hit 60 mph in a very fast 4.7 seconds with stability controlled wheelspin. Precise shifts came via an electronic seven-speed automatic (with mini electronic gearshift) set to "Sport" to speed up pedal response and stiffen suspension. The muscular exhaust note was almost worth the average 14-mpg in premium it gulped, as was the passing power.
For two tons of Teutonic muscle car, the CL63 AMG handled very well, with tightly tied-down ride motions, supple, not rigid.
Retuned by AMG with firmer damping and reworked stability control, the car cornered flat and neutral. Push it and there's tons of grip; you can put power to the rear and the stability control will hold it in place. Tap in active suspension and body roll almost disappears. DISTRONIC PLUS maintains preset distances on cruise, stopping, then resuming speed in stop-and-go driving.
The blind spot alert's illuminated triangles in the side mirrors alert you to someone there, then flash red when someone's too close. Park Assist uses radar and a digital display to help parallel park, but it takes too much time to use it. The power steering is precise, with great feel in turns. The cross-drilled 15.4-inch front/14.4-inch rear disc brakes bit quickly and precisely for short stops and no fade, ever.
- Benz bucks:
You pay for the power: $145,200 base, and $158,705 with $7,180 AMG Performance Package with 20-inch wheels and tires, $2,850 DISTRONIC PLUS and a $2,600 gas guzzler fee.
- Bottom line:
Outside of a Bentley, Aston Martin or BMW 650i, no one makes a luxury sports coupe as precisely built, as luxurious or as technologically sharp as this, although the new Cadillac CTS-V coupe might come close. It's expensive, uses a lot of gas and isn't practical either. But we love it.
Florida Times-Union staff writer Dan Scanlan test-drives new vehicles on Northeast Florida roads, averaging 200 miles of combined highway and city traffic during a week-long test. The vehicles are provided by the manufacturer, according to their schedule and represent a broad spectrum of sizes and prices. The prices listed are manufacturer's suggested retail prices. Scanlan can be reached at (904) 359-4549 or at dan.scanlan@jacksonville.com.
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