At the top of the mountain, the driving has never been better. Witness the 2012 CLS63 AMG. Performance, handling, safety, style – this car has it all.
Because our day with the new CLS63 in the hills and desert east of San Diego was the first opportunity I had to actually drive the CLS63, let’s start with performance. Briefly, it goes and stops more smoothly and efficiently than any car I’ve ever driven. Which is to say, it’s only breathtaking when you realize what you just did. Zero to 60 in four-plus seconds, 60 to whatever you think you can get away with in only a few seconds more. The specs say the new 5.5-liter V-8 biturbo, hand-built in Affalterbach and signed by the builder, of course, puts out 518 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Power gets to the wheels through the 7-speed AMG Speedshift multiclutch automatic transmission. But those are just words and numbers.
Most cars with high-power engines and high-performance transmissions produce “neck-snapping acceleration,” and their heavy-duty transmissions make you very aware of each shift point.
Not this car. The acceleration and speed sneak up on you so quietly that you can be in ticket territory without knowing it, and cuffs-and-jail land is only a few hundred yards farther down the road. Turbo lag? If it wasn’t for the sound (we were driving with the windows open to enjoy it), you’d never know that the power is coming from engineering, not just cubic inches. (Incidentally, the “63” number is now just a nod to the traditions of the old AMG top-of-the-line 6.3 engines and has nothing to do with capacity.)
When we did realize how fast we were going, the optional Brembo ceramic brakes visible in the picture above brought us back to sanity in short order. I suspect a panic stop would feel like landing on that aircraft carrier in the San Diego harbor, but it wasn’t difficult to modulate the braking power.
By the way, 550 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque will be available in the performance package, but the only drivers I’ve met so far who could take advantage of that much power were wearing AMG instructor jackets and well-used racing shoes.
Steering and handling were just as incomparable. We were all impressed with the handling of the SLS when we first drove it, largely because the suspension had been designed from the ground up by AMG engineers and test drivers to use the best of old-school and high-tech systems. The CLS63 uses the same approach but is still not far removed from the standard CLS550. When I discussed that with Tobias Mores, the AMG vehicle development manager, he smiled and said, “After we designed the SLS by ourselves at AMG, the Mercedes-Benz vehicle engineers have started asking for our advice in the early stages of designing the standard cars, which makes it easier now to make the AMG versions.”
Another footnote: With the higher fuel efficiency of the new engine, the CLS63 is exempt from the gas-guzzler tax levied on nearly every other car offering this performance, and also produces fewer emissions than previous AMG engines.
In any performance car launch, we don’t expect to hear the product managers talk about safety, but Mercedes-Benz is proud of the range of safety devices that were introduced with the E-Class and are now being installed on all new models.
All of the test cars had the entire range of standard and optional devices. For the first time we had the chance to test the new active lane-keeping and blindspot systems. If the car started to drift over the lane markers, or across the white line at the edge of the road, the system would first shake the steering wheel, and then the ABS system would brake the appropriate wheel to push the car back into the lane. It works effectively and almost unobtrusively. I was skeptical at first, as I had been with Distronic cruise control, but I’m now a believer. On those longer trips for which this car is so well suited, these are very desirable systems to have to counteract any lapse of driver attention.
We’ve already discussed exterior styling of the new CLS and its AMG version in these pages, and the pictures do it justice.
Having spent time in the interior now, I really like the styling and choices of materials. Ergonomics also are excellent, with all the necessary controls for performance, handling, and accessories clustered under the right hand on the console.
Our only caveat: If you expect to carry adults in the backseat very often, get the E63 or S63; with the sloping roofline of the CLS63, adults can sit back there, but they won’t appreciate the car as much as you do in the front seat.
For more information on our CLS63 road test, visit The Star Blog at www.mbca.org.
FAST FACTS
Engine: 5.5-liter dual-turbo fuel-injected V-8.
Transmission: 7-speed multiclutch AMG Speedshift
Steering: Electro-hydraulic speed-sensitive
power-assisted rack & pinion
Brakes (f and r): 14.2 inch perforated vented discs Horsepower: 518 @ 5,500 rpm (550*)
Torque (pound-feet): 516 @ 2,000-4,500 (590*)
Acceleration: 0-60 mph in 4.4 sec (4.3 sec*)
Top speed: 155 mph (186 mph*)
Length: 196.7 in.
Curb weight: 4,114 lbs.
Fuel mileage city/hwy: 16/21 (est.)
Price: Not yet announced; likely $100,000 to $140,000, depending on options
On sale: Summer 2011
* Performance Package
First Drive – 2012 CLS63 AMG
by Gary Anderson
Photos by Gary Anderson, Mark Elias, and Martin Tillman
