2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

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subytrojan_2

"I actually started doing the two-finger-forward "engage" gesture when passing."

Hahaha! Nice prose, Sir Riswick!

benson2175

These are awesome cars that get under your skin. A few years ago I bought a rundown E class for $1500 as a winter car for my Miata. I fell deeply in love with that E class and when winter was over I continued driving it. Finally after five years of trouble free daily driving unexpected from a $1500 beater it was time to upgrade. I went for a late edition W140 S class and I can't imagine a car being much better. Nothing against buying a new Huyundai or Accord or whatever but seriously for the downpayment on one of those cars you could have a car that was made for kings and queens. It makes no sense to me to drive anything else. And when I do I'm shocked how cheap and full of cut corners everything out there is.

mercedesfan

This write up could be used to describe every big Mercedes (coupe and sedan) since the W126. There really is nothing else like them when it comes to open-road cruising. Even my old S550 with a "mere" 5.5-liter, V8 delivered pretty much the same experience. I miss it every time I take my Model S out on the open road. The Tesla is a great car, but it isn't half the highway cruiser the S-Class was.

fordson1

Interesting that the first take on this car, from the staff and from commenters, was about how soon things would break and how expensive that would be. Now, one of the staff has taken it on a road trip and is trying to pick his jaw up off the ground. $34k - like a loaded Hyundai Sonata, maybe - ? This car has been taken care of very, very well by the previous owner, it's loaded, and it's awesome. I predict this will be the all-time great Edmunds new/old car. A real sleeper. Next post? They do a track test and find that at 1300 extra pounds...and with 150 extra hp, it will roll wheel-to-wheel with the 2014 Stingray. Published tests of both cars indicate exactly that.

quadricycle

I'm not surprised to see such infatuation with the car after a trip, when this kind of car has been likened to a private jet on wheels for its ability to eat the miles. You know, I actually rolled my eyes when I saw the introduction, but I was completely wrong: this will be a great exercise. It just seems that when all is said and done, the "was/wasn't worth it" decision is going to be dimensionally greater and more involved than your average car. There's a quality about the car, but there's also a lot of complexity. You've got a lot of features that are still in the process of trickling down nearly ten years later, but that means there was a lot less research done on them back then. The car seems to be in great shape, and may not prove to be that unreliable; but on the other hand, just one big ticket item goes and so does the budget. If you do have to take it to the dealer, I bet that a wrong choice of dealer will have significant repercussions. I'm actually spending time trying to figure out what would go wrong... Air suspension, and some random sensor going off somewhere and throwing a code are my top two for the moment. Finally, is the fact that this is an awesome car, even if something does go wrong. Driving the car literally seems to be an experience we all need to try at least once. This will make it a lot more interesting to see who draws lines where to declare this experiment a success or failure. Good choice Edmunds.

mercedesfan

@quadricycle, Absolutely the air suspension. I don't know of a single MB from this generation that didn't have chronic issues with its air suspension. It seems that things were figured out in the generations that followed this car, but this CL is right sm

stovt001_

Agreed with Mercedesfan, that was my exact thought when I read quadri's comment. I'll be shocked in the air suspension isn't the first major failure.

desmolicious

If / when the air suspension fails, how long is that $5k fix going to last? It may still be really worth it, seeing this car cost $15k less than the 4 cylinder plastic seats BMW 428i

amaciejewski

Great article. This generation of CL has such an understated beauty to it. I particularly gush over the rear end, and I don't even know why! IT'S SO SUBTLE! But it is so, so right.

kevm14

Yes I really like this car, as well. I did a little digging and it looks like you could get massaging seats in some Cadillacs starting in the late 90s. I don't know how the Mercedes' system works though. I think the Cadillac system (at least the 1st gen) was just lumbar-inflation based. I assume the Mercedes' system is better. And it ought to be...