Luxury flagship coupe knows no inferiority complex
Cruising the legendary Croisette boulevard through Cannes in the French Riviera, we follow the lovely Cote D'Azur coastline. On one side, the heartbreakingly beautiful bay with its sandy beaches and enormous yachts, on the other, exclusive boutiques and sidewalks bustling with an astonishing array of casually chic shoppers. We pass by the surprisingly plain Palais des Festivals of Cannes, where film stars and glitterati strut their finest on the red carpet.
We're strangers in a strange land, but the new 2011 CL-Class Mercedes-Benz we're piloting is right at home. Although we're surrounded by prestige German sedans and exotic Italian sports cars, the luxury flagship coupe is among peers.
Like its 4-door sibling, the S-Class Saloon, the CL Coupe has undergone a makeover that, externally, seems very subtle. A new sharper grill, revised bumper and headlights, LED running lights and foglights and reworked taillights are part of the exterior nip and tuck.
Inside, the well-crafted cabin is finished in fragrant "passion" leather and subtle wood accents. There are of course, all the creature comforts you'd expect from this premiere German brand, including a split-screen navigation system and 7.2 GB hard drive and Bluetooth connectivity along with USB and SD card compatibility. Plump, leather seats feature an "active multicontour seat" function that depending on driver's choice, adjusts the bolstering to either grip tightly or nudge gently during spirited cornering.
There’s a brace of new confidence-inspiring safety systems to protect occupants from harm: Active Lane Keeping Assist and Active Blind Spot Assist, which sense either an impending collision or unintended lane departure and apply gentle corrective braking inputs to counteract the vehicle’s course and poke it back on track. Negotiating the very narrow streets with two lanes of traffic was challenging enough, add to this the constant flow of daredevil scooters squeezing between the two lanes and you can understand why we greatly appreciated the Blind Spot's audible warning feature.
Cruising the legendary Croisette boulevard through Cannes in the French Riviera, we follow the lovely Cote D'Azur coastline. On one side, the heartbreakingly beautiful bay with its sandy beaches and enormous yachts, on the other, exclusive boutiques and sidewalks bustling with an astonishing array of casually chic shoppers. We pass by the surprisingly plain Palais des Festivals of Cannes, where film stars and glitterati strut their finest on the red carpet.
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| The CL Coupe has undergone a makeover that, externally, seems very subtle. (photo: Lesley Wimbush/Auto123.com) |
We're strangers in a strange land, but the new 2011 CL-Class Mercedes-Benz we're piloting is right at home. Although we're surrounded by prestige German sedans and exotic Italian sports cars, the luxury flagship coupe is among peers.
Like its 4-door sibling, the S-Class Saloon, the CL Coupe has undergone a makeover that, externally, seems very subtle. A new sharper grill, revised bumper and headlights, LED running lights and foglights and reworked taillights are part of the exterior nip and tuck.
Inside, the well-crafted cabin is finished in fragrant "passion" leather and subtle wood accents. There are of course, all the creature comforts you'd expect from this premiere German brand, including a split-screen navigation system and 7.2 GB hard drive and Bluetooth connectivity along with USB and SD card compatibility. Plump, leather seats feature an "active multicontour seat" function that depending on driver's choice, adjusts the bolstering to either grip tightly or nudge gently during spirited cornering.
There’s a brace of new confidence-inspiring safety systems to protect occupants from harm: Active Lane Keeping Assist and Active Blind Spot Assist, which sense either an impending collision or unintended lane departure and apply gentle corrective braking inputs to counteract the vehicle’s course and poke it back on track. Negotiating the very narrow streets with two lanes of traffic was challenging enough, add to this the constant flow of daredevil scooters squeezing between the two lanes and you can understand why we greatly appreciated the Blind Spot's audible warning feature.
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| Inside, the well-crafted cabin is finished in fragrant "passion" leather and subtle wood accents. ((photo: Lesley Wimbush/Auto123.com) |