Many Under the Skin Upgrades
With over 135,000 sold worldwide since its second generation update in 2002 (May, 2003 for the convertible model), the
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| Since its update in 2002, the Mercedes-Benz CLK has been an unequivocal success, and it's about to get even better. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada) |
With the foundation set Mercedes-Benz has gone ahead with an update of the CLK, concentrating mainly on its ride, handling and general driving dynamics. The modifications made to the CLK are almost exclusively internal, concentrating on raising quality, comfort and performance attributes, in
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| The 7G-Tronic transmission is now available on the CLK 500, while adaptive headlights are now an option. (Photo: Mercedes-Benz Canada) |
The top-tier CLK500, equipped with M-B's five-liter V8 motor featuring twin-spark and variable intake and valve timing, makes 306 horsepower, but it drives through a brand new transmission. Slowly, one by one Benz is dropping its older five-speed automatic for the new seven-speed 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox. Benz claims two bold new performance figures for the CLK equipped with the new transmission, the first being acceleration tests from standstill to 100 km/h which at 5.9 seconds show a 0.1 second improvement over the outgoing car. Secondly, fuel consumption has decreased up to 0.6 L/100 km (0.9 mpg) on the mixed cycle. Like the CLK55 AMG, drivers can swap the gears themselves in a manual mode with buttons mounted on the back of the steering wheel.