Review: Mercedes-Benz CLK500
Recently a reader took me to task for brown-nosing the motor industry after I opined that the R68 500 Fiat Seicento was great value for money. I imagine he’s going to be thoroughly pissed off to read that the optional extras fitted to the Mercedes-Benz CLK500 reviewed here cost almost as much as the entire Fiat.
Distronic alone adds R17 800 to the R605 000 ticket of the Merc, and the television tuner (R7 200), sunroof (R8 000), keyless security system (R10 500), parking distance sensors (R6 500) and voice-activated control (R3 500) take the price of the car as delivered to us to R658 500.
But let’s get away from the money and into the car, which isn’t very difficult with Keyless-go. With the remote in your pocket or handbag you don’t need to mess about with a key. Simply reach out and grab the door handle, and it’ll open for you. Climb behind the wheel and push the starter-button on top of the gear-knob, and the lusty five-litre V8 rumbles into life.
Getting to the seat-belts is often a pain in the neck in a coupe, because you have to twist around so far to reach for the things, but in the Mercedes an electrically powered boom extends to bring you the strap, and retracts again once you’ve buckled up. Neat. The electronically programmable seats are superbly comfortable, and the dash is comprehensive without being flashy.
The CLK500’s five-litre V8 engine boasts three valves a cylinder, and pumps out 225kW at 5 600rpm — that’s 300 old-fashioned horsepower. Torque is a whopping 460Nm, spread from 2 700 through to 4 250rpm, and because the CLK is a relatively small car you can enjoy every bit of what the engine produces. Think of a number, stomp the loud pedal and watch the speedo needle get there in a hurry. Thanks to all that torque there’s no peakiness — just a massive push in the back that keeps on and on as the needles whirl around the speedo and rev-counter dials.
The five-speed auto box is very smooth-shifting, but the Touchshift facility allows you to swop cogs up or down almost like a manual, but after experimenting for a while I didn’t bother. The factory claims that 0-100kph takes six seconds, and top speed is governed to 250kph. The massive — really massive — disc brakes work as well as they look, and the nimble handling means that the Mercedes can be driven extremely hard without losing its composure. Doddling around at low speed listening to the lovely engine burbling along at little more than an idle is just as much fun.
Of all the optional features in the test car the one that I enjoyed most was the Distronic cruise control, which monitors the distance to the vehicle in front and adjusts your speed accordingly. Come up behind slower traffic and the system backs off on the gas, and if that doesn’t slow you down quickly enough the brakes are also automatically applied. Move over to pass and the Mercedes sees that the road ahead is clear and accelerates back to your programmed speed all on its own. I was sceptical about letting the car assume so much responsibility but the system really works.
During the week I had the Mercedes I enjoyed driving it so much that I never once even bothered to take my motorcycle out of the garage — the CLK blew the cobwebs out of my head just as effectively as a two-wheeler. This car I could drive every day for the rest of my life without getting bored.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK500 is too expensive for most of us. Still, at around a quarter of the price of a Porsche 911 GT2 many would consider it a bargain, and if you put down a deposit today you’ll have to wait two years to take delivery. Go figure.Recently a reader took me to task for brown-nosing the motor industry after I opined that the R68 500 Fiat Seicento was great value for money. I imagine he’s going to be thoroughly pissed off to read that the optional extras fitted to the Mercedes-Benz CLK500 reviewed here cost almost as much as the entire Fiat.
Distronic alone adds R17 800 to the R605 000 ticket of the Merc, and the television tuner (R7 200), sunroof (R8 000), keyless security system (R10 500), parking distance sensors (R6 500) and voice-activated control (R3 500) take the price of the car as delivered to us to R658 500.
But let’s get away from the money and into the car, which isn’t very difficult with Keyless-go. With the remote in your pocket or handbag you don’t need to mess about with a key. Simply reach out and grab the door handle, and it’ll open for you. Climb behind the wheel and push the starter-button on top of the gear-knob, and the lusty five-litre V8 rumbles into life.
Getting to the seat-belts is often a pain in the neck in a coupe, because you have to twist around so far to reach for the things, but in the Mercedes an electrically powered boom extends to bring you the strap, and retracts again once you’ve buckled up. Neat. The electronically programmable seats are superbly comfortable, and the dash is comprehensive without being flashy.
The CLK500’s five-litre V8 engine boasts three valves a cylinder, and pumps out 225kW at 5 600rpm — that’s 300 old-fashioned horsepower. Torque is a whopping 460Nm, spread from 2 700 through to 4 250rpm, and because the CLK is a relatively small car you can enjoy every bit of what the engine produces. Think of a number, stomp the loud pedal and watch the speedo needle get there in a hurry. Thanks to all that torque there’s no peakiness — just a massive push in the back that keeps on and on as the needles whirl around the speedo and rev-counter dials.
The five-speed auto box is very smooth-shifting, but the Touchshift facility allows you to swop cogs up or down almost like a manual, but after experimenting for a while I didn’t bother. The factory claims that 0-100kph takes six seconds, and top speed is governed to 250kph. The massive — really massive — disc brakes work as well as they look, and the nimble handling means that the Mercedes can be driven extremely hard without losing its composure. Doddling around at low speed listening to the lovely engine burbling along at little more than an idle is just as much fun.
Of all the optional features in the test car the one that I enjoyed most was the Distronic cruise control, which monitors the distance to the vehicle in front and adjusts your speed accordingly. Come up behind slower traffic and the system backs off on the gas, and if that doesn’t slow you down quickly enough the brakes are also automatically applied. Move over to pass and the Mercedes sees that the road ahead is clear and accelerates back to your programmed speed all on its own. I was sceptical about letting the car assume so much responsibility but the system really works.
During the week I had the Mercedes I enjoyed driving it so much that I never once even bothered to take my motorcycle out of the garage — the CLK blew the cobwebs out of my head just as effectively as a two-wheeler. This car I could drive every day for the rest of my life without getting bored.
The Mercedes-Benz CLK500 is too expensive for most of us. Still, at around a quarter of the price of a Porsche 911 GT2 many would consider it a bargain, and if you put down a deposit today you’ll have to wait two years to take delivery. Go figure.
She says
Having a car that almost thinks for itself kinda takes the fun out of driving. Set the cruise control, and all you have to do is steer. A sensor continually scans the road ahead, and the car brakes to maintain a safe travelling distance behind other vehicles. The car monitors the weather, and activates the lights and windscreen wipers accordingly.
The TV picture disappears when you’re moving, causing my kids to pray for red robots. On checking out the CD shuttle, they found the only cause for complaint — the glove compartment door whacked my passenger on the shins.
The only difficulty I had was accepting the fact that even if I sold both my kids into a lifetime of slavery, I still couldn’t afford this car.