designo wino CLS 55 AMG
Discussion
I’ve not done a readers moneypit thread before, so here’s my new CLS55, a nice sensible 4 door ‘coupe’.
I’ve always loved the design of the original CLS, it’s just so smooth and elegant, even if the arse is a bit droopy. Way classier than the later designs to my eyes. Full slab of wood to the dash, leather everywhere with discrete chrome highlights and individual rear seats all giving it the luxurious feel of a cut-price Bentley. But hopefully more reliable…
These cars are quite rare, Mercedes only making the supercharged ’55 for about 18 months before switching to the N/A 6.2 litre engine in 2006. The engine is epic. It thumps out 476 bhp and 516 feet of torque. And I really do mean thumps – the low down torque is just mental. Traction control light is easy to light up at pretty much any speed in this weather. Front end feels planted and secure, back end can feel a bit loose over bumps, but the rear Pirellis just surrender at the first hint of throttle – they are Italian after all.
The old tech 5 speed auto isn’t as dim witted as I thought it would be, with ‘wheel buttons to use in Manual, plus there’s Comfort (starts off in 2nd) and Sport (starts off in 1st, downshifts more readily, and holds the gears longer), and it kind of suits the muscle car feel of the thing anyway. Five speeds in the gearbox is probably overkill, three would be adequate - town, country and vMax.
It’s mechanically standard as far as I know apart from an exhaust X pipe and a pair of C63 backboxes. It sounds great if you push it, quite a hot rod, but almost sensibly quiet at minimal throttle openings with no droning evident on the motorway.
But drive it with the sunroof open to let the noise in And. It. Just. Sounds. Incredible. It’s all about the bass (no treble). Deep thundery gurgley bass.
Mercedes Poole sold it new, the original buyer choosing designo (it’s a small ‘d’ in designo for some reason) Mystic Red paint, designo Mystic Red nappa leather seats, designo umbra maple grain wood to the dash and designo ‘pebble’ alcantara headlining.
The paint’s weird – it’s like glitter close up, very heavy multi-coloured mica flakes in the paint, it can be a bluey aubergine in shade through to a quite bright red in full sun. Probably a marmite colour, but I love it.
Interior – dash, doors, carpets etc – is black, with the Chesterfield-ish dark red seats, light headliner and deep gloss dash to brighten it up.
It has every single option that was available apart from special tinted glass and the no-cost ashtray option - £87,000 on the road from the ’05 price list I picked up on ebay.
I’ve always loved the design of the original CLS, it’s just so smooth and elegant, even if the arse is a bit droopy. Way classier than the later designs to my eyes. Full slab of wood to the dash, leather everywhere with discrete chrome highlights and individual rear seats all giving it the luxurious feel of a cut-price Bentley. But hopefully more reliable…
These cars are quite rare, Mercedes only making the supercharged ’55 for about 18 months before switching to the N/A 6.2 litre engine in 2006. The engine is epic. It thumps out 476 bhp and 516 feet of torque. And I really do mean thumps – the low down torque is just mental. Traction control light is easy to light up at pretty much any speed in this weather. Front end feels planted and secure, back end can feel a bit loose over bumps, but the rear Pirellis just surrender at the first hint of throttle – they are Italian after all.
The old tech 5 speed auto isn’t as dim witted as I thought it would be, with ‘wheel buttons to use in Manual, plus there’s Comfort (starts off in 2nd) and Sport (starts off in 1st, downshifts more readily, and holds the gears longer), and it kind of suits the muscle car feel of the thing anyway. Five speeds in the gearbox is probably overkill, three would be adequate - town, country and vMax.
It’s mechanically standard as far as I know apart from an exhaust X pipe and a pair of C63 backboxes. It sounds great if you push it, quite a hot rod, but almost sensibly quiet at minimal throttle openings with no droning evident on the motorway.
But drive it with the sunroof open to let the noise in And. It. Just. Sounds. Incredible. It’s all about the bass (no treble). Deep thundery gurgley bass.
Mercedes Poole sold it new, the original buyer choosing designo (it’s a small ‘d’ in designo for some reason) Mystic Red paint, designo Mystic Red nappa leather seats, designo umbra maple grain wood to the dash and designo ‘pebble’ alcantara headlining.
The paint’s weird – it’s like glitter close up, very heavy multi-coloured mica flakes in the paint, it can be a bluey aubergine in shade through to a quite bright red in full sun. Probably a marmite colour, but I love it.
Interior – dash, doors, carpets etc – is black, with the Chesterfield-ish dark red seats, light headliner and deep gloss dash to brighten it up.
It has every single option that was available apart from special tinted glass and the no-cost ashtray option - £87,000 on the road from the ’05 price list I picked up on ebay.
Ideal spec I was after was notsilver over anythingbutgreeeyleather and this one was too special to pass up. I’ve not seen any other Merc in this colour, never mind a CLS. These aren’t cars you should buy without a warranty so that’s exactly what I did last week, silly boy, but fortunately a full Merc specialist’s checkover has revealed a flat spotted alloy (repair booked), play in one balljoint (£50-odd), and no satnav – aerial is suspect. And that’s the extent of the problem list – a huge relief. Bodywork has almost zero dinks, dings, chips, scratches. One tiny spot of bubbling on the bootlid, minimal wear to steering wheel or mats, slight creasing to the drivers seat, it’s bloody lovely – just mint – and a real event to drive. Even the wife and kids like it – heated seats all round.
I’ve been daily-driving a VW Caddy for a few months since I sold my E91 BMW, so running the CLS alongside the diesel van from hell is going to take a bit of getting used to. It’ll break down, it’ll be expensive to repair and to run and a worry when parked. But I reckon it’ll be worth it. I’m already completely in love with the thing, the noise, the looks, the noise, the sense of occasion, the noise. Did I mention what it sounds like?
Plans – not much – maybe steering wheel paddles, get keyless-go coded out for security (already done an old school hidden switch on it), and drive the wheels off it. It has the SBC brake system (expensive) and airmatic suspension (expensive-er) but there are no fault codes logged and everything seems to work ok. So far. It’s currently showing 13mpg on the trip computer, but hopefully I can improve on that when the weather improves and get it into single figures.
If you can, buy a V8 before they’re banned.
I’ve been daily-driving a VW Caddy for a few months since I sold my E91 BMW, so running the CLS alongside the diesel van from hell is going to take a bit of getting used to. It’ll break down, it’ll be expensive to repair and to run and a worry when parked. But I reckon it’ll be worth it. I’m already completely in love with the thing, the noise, the looks, the noise, the sense of occasion, the noise. Did I mention what it sounds like?
Plans – not much – maybe steering wheel paddles, get keyless-go coded out for security (already done an old school hidden switch on it), and drive the wheels off it. It has the SBC brake system (expensive) and airmatic suspension (expensive-er) but there are no fault codes logged and everything seems to work ok. So far. It’s currently showing 13mpg on the trip computer, but hopefully I can improve on that when the weather improves and get it into single figures.
If you can, buy a V8 before they’re banned.
None of these are my pics, they're all from the adverts/facebook etc.
Thumbsnap just got silly after my last post, so using a different uploader now..
When the weather's less miserable I'll be taking some more.
Here's the £1180 alcantara headlining!
And the designo umbra maple grain (who thinks these names up?) wood trim. £950 right there.
Thumbsnap just got silly after my last post, so using a different uploader now..
When the weather's less miserable I'll be taking some more.
Here's the £1180 alcantara headlining!
And the designo umbra maple grain (who thinks these names up?) wood trim. £950 right there.
Mr E said:
Very nice.
I have the build sheet for my e class. The steering wheel was 460 quid.
Whaaaat? My steering wheel appears to be standard <sobs>I have the build sheet for my e class. The steering wheel was 460 quid.
Compo claim going into Merc I think...
Nice looking E500, look very classy in black
When I was searching for a car I used a car parts website to get the chassis number from the registration, then bunged the vin into a decoder website to bring up the spec and all the options. It's amazing what you can find out with tinternet.
The Vin decoders are useful. I needed them recently after a discussion with my insurer who wanted to know what optional extras the car had. How would I know having not specified it new?
andy43 said:
Nice looking E500, look very classy in black
Thanks. I think it’s blue (also a 500 quid option)Mr E said:
andy43 said:
Nice looking E500, look very classy in black
Thanks. I think it’s blue (also a 500 quid option)
I have insured this on a classic policy partly because of the exhaust mods but mainly because of that very question - is it factory standard? Well, yes and no
Had a nightmare conversation about my previous BMW - in the end they just said to tell them about the most important options...
Love stuff like this - "last shape" big petrol engined, big optioned ,Autobahnstormers.
This is the fertile ground where some big performance luxury can be bought for reasonable money , and the OP's car looks like a fine example- love the colour combination.
The 500 E Class is right up my street as well.. excellent.
This is the fertile ground where some big performance luxury can be bought for reasonable money , and the OP's car looks like a fine example- love the colour combination.
The 500 E Class is right up my street as well.. excellent.
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