Mercedes-Benz CLS review: Bigger and blander than its edgy predecessors

The CLS of 2018 is a little less special, less differentiated, and less rakish, and that is a cause of some disappointment. But the case for diesel rests

Older, fatter, smarter…well it could be me. Could. I fancy I am all of those things compared to the me of 2004. More self-aware too, I should think.

Same goes for one of my favourite cars, the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class. When I first laid eyes on one of the first of them a decade and a half ago now I remember being transfixed by it. It was, as a friend remarked, the first good-looking car Mercedes-Benz had made in years.

True, that. It was a dramatic departure; the pronounced “banana” shape, low coupe-style roof, those swooping lines, all replicated in the interior – but with four doors and a biggish boot like a proper Mercedes saloon. At that moment the oldest name in the business invented a whole new niche market – the coupe sedan (whatever quibbles of definition the purists might raise – we see now that a “true” coupe can indeed have four doors).

(Mercedes-Benz)

The original CLS was an instant classic, and helped turnaround Mercedes-Benz’s fortunes, after an especially bad patch for quality and innovation. Nowadays, everyone’s at it, from the Porsche Panamera to the Kia Stinger (the Stinger being a particularly good value homage).

Mercedes-Benz too is still at it. Except that this, the new, third-generation CLS is a bit less CLS, even if a bit more actual car, than the original. So it is bigger all round, and looks much bigger with a long “tail” (a 420-litre boot), it’s more commonplace in its looks – in fact converging with the E-Class shape, on which it was always based – because the E-Class has a bit more visual interest about it these days.

The CLS of 2018 is, as a result, a little less special, less differentiated, and less rakish, and that is a cause of some disappointment.

(Mercedes-Benz)

Not that it is in any sense anything other than a fine and highly accomplished modern-era Mercedes. You get the impression (time will tell) that the company is keeping its promises about re-engineering the depth of quality back into its cars, even as the marque tries to penetrate every market sector from a Golf-competitor front-drive A-Class through the ungainly GLA SUV through to the mega limo Mercedes-Maybach and elite Mercedes-AMG roadster.

It’s gratifying, here, to see that Mercedes have moved back to a “straight-six” configuration for its medium-to-large engines, away from the space-saving but inferior V6 layout favoured for some time now. The new power unit bestows on the CLS 400d, the diesel six cylinder model I tried, an impressive torquey low-down reserve of power, as well as a certain pedigree purity. Mind you, it is still a diesel, even if a state-of-the-art one, so it is inherently less smooth and responsive than a petrol-powered equivalent, no matter what they do to it. It’s not the last word in refinement.

(Mercedes-Benz)

The “4 Matic” transmission gives your CLS an Audi Quattro-style drive to all four wheels, with a traditional rear bias, and it works very well (it was available in the rest of Europe long before it came to the UK, because the cost of engineering it for right-hand drive used to be prohibitive). So the road holding matches the performance, which is just as well.

The spec

Price: Range from £57,510 (£60,410 as tested)
Engine capacity: 2.0-litre petrol; 6-cylinder; 9-speed automatic
Power output (hp @ rpm): 335@4,400rpm
Top speed (mph): 155
0-62 mph (seconds): 5.0
Fuel economy (mpg): 47.9
CO2 emissions (g/km): 156

That said, the 400d, like its less powerful 350d sibling, proves why modern common-rail turbo-charged diesel technology is so essential for contemporary motoring. This is because only diesel power makes driving a powerful heavy vehicle such as this exec saloon (and almost every SUV out there too) an economical as well as a pleasurable proposition. For here we have a 2-tonne car that will take you from rest to 60mph in a mere 5 seconds – supercar levels of performance, and then off towards the horizon and an artificially limited 155mph in the unlikely event you can find somewhere to try that; but all this urge is combined with overall fuel economy of (officially) 47.9 mpg (nearer 40 mpg in my hands, but still remarkable). Thus, it enjoys superior fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions than its gasoline-engined peer, the six-cylinder “450” model (156g/km vs 178g/km).

(Mercedes-Benz)

It is true that VW Group’s cheating “dieselgate” scandal messed the whole dieselgate game up, and the British Treasury muddle over taxation did yet more damage, so I can see why the public have gone off diesel big time. It is also undeniable that carcinogenic NOx (soot, really) emissions can be worse from a diesel, or one that has not been maintained correctly, or tampered with. However, the consumer backlash is now extreme and irrational – to the point where there are genuine new/nearly new bargains to be had if you can bring yourself to go diesel. The discounts are far in excess of any likely extra road tax or fuel duty or depreciation would impose on you.

As I say, the example of the CLS 400d would tempt anyone to look again at the diesel option. Otherwise the CLS usually makes a good case for itself equipped with any of its power units, diesel or petrol.

(Mercedes-Benz)

There is, for example, all the usual driver assistance you’d expect – adaptive cruise control that can be told to stick to the speed limit, which it will detect automatically and, when reached, will brake itself (obviously not that I needed any help with that); lane assist (ie it steers itself); park assist (self-explanatory); and a traffic jam beater (that means it will accelerate of its own accord when the vehicle in front at last moves off).

Only the new Audi A8 is a more advanced autonomous drive, ie this side of the experimental machinery making a bit of a nuisance of itself in some of the trials. The leather seats are supple and near infinitely adjustable (with a variable squab that pushes the seat right under your knees, the ultimate in getting the fit right); the optional grey “open pore” ash wood trim quite Scandinavian and contemporary in looks.

The huge screen that dominates the dash offers a near panoramic view of the way ahead for the sat nav, and myriad options for setting your preferences for the car’s seating, lighting, climate controls and driving style.

(Mercedes-Benz)

So if, say, you prefer “comfort” suspension, but “sport” sharp steering and “eco” fuel economy then you can have that bespoke set of conditions built into your CLS (and the car’s computer will do its best to make any such eccentric blend of qualities meld together).

The only fault I could find with the CLS on the move was a certain lack of forgiveness over urban speed bumps, which it would sometimes crash out from in a very ungraceful, un-Mercedes-like fashion. I can’t believe they didn’t test their new model over the worst roads in Europe (ie the British ones) and extensively too, so I can’t begin to account for this odd lapse. But I definitely felt the effects of the omission.

You should also be told that the DAB radio just packed up for no apparent reason for a couple of hours, but, on restarting set itself up again and worked flawlessly.

(Mercedes-Benz)

As you glance back to admire your four-door coupe, then, you can feel well assured that you have made a wise choice in personal transport that should pass the test of time. It is still handsome, the CLS, especially the prow, but this this iteration looks bigger and is definitely blander than its more edgy and avant-garde predecessors. It looks, in other words, more of a four-door saloon than a four-door coupe, and has lost a little of its savoir faire, I reckon.

Mercedes-Benz rationalise this as “the logical evolution of the Sensual Purity design idiom”, but I just think they’re making excuses that are as flimsy as the old E-Class model’s build quality in the 1990s. I’d prefer them to go back to the banana shape, which still looks so good. They’ve slipped up there.