A number of years before the Bavarians started to bring into existence niche cars like the BMW X6 sports activity coupe, the three-pointed star in a laurel wreath from Stuttgart gave the world a reskinned W211 E-Class. Specifically, the W219 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, an offspring of the Vision CLS concept that had been unveiled at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show.
If you could turn back time to the 2004 New York Auto Show, you’d see yourself raising an eyebrow, thinking what in the name of all things automotive possessed Merc to dub the original CLS-Class a four-door coupe. It was a marketing stunt meant to further raise the hype surrounding this model, a feat that made many Mercedes enthusiasts condemn the four-door coupe portrayal that was (and still is) trumpeted around.
Skepticism is an integral part of many petrolheads, the reason why many among us treat what automakers claim with a strict filter I nicknamed "No BS, please!" Consequently, ISO 3833 from 1977 defines a coupe as a vehicle with a closed body, a fixed roof and at least two seats arranged in a row. Oh, and two side doors.
Mercedes was right with the four-door coupe label. In 1916, SAE International defined the coupe body style as an enclosed car with seating for two or three, with a fourth seat facing backwards being acceptable too.
Since the CLS boasts a 2+2 seating layout, it’s unobjectionable to call it a four-door coupe. With this debate reaching a satisfying conclusion, you could say that we gave to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. If the original CLS-Class was somewhat of a revelation to the premium-luxury consumer, the second generation of this charming, comely breed upped the ante further with a little bit of bad attitude.
By “bad attitude” I’m referring to how the C218 CLS from 2010 swapped the smooth exterior aesthetics of the primordial. When Mercedes-Benz presented the F 800 Style concept in 2010, we knew that many styling cues won’t enter mass production. I’m not sorry though, because the second-gen CLS-Class perfectly blends stately design elements with an intimidating persona through its sharper, muscular tip-offs.
Thanks to a front fascia design reminiscent of the SLS
AMG and a radiator grille that’s formed separately from the bonnet, the outgoing CLS differentiates itself by a great margin from the W212 E-Class, a mid-size luxury sedan that’s taking care of taxi and company fleet duties in Germany. After the E went through an extensive refresh back in 2013 (which reportedly cost Mercedes close to €1 billion), the CLS-Class followed suit and here we have one in 250 BlueTEC
4MATIC format.
With this generation of the CLS, Mercedes-Benz spawned a further derivative of the model family, introducing the family-oriented and jaw-droppingly gorgeous CLS Shooting Brake, which will be the subject of a later test-drive. Without any further beating around the bush, let’s proceed with the 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class mid-cycle refresh. The first element that grabs your attention is represented by the standard LED high-performance headlights, which don’t look particularly different over the pre-facelift’s units. Though they aren’t shabby at all, Mercedes-Benz offers award-winning Multibeam LED lighting as an option on lower trims and as standard on AMG models. Our test car is equipped with this useful and appearance enhancing bit of kit, which costs €1,892 in Germany (VAT included). Considering that the
2015 Ford Mondeo’s Dynamic LED Headlights pack goes for €1,250, the Multibeam LED option is pretty good value too.
Touches such as the low-slung, sportscar-like stance and the mildly flared front wheel arches make the 2015 CLS a sight to remember whether you catch a fleeting glimpse of it in motion or admire it for minutes when stationary.
Aside from the slight touchup to the upper and lower radiator grilles, designers deleted the horizontal bar-shaped LED daytime running lights. With the facelift, the front bumper’s side air intakes are all mesh with no garnishing, optically rendering the CLS’ face wider and better chiseled compared to the pre-facelift C218.
If you’re tempted to describe the facelift as restyling by déjà vu, I wouldn’t blame you...
...but you know what some say - the devil is in the details, with every visual change of the remodeled CLS amounting to a mutation that can be summed up as a successful rhinoplasty.
Moving our sight to the side profile of this Teutonic knight, it’s hard to spot any other update besides the restyled side skirts. Round the rear, the Botox needle had its way with the bumper and the slightly darkened taillights with multi-level function. As mentioned beforehand, the exterior plastic surgery is minimal, yet the end result is satisfying to the eye and mind. Once you open the door, you’ll easily spot sparse, similarly minor mods.
Visual enhancements include a modernized steering wheel, steering column-mounted gear shifter, a Command control panel with four buttons instead of the previous two, together with a free-standing 8-inch display which looks miles better than the old dashboard-incorporated infotainment screen. On the other hand, central stack elements such as the air vents, square-shaped analogue clock,
HVAC and instrument cluster are familiar to owners of the pre-facelift Mercedes CLS-Class.
Same as it ever was, push-button start is an option on lower-spec models, as are the memory seats and many more. Our 250 BlueTEC 4Matic starts in Germany from €59,619 (VAT included), but all the equipment specified hiked that figure to €77,940 (equivalent to $88,898 at current exchange rates).
For a 2.1-liter four-banger turbo diesel. Let’s make an extremely simple price comparison to put that sticker into perspective - for a 2015 BMW M3, the Bavarians charge you €71,799. Additionally, direct rival
BMW 6 Series Gran Coupe in 640d format is almost €12,000 more expensive, a fact that begs the question why spend so much for a four-pot CLS?
I’m no stranger to putting my sensible pants on, as well as to take them off when the situation calls for it. At the end of the day, buying a new automobile is a subjective matter that isn’t mirrored by what we’re offered on paper. Some people will go for a Merc because that’s what they fancy, regardless of its looks, price, equipment and other whatnots.
Buying a new car is a highly intimate process, conditioned by each individual’s frame of reference, mindset and other various particularities.
Subjectivity is a word that’s thrown around a lot by motoring journalists these days. In this regard, permit me to throw in a whisper of honesty to the mix - with all due respect, it isn’t too fitting for a mid-size vehicle with premium-luxury credentials to be had with a four-cylinder oil burner.
Europe is mad about diesels, I know. I own a diesel-fed vehicle as well. But in the case of the 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS, please do yourself a favor and go for the 350 BlueTEC (€61,880) at the very least.
Speaking of the oily bits, our 250 BlueTEC 4Matic is rated at 204 PS (201 horsepower) and 500 Nm (368 lb-ft). In the city or out in the open, the turbo diesel motor and the 7G-Tronic Plus automatic transmission felt satisfactory, even in high-speed overtaking scenarios. Thing is, a voice in the back of your head will recurrently tell you “I should’ve gone for the more potent biturbo V6 of the 350.” Another downside of the vehicle we tested is the seven-speed automatic transmission.
Smooth and pleasant to operate even when you want to shift gears manually via the paddles mounted behind the steering wheel, the 7G shows its grey strands of hair on kickdown and pedal-to-the-metal upshifts. You’re able to set it in two pre-selected modes through the push of a button: E for economical and S for sport. Wonder what difference it makes? In E mode, the tranny swaps cogs at 1,800 rpm when driving normally in the city, while S mode goes to 2,000 rpm.
Overall, the latest evolution of the first seven-speed automatic gearbox to equip a production car is a masterfully integrated unit if you are the type of driver who doesn’t need to hurry to Point B.
I’m that type and I admire it for being made to the measure of my fast-paced yet Zen-like style of driving. But when you start pushing it outside the comfort zone, it’s easy to tell it suffers from some kind of arthritis. The younger customer won’t like it.
Mercedes-Benz offers virtually every updated CLS with this unit, sans 4Matic-equipped models and the 63 AMG in both RWD and
AWD guise. The AMGs benefit from the so-called Speedshift MCT 7-speed sports automatic transmission. We are accustomed to it from our review of the
2014 Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG 4Matic and we were impressed by how well it shifts through its ratios.
From the entry-level CLS 220 BlueTEC to the CLS 500 (except for the CLS 400), every non-AMG, RWD model is equipped with the 9G-Tronic as standard.
Considering that Audi offers a 3.0
TDI for the
A7 and BMW is following the trend with the 6 Series Gran Coupe 640d, it isn’t far fetched to declare that the 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS 250 BlueTEC 4Matic slots below its main rivals. I could end this review right here, but the three-pointed star’s proposition has more substance to its nature, which we haven’t unraveled yet.