cawimmer430
Piston Pioneer
I was able to testdrive another Mercedes CL600 with the twin-turbo V12 engine! This occurred 5 days ago but I am only posting it now because I finally finished the review.
Link: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2101832932
So I go up to the Mercedes-Benz dealership to enquire if there are any other cars that I can possibly testdrive in the future. Since I had worked for these guys last summer, I am on good terms with the guys up there.
One of them, a Mr. Adi Ruhaltinger, asked me if I had to time to help him deliver a car to a customer in Trostberg, about 30 minutes away from here. Sure, I had time for this so we proceed outside and he opens up a black Mercedes CL600 with the biturbo V12 engine and 800 Nm (590 lb/ft) of torque. Oh man! Too bad that whomever ordered this CL had all the badges removed.
Mr. Ruhaltinger throws me the keys to the car I will have to use to follow him: a brand new 2006 Mercedes C200 Kompressor C-Class 5-speed automatic, his current company car. I start the car up and proceed to follow him off the lot.
I’ve driven the C200 Kompressor before and it’s a decent car. This one felt like a typical facelifted C-Class. Solid, compact and sporty. The steering was direct and the feedback was very good. The suspension on this model was a little sturdier since it was an Avantgarde model. The engine was decent. It’s not a 2-liter but a 1.8-liter 4-cylinder with Twinpulse (for smoothness) and a supercharger. There was always a delay when you hammered the car, I called it “supercharger-lag”. It wasn’t such a bother but it took awhile (a second or two) before the engine responded. Still, once it got going, the acceleration was fluid and not slow at all. Decent car, though I think the C180 Kompressor is a tad more responsive and feels a little more eager despite 20-less horsepower. Loved the interior color combination though. The interior isn’t class leading, but the materials are good and a big improvement over the original W203 C-Class. Loved the rims on this thing.
The drive to Trostberg was pretty uneventful. Mr. Ruhaltinger didn’t push the CL600 like a madman so I had no trouble keeping up. However, on a few occasions, he let her rip and I slammed the C200 Kompressor in the hopes of not loosing sight since I had no idea where the customer lived whose CL600 we were delivering. The C200 Kompressor was clearly no match for the CL600’s brute power, but I did have the advantage in curves do to the C200K’s excellent steering feedback and sporty suspension.
Halfway through the job, we switched cars. I got behind the wheel of the 500-horsepower CL600 and adjusted the seat position and mirrors. Then I made the first mistake: put the car into D, and lightly tapped the pedal. BIG MISTAKE. This thing has 800 Nm (590 lb/ft) of torque! The CL600 jumped forward a bit but the force was enough to push me into the plush leather seats – and not softly I should add. Torque monster! Once I got the hang of driving this thing, I was able to slip out my video camera, fall a bit behind, slam the car and take some videos while at the same time catching up to the C200 Kompressor. Boy this thing was fun as hell. Everytime you slammed it, you were thrown back into the seat with such brute force, it was almost madness! Incidentally, I never slammed the car from a stop, because traction would have been a b*tch with those rear tires and that insane amount of torque. Also, this was a customer car, and I was abusing it enough already!
Oh yeah, we left Mühldorf with a full fuel tank and arrived with the tank ¾ full! That’s how thirsty this thing was, especially since I also hammered it all the time.
A few words on the other aspects of the CL600. The steering was light but offered enough feedback, however it didn’t feel very sporty as could be expected. The suspension was quite soft. Sturdy enough to take some sporty driving, but clearly tuned for comfort and cruising. The brakes were really good – they sure had to be with such ferocious acceleration and power that can bring you up to high speeds in no time.
So we arrived at the owner’s house. A large farm on the outskirts of Trostberg in the middle of a large plain field. He had a large garage where we were supposed to drive the car in. Mr. Ruhaltinger and I switched rides again and he drove the CL600 into the garage behind a classic Mercedes: a late 1960s W108 S-Class, a base model 250S in what appeared to be a very rare Ikonengold (Icon gold) color with a sexy red leather interior. The car only had 12,000 km (7,500 miles) on the odometer. The farmer’s son appeared and I asked the guy if the car is driven only on special occasions and he answered that the car is hardly driven at all.
Apparently, so the story goes, this dude’s father bought the car in the late 1960s at an auto show when he was trashed as hell (aka “drunk”)! Ever since, he’s been stuck with the car and has not thought about selling it for some reason, despite hardly driving it. I’d buy it in a heartbeat if I had the cash. Such a lovely machine, the W108 S-Class is just beautiful.
Well, hope you enjoyed the review. Mr. Ruhaltinger and I then drove back to Mühldorf in the C200 Kompressor. This guy used to sell Ferrari’s (he sold the last Enzo in Germany) so he drove it like madman ignoring the 100 km/h speed limits and blasting through curves like a guy gone insane.
Here are some crappy videos I took. I was really excited and my voice shows it. Also, it was hard to smash the pedal and drive with one hand and film with the other. In fact, it was quite risky too! The videos are short because uploading them unto Youtube would take a million years if they were larger. Also, the roads were very curvy and this is not the place to “properly test a CL600”. Enjoy.
Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlyaqj7Bpe4
Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gUqz6jWHNU
Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36DsJRsCVsY
Video 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwFOEtWaZYo
Video 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzCqainASYE
Video 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1ktZDpSPKA
Video 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I52Ns2D2FNo
You lucky bastard!
)) Sounds like you were enjoying it Chris...LOL
