CLS (C257) [Official] Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class (C257)

[sako97]

 

[deity]

^ Very nice shot...

 

[Mr. Mercedes]

^ I absolutely adore the Edition 1 interior, but I would want to have that in the non-Edition 1/AMG exterior variant: just can't get warm with those black wheels.

Agreed. The black wheels don't suit this vehicle at all!

 

[Emex]

Front looks like a mustang

Side profile sexy!!

Rear is confusing

The front is a mix of Mustang and Focus RS...



Gave myself the weekend to see if I was going to like it any better, even in different colours. Nope still don't like it.

 

[MoSs]

Seen it at the la autoshow today and gotta admit it looks better in person but still that non mercedes-like flipped grill, and rear lights gotta grow on me.

 

[sako97]

 

[Monster]

Finally Mercedes is introducing both gloss and matte wood trim for the lower center console.

 

[Mick Briesgau]

^ those interior colourcombinations were shown as well during the clinic 3 years ago. The darkbrown interior, which seems to look very good, I can't remember though. I think that colour will match very well with a darkgreen, black and citrinbrown exterior.

 

[Mick Briesgau]

@Jimmy do you get some nice 70-ies vibes as well, seeing that brown interior ?

 

[Deleted member 1071]

@Jimmy do you get some nice 70-ies vibes as well, seeing that brown interior ?

I do, Mick. And as a fan of terra-toned leather interiors, I approve ! Oxblood reds can rock too.

 

[Centurion]

Now that's an elegant looking Mercedes saloon.

 

[wallstbear]

Not to beat a dead horse, I studied a lot of pics and videos, and the following are some of the main design changes from side view:

1. C218 has a lower tail, with the trunk lid being more "falling" while the C257 trunk lid is a tad bit more horizontal/saloony. Remember guys had talked about the "wedge" shape a couple months back re the spy pics? It's funny because the tail end is a bit roundish so you will have to look from the dead side to see this "saloony" part. A side effect is the angle between the rear window and the trunk lid is slightly more pronounced on the new car.

2. The back door window on the new car has a slightly more "rounded" curve and the rear door has a rounder tip, less likely to ding the car parked next to you but IMHO reduces the coupe-ness a tiny bit.

3. The C257 rear bumper is considerably higher, if you look at the imaginary line from the top of the bumper to the rear wheel, you can see the C257's rear bumper is two inches taller, which is HUGE in automobile proportions.

4. The C257 beltline tilts upward a little bit compared to a largely flat beltline on the C218, generally in line with the "wedge" theme. I suppose this is all part of the overal "predator" design.

5. The side crease, front and rear lights are the obvious changes.




Here is a clean pic first.

Here is a marked version to show the points I was making:

 

[Deleted member 1071]

The more visible notch (rear window-->bootlid "flow") seen on the C257 CLS is, I presume, an intended element of distinction versus the soon-to-be-introduced X290 AMG GT 4 door liftback sedoupe. The X290 will feature a nuance of a flying buttress, giving the cars' side profile view a fastback appearance while masking the the slight rear window/bootlid notch that lies behind.

 

[Monster]

This is one of the best shots of the car so far. Perfectly shows off the proportion, profile and the flowing rear shoulders.

 

[Deleted member 1071]

A display of perhaps the most unattractive wheel options for the C257 CLS.

 

[Monster]

Why is Mercedes so slow with the official photos, usually there will be a full collection of them by now.

 

[Busty]

This is one of the best shots of the car so far. Perfectly shows off the proportion, profile and the flowing rear shoulders.

This is indeed a good shot of it. However, this particular angle hides the 'trick' they used to make the trunk a little bigger, as nicely illustrated above by @wallstbear. To me, the declining trunk has become a key design element of the CLS that I miss in the new one.

 

[Wolfgang]

^ Yes, may have been a challenge and may be slightly elevated to reduce lift?

Michael Kelz confirmed that the drag coefficient of the CLS is 0.27, which although is someway short of the E-class saloon, it does come with near-zero lift at speed to complement its near-50/50 weight distribution. 'Our biggest challenge in the windtunnel is the rear-end of this car – in order to maintain high-speed stability and low drag, we've had to do a lot of clever stuff underneath. We could have given it a Kamm tail, but it would no longer have been a CLS,' he says.

Mercedes CLS pre-production (2017) ride review

 

[wallstbear]

This is indeed a good shot of it. However, this particular angle hides the 'trick' they used to make the trunk a little bigger, as nicely illustrated above by @wallstbear. To me, the declining trunk has become a key design element of the CLS that I miss in the new one.

Exactly what I was thinking. As long as you are not looking at the trunk from a perpendicular spot, then you won't even notice the flatter trunk because the two sides of the trunk are nicely curved down.

BTW, does anyone know how the A7 managed to avoid much lift because the A7 looks like a perfect lift generating airfoil from the side. I suspect it's due to a more clean cut kammtail.

 

[Mick Briesgau]

Not to beat a dead horse, I studied a lot of pics and videos, and the following are some of the main design changes from side view:

1. C218 has a lower tail, with the trunk lid being more "falling" while the C257 trunk lid is a tad bit more horizontal/saloony. Remember guys had talked about the "wedge" shape a couple months back re the spy pics? It's funny because the tail end is a bit roundish so you will have to look from the dead side to see this "saloony" part. A side effect is the angle between the rear window and the trunk lid is slightly more pronounced on the new car.

2. The back door window on the new car has a slightly more "rounded" curve and the rear door has a rounder tip, less likely to ding the car parked next to you but IMHO reduces the coupe-ness a tiny bit.

3. The C257 rear bumper is considerably higher, if you look at the imaginary line from the top of the bumper to the rear wheel, you can see the C257's rear bumper is two inches taller, which is HUGE in automobile proportions.

4. The C257 beltline tilts upward a little bit compared to a largely flat beltline on the C218, generally in line with the "wedge" theme. I suppose this is all part of the overal "predator" design.

5. The side crease, front and rear lights are the obvious changes.




Here is a clean pic first.

Here is a marked version to show the points I was making:

The issues you mention under 2 and 3 are the two main issues I have with it's design. The more rounded curve in the back door window moves it's design more towards the W213 E sedan. Personally I think that's a pity, because unneccesary and makes the CLS less special.
The rear bumper with it's abundance of plastic is something I do not like in general and seen on many comtemporary cars. Probably has something to do with repair/insurance costs.