[SaMaster14]

Some of you may know that my dad recently leased a '16 CLS400. He's coming from a '13 matte grey SL550. He doesn't drive much and is getting older, so for him the CLS was the perfect next move.

I, personally, having driven the SL and having my M3, was initially underwhelmed. I think the car looks GORGEOUS, but, sadly, the interior is very 'last-gen' keeping the old E-class interior. While not as comfortable/plushy, I would take the new CLA/C class interior over the current CLS interior. It's bland and boring, low tech, and compared to the SL, you can tell where Benz cut corners. In current Benz fashion, the transmission is sluggish. Quick upshifts, but dangerously slow downshifts when in 'M' mode.

That being said, there are definitely some pros! As you will see from the video, the car isn't necessarily slow (definitely not as slow as I thought it would be), and while it does lose breath at the top end and at higher speeds, that is because of lack of horsepower, definitely not torque! The steering wheel is also amazing! While the feel isn't necessarily there (in current Benz fashion), the wheel itself is meaty and pleasant to drive with. The interior, while last gen, is still extremely comfortable. And finally, the exterior still does look incredible in my opinion, especially with the AMG style wheels and the Premium package including the full-LED lights.


Here is the video! 2 pulls, one from a complete standstill with the car in sport mode shifting itself. ESP (traction) off. Pretty slow pull from a standstill. Estimated 0-60 of about 6.3 seconds.

Second pull, ESP still off, but in Manual mode where I shifted up using the paddles. I also did a pseudo-launch control (small wheelspin which actually helped!) by holding the brake and allowing the revs to climb a bit before letting off the brake and getting on the throttle. This helped A LOT, cutting the time by over a second. I estimate between 5 seconds flat to 5.3 second run.

Comments appreciated!

[Aatish]

For casual, suburban driving the turbo V6 is a great, non-aggressive motor.

But coming from the monster 4.7 in the SL550, the 400 will feel sluggish. But hey, it's still a really, really nice car.

In my honest opinion, I'm not that much of a fan of the new C-Class. Yea it looks really sharp, but for me I felt the interior to be a little claustrophobic.

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Aatish

For casual, suburban driving the turbo V6 is a great, non-aggressive motor.

But coming from the monster 4.7 in the SL550, the 400 will feel sluggish. But hey, it's still a really, really nice car.

In my honest opinion, I'm not that much of a fan of the new C-Class. Yea it looks really sharp, but for me I felt the interior to be a little claustrophobic.

The car is perfect for my parents haha

I do miss the SL and I'm spoiled by the on demand torque and incredible power of my M3, but when my car ended up in the shop (hit a pothole and ended up needing a new tire and wheel...), I jumped on the chance to try out the cls when my dad offered for me to borrow it instead of getting a loaner (and my mom has an X5 3.0xdrive, so they had a car to spare).

It is a great car for sure, but leaves you wanting more when coming from an SL550

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Mr.Metak2you

judging by the video(~0:27-0:35) its an 8sec 0-60 time. Doesn't launch real hard but seems like once it gets going it's probably MORE enough for everyday driving. It does look good, but my only complaint with MB is that all their cars are beginning to look the same in front.

That was the 'pseudo-launch control' run, so the revs were up before the car actually started moving. It also hit 72mph on that run, well above 60.

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Mr.Metak2you

I was just estimating. It's probably between 7-8sec on the better of the two runs. I know you kept accelerating to 72, that's why I said "approximately" "0:35", the time when you hit 60. You were testing it 0-60 like your thread title, not 0-72. Besides, I wasn't criticizing just making an observation.

I feel. My timer had it around 5 flat when launching at ~2500rpm though... Definitely not 7 or 8 seconds... The first run was 6.3 on the timer and that run was considerably slower.

[mPlasticDesign]

Oh nevermind, your car is fast.

[SaMaster14]

Originally Posted by Mr.Metak2you

Oh nevermind, your car is fast.

No... It's normal. The 550 is known to hit sixty in well under 5 seconds... It is perfectly reasonable to see the 400 hit sixty in under or around 6 seconds.

Various other sources have confirmed (us news and reports, car and driver did it in 5.1 with the 4MATIC so 5.3 isn't a stretch in the rwd with a launch, zeroto60times did it in 5 flat with the 4MATIC, etc etc).

I'm not saying the car is fast... Quite the opposite, but I had a timer out for my times, and recorded the times give or take a couple hundredths of a second. But the second run definitely did not take '7-8 seconds' ... That's just wrong...