Short Take Road Test
By October, Mercedes-Benz will display in its showrooms the much-anticipated CLK55 AMG, whose 342-hp V-8, according to the Germans, will make it "quicker than any previous Mercedes." Better yet, it will cost less than the $73,000 E55.
To C/D readers, however, it will come as no surprise that Benz aftermarket tuner RENNTech, led by the irrepressible Hartmut Feyhl, has already been there, done that. Last February, Feyhl let us drive his notion of CLK nirvana. This one, naturally, boasts 6.0 liters of oomph rather than the factory's puny 5.4 and produces a sternum-snapping 408 horsepower and 465 pound-feet of leverage, enough to affect the tides on Mars.
What you first notice about RENNTech's black-as-pitch CLK60 is its steel rear fender flares, which one onlooker described as resembling "Johnny Cash's billfold's bulge." The car is as taut and muscle-bound as a 911 Turbo. Viewed from dead astern, those flares, housing squat 18-inch Pirelli P Zeros, alter the CLK's whole countenance, making it difficult to identify. Once civilians spy the twin NACA ducts on the hood, however, they have their answer: It's a hot rod.
And you're reminded of that the moment you twist the key. At idle, the engine sets the whole car a-quiverin', and the rumbling dual exhausts sound like some sort of colossal Dodge Ram V-10 haulin' Texas longhorns. We'd normally point out that Mercedes products aren't supposed to sound truckish, but there is one intriguing upside to the racket: When you crack the CLK60's accelerator, the car leaps to attention like an ass-kicked pit bull. Sixty mph looms large in-hold on to your lederhosen-4.0 seconds, and the quarter-mile is a historic matter in only 12.4 seconds at 119 mph, meaning that this four-seat Benz is slightly quicker than a Mallett 435 Corvette. Keep your right foot planted, and the CLK60 will have clobbered 150 mph 2.4 seconds sooner than a Dodge Viper GTS. No kidding.
Wide-open-throttle upshifts, at 6000 rpm, remain as smooth as Gerber's finest, and the CLK60's steering is remarkably light, although the pot-walloping P Zeros do minor damage to the tracking and induce a moment of skittishness just off center. But who really cares? Startling civilians is more fun. Tromp the pedal at 45 mph, and there's an instantaneous gear kickdown, a jolt of spinal compression, a doubling in decibels, and . . . wait a second, how can we now be traveling 120 mph when all we needed was to pass one Buick and two 18-wheelers and . . . hey, is that a cop up there? Dispatching dawdling road-mates is so scalpel-quick, so gratifyingly amusing, that you spontaneously repeat the maneuver over and over, like a kid who's discovered he can pull wheelies on his Schwinn.
Oh, by the way, did we mention that this Benz is capable of 172 mph?
Sure, the usual creamy Mercedes throttle tip-in is compromised, the big
Brembo brakes are initially grabby, the engine-conversion alone costs $50,000, and the CLK60's deep-bass burble threatens to annoy the very doctors and pro athletes who are RENNTech's mainstay customers. On the other hand, Feyhl guarantees his CLK60 will humiliate the upcoming factory-built CLK55 AMG, and that's all that many of those doctors and sports heroes need to hear. You could ask Ken Griffey Jr. He bought a black RENNTech CLK60 him-self. Then he bought a white one. Griffey runs an integrated household.
