First Drive Review
Personal transportation doesn't get any quicker, more prestigious, or more decadent than in a Gulfstream G-series aircraft. Intimate, fast, and opulent, these airborne masterpieces shuttle the world's rich and famous—and their nannies, personal assistants, and Pilates instructors—across the country and around the world in million-dollar style. But eventually, even rich people gotta land. And Mercedes-Benz has just the thing to make ground-bound transportation just as fabulous (and nearly as fast): the 2008 CL65 AMG.
Familiar Face, Familiar Engine, Fantastic Combination
Of course, this car is familiar to us. We saw its debut recently at the New York auto show, and there was a CL65 AMG built on the previous body style with the exact same engine. So we approached our first drive opportunity with our mouths already foaming.
The CL65 AMG is set apart from the standard-fare CL550 coupe with an AMG Sport package—go figure—with a rear diffuser and quad exhaust pipes, vertical hash-style vents on the sides (that are becoming ubiquitous across AMG's 18-vehicle lineup), and lightweight, twin-spoke, 20-inch wheels enveloped by 255/35ZR-20 tires up front and wide 275/35ZR-20s in back. Ask nicely (and cough up a little extra), and the rear-diffuser vanes can be rendered in carbon fiber for that oh-so-techie look. That's it.
Intimacy and Opulence Combined
Like every other CL-, SL-, or S-class, the CL65 AMG has all the accouterments of any high-end home, sound studio, or massage parlor—all wrapped in a smaller package. Indeed, the CL65 AMG's interior wraps closely around its occupants, a sensation that is only amplified when equipped with the black Alcantara-lined ceiling. The two rear seats are none too spacious but will hold adults in reasonable comfort for a sensibly short amount of time.
In terms of interior features, the 65 comes standard with pretty much everything Mercedes makes, including its fabulous Drive Dynamic seats, which, in addition to massaging your back, heating or cooling your bum, and adjusting to fit pretty much any body shape, are capable of actively inflating the side bolsters to hold you steady in turns. Some on our staff don't particularly care for this, but they must admit it comes in quite handy when tossing the CL65's nearly 5000 pounds to and fro. And the CL65' s seats are covered from top to bottom in some of Mercedes' finest leather, as is pretty much everything else that's not rendered in metal, wood, or optional carbon fiber.
