Mercedes Takes On All Comers
The magic of Mercedes-Benz is its penchant for aiming vehicles at overcrowded niches or faded markets--and proving, as Mark Twain suspected, that pessimism is simply a name that men of weak nerves give to wisdom and confidence.
This year alone:
* With demand for two-seaters restricted to porch swings, parent Daimler-Benz announced it would build a roadster. Although sales have always trailed BMW’s Z3 two-seater--which is less expensive, comes in several flavors and has the personal endorsement of James Bond--Mercedes’ supercharged SLK is outselling Porsche’s stunning Boxster.
* With three dozen sport utes slurping at the trough, Mercedes delivered the ML320 off-roader. Weeks after launch, this fun but suave mud-paddler was named Motor Trend’s Truck of the Year.
* In Europe, they snorted in their steins when Mercedes said it would deny its large, expensive, luxurious heritage and enter the low-cost, mass-production, commuter car market. But there were 100,000 advance orders for the undersized Daimler-Benz A-Class. Cars ordered today won’t be delivered until next summer, and this little rascal will be heading for the U.S. before the millennium is done.
One develops an eerie feeling that Mercedes could build a three-wheel motorcycle or a huge-sized luxury sedan and bring immediate grief to Kawasaki and Rolls-Royce.
To round out this year of the audacious, Mercedes-Benz has introduced the mid-sized 1998 CLK320 coupe--yet another design to tweak the snoot of fate because it comes when sales of two-doors are off 25% and the segment’s next move may be a request for last rites.
It is far too early to tell whether we’re looking at smash or splash--although the CLK320 already has been named a “Best Buy” by Consumers Digest.
The car is indeed vital and handsome, looks exclusive, moves with great haste and is beautifully appointed--the pedigrees of any best-selling automobile. Above all, this luxury coupe shows concern for its occupants, introduces intriguing technology, and does it all with such nonchalance.
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Here’s genius for you. Consider the CLK’s ignition key:
It isn’t a key, but a snout that mates with a dashboard slot where the keyhole used to be. Turn the unit, an infrared signal talks to a sensor, and when the electronic password is confirmed and returned, the steering unlocks and the ignition circuit is closed for starting.
It’s a security device, of course, and MB’s answer to GM’s anti-theft pellet. Except Mercedes’ system changes the access code with each start, and couldn’t be cracked by an Olympic-class laptopper, let alone your garden variety car thief.
The system simulates the sound and feel of a key, works even if the car’s battery suffers meltdown, and the remote unit contains a conventional, slide-out metal key for the glove box, trunk or operating doors should the remote poop out.
Peruse the CLK’s wiper blades:
Actually, there’s only one, and we have to wonder why there ever were two. This single arm is mounted to a planetary gear so that the blade reaches into far corners of the windshield and clears 90% with a single swipe. But the serious magic is in Mercedes’ rain measurer: a sensor that stares through the windshield, monitors light refracted from raindrops merging and sprawling there, and adjusts wiper speed accordingly. Or stops it when the rain stops.
Examine the CLK’s brakes:
Mercedes’ researchers have discovered that 99% of all drivers are either too slow to brake, or only use the brakes fully when the omigawd point is long passed. Hence, “Break Assist,” a system that recognizes emergency braking and automatically applies an extra shot of oomph and full stomp to the brakes.
That translates to a 45% reduction in stopping distance for the majority of drivers.
Finally, consider the CLK’s traction controls:
Goose the gas on gravel, yank the steering, and the car tracks faithfully in any direction ordered. Stamp on the brakes with both feet, on ice, during El Nin~o, and the car will stop straight and true. In short, while you’re still wondering what to do in terms of backing off the gas, or trying to figure which wheel has the most grip, the car’s computers have done it for you.
So, no oversteer or understeer, no yaw, slide, four-wheel drifting or pirouetting. Just automatic, idiot-proof traction, and on that basis, feel free to turn driving chores over to Great-Grandpa Jeb.
Yet the joy of the CLK320 is so much more than the sum of its systems wizardry. Although sized midway between the Mercedes-Benz C and E classes, styling of its lines has the car appearing smaller than it is--an essential attribute when working overtime to make sure your new coupe doesn’t look like a sedan with two fewer doors.
The CLK’s Orphan Annie headlights and sloping grille are borrowings from the E-Class, but the rear-end and every square inch of territory in between are fresh from the design studio. Overall, by its subtle dimensions and absolute lack of bulk, the shape and silhouette are rakish and quite stunning.
Power comes from a 215-horsepower, 18-valve, 12-plug V-6, the same engine found in the aforementioned ML320 sport utility. It is sedate when loping, and a snorting scoundrel that makes the appropriate mechanical operatics when under pressure. And the four-speed automatic transmission is a hoot--smooth, which goes without saying, but programmed under load to deliver that snarl-pause-shift-re-engage rhythm of perfectly managed manual shifting.
Snazzy to the max, the CLK is priced at $40,000, which, for an iconic luxury car, falls somewhere between bearable and acceptable selfishness. Especially when looking around an interior that is so tastefully woody, so royally leather-lined and so very, very Mercedes.
Still, those insides produce carps that probably have Mercedes’ interior designers wondering whether they dare take Christmas off. The windshield frame is low, and those tall of torso will find the top of the frame almost interfering with the line of sight, unless the seat is dropped to the floor.
Could be that someone wanted a heavier suggestion of sportiness, but the front seats are not the armchairs we anticipate from Mercedes. Bottoms are hard and flat, conditions that clearly do not match human bottoms. Seat backs feel narrow, not painfully so, but enough that they whisper their width to broader motorists.
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Mercedes has done a better than average job of configuring rear seats into real perches for real people. But only if those sitting in front crank their seats way forward. With fronts set way back, rear seat riders have just about 3 inches of knee room.
Still, the CLK remains a quick, cultured and highly desirable car, fast and powerful, noble without being intimidating. It certainly suggests that Daimler-Benz intends to keep wandering far from industry ruts.
Oh, by the by. The company is working on a three-wheel motor cycle that drives like a car but leans into turns like a bike. And last month, Daimler-Benz announced the Maybach for 2001, a hand-built, super-luxury sedan with bar, entertainment center, and three phone lines--and aimed solely at relegating Rolls-Royce to second place in the ultra-lush auto niche.
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1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK320
The Good: Startling yet careful application of cutting-edge technology in handsome coupe that will be here for a while. Mercedes-Benz doing that thing it dones by addressing a segment that doom-seers consider barren. Priced well, engineered even better and performs magnificently. Want value? The 1995 E320, the last coupe built by Mercedes, cost $23,000 more than this one.
The Bad: Seat construction needs readdressing, also some reconfiguring.
The Ugly: Watching four big people getting out after a long drive.
1998 Mercedes-Benz CLK320
Cost
* Base: $39,850 (includes standard dual front and side impact air bags, air-conditioning, Bose eight-speaker sound system, cruise control, SmartKey anti-theft system, traction controls, anti-lock brakes, power seats, leather seats, wood trim, automatic transmission, dual and automatic climate control, central locking, heated side mirrors, alloy wheels).
* Price as tested: $43,600 (adds power sunroof, CD changer, Xenon gas-discharge, high-intensity headlights and luxury tax).
Engine
* 3.2-liter, 18-valve, V-6 developing 215 horsepower.
Type
* Front-engine, rear-drive, four-passenger luxury coupe.
Performance
* 0-60 mph, as tested, 7.1 seconds with five-speed automatic.
* Top speed, electronically limited, 130 mph.
* Fuel consumption, EPA city and highway, 20 and 27 mpg.
Curb Weight
* 3,245 pounds.
