Mercedes have released pictures of the new CLS Shooting Brake and the first questions we asked ourselves when seeing it is, ‘It looks a bit awkward, doesn’t it?’ Well, when it was first launched in 2004 the CLS itself was weird looking but only in the same way that Scarlett Johansson kind of looks dull when chubby.
The only way to be sure is wait until this variant of the four-door coupe comes to Malaysia; although since wagons have never scored big sales in Malaysia, it’s a question of if.
An extravagant and unique feature in the Shooting Brake is the optional wooden luggage compartment floor, which serves to underscore the hand-finished nature of the interior. This affords the luggage compartment a touch of elegance normally found on yachts. The interior is given an even more progressive look with the addition of piano lacquer trim elements. A completely new addition comes in the form of porcelain interior appointments which afford both CLS models a sense of luxury normally found in the S-Class.
With a load volume of between 590 and 1550 litres, the luggage compartment offers a lot of room despite the flat, sporty lines of the roof, and is easy to use thanks to the automatically opening tailgate fitted as standard. A load compartment cover also protects luggage from prying eyes.
Air suspension is standard for a cushioned ride and to accommodate heavy cargo loads when needed. The back row seats are quite unique in a wagon; the side ones are individual units but with a proper middle seat it can accommodate three passengers at the back.
The launch variant comes in two engine choices – entry model is the CLS 250 CDI Blue Efficiency and the other is the CLS 350 CDI BlueEfficiency. They produce 204bhp and 265bhp respectively with torque figures rated at 500Nm (1600-1800rpm) and 620Nm (1600-2400rpm).
Even with that amount of power to the rear tyres, Mercedes is claiming fuel consumption figures of 5.3 litres per 100km for the inline-4 diesel-burner while the V6 CLS 350 drinks at a rate of 6 litres per 100km. That’s enough to take the cars to 100kmh from standstill in 7.8 and 6.6 seconds correspondingly. The efficiency comes from a multitude of BlueEfficiency application including the EPS steering, 7G-Tronic Plus auto gearbox, Eco Start/Stop function and intelligent lightweight construction. The all-aluminium doors itself are 24kg lighter than conventional steel ones. The tailgate, bonnet, front wings, various support profiles and substantial parts of the suspension and engines are all made of aluminium too.
Another interesting technology in the CLS Shooting Brake: full LED high performance headlamps with adaptive highbeam assist. The average operating life of an LED is around 10,000 hours, around five times longer than that of a xenon light; moreover, with a colour temperature of 5500 kelvin, LED light is closer to daylight (6500 K) than xenon light (4200 K). Active Blind Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, Distronic Plus and Pre-Safe Brake are standard. These technologies all combine to, for example, detect an unintentional lane change or vehicles in the blind spot, and then correct the direction of travel by gentle brake intervention if the driver ignores the visual or audible danger warnings. Also, this wagon is not only able to detect parking spaces, but can also park automatically with Active Park Assist.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS Feed
Recent Comments