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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 |
 Our car of the month is the Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class Coupe. This good looking car makes you feel comfortable before you get behind the driving wheel and this we found with the CLK 280 Sports. We were offered a test drive from DaimlerChrysler Ltd through their local Mercedes-Benz retailer Tony Purslow Ltd.
Our report on the test.
The CLK-Class Coupe is a competent mid-sized coupé offered with a large choice of engines, these include 4, 6 and 8 cylinders in either petrol or an excellent CDI diesel. The main bodywork/interior comes in 3 styles, the Elegance Line, the more tradional Mercedes look, the Avantgarde Line, moden look, and the Sport Line with its AMG styling.
The Elegance Line is what I would call the culture business level with the interior door panel and the gearbor area trim made with Burr walnut. Apart from this touch of luxury it has all the extras that one would expect to find and many more, see the list below. The Avantgarde Line is the more adventureus with its chrome, stainless steel and aluminium trim. The seats are either fabric / Artico man-made leather combination or two-tone leather. The Sports Line has AMG bodystyling on the outside with 18 inch 5-spoke AMG light-alloy wheels.
Not only great looking, also seriously talented. German engineer means a high quality interior, outstandingly chassis refinement and effortless performance from the wide range of engines. Basic CLK 200 Kompressor unit is perfectly adequate, but I think is over priced, the CLK 280 with the 3.0 litre V6 petrol engine offer usefully punchier performance. The range-topping CLK55 AMG feels too expensive, though, despite the serious performance. Pick of the range is probably the CLK 320 CDI turbodiesel version, which gives smooth, rapid and very economical progress.
All versions combine driving pleasure with comfortable, but my choice would be the CLK 280 Avantgarde Line with the added sports package.
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