petee1997

Unfortunately my beautiful 13 CLS550 got smacked and I decided to trade for the facelift 400. I gave up big power and air suspension for sport suspension. I hope I will be happy. One big improvement is the tablet size screen. Also the new LED headlights are supposed to be something else. The car is in Halifax right now and should be here within a week.

I will let you know what that TT 3.0L engine is all about. My wife has a W212 E400 that is on a ship right now that should be delivered by early Nov.

Jeffy

Very sorry to hear about the accident with the CLS550. Curious to hear your impression of the BTV6. Not only power but sound quality. That's what I love about the BTV8 is the quiet basso profondo that never has a hint of a straining sound or anything harsh.

C63newdude

Sorry to hear about your other car. I test drove a C400 2 weeks ago and it was a beast. I also just look at the car magazine and got a 0-60 in 4.7 and a 13.3@107mph. YES, I KNOW THAT IS NOT A E400!!! but I am trying to say that the engine was a beast, it felt very responsive.

The 3.0 Twinturbo(DELA) has a different cylinder head design which optimizes the spool up. I don think that you would be disappointed.

equetefue

Sorry about the 13' but kudos on the replacement.

Really looking for your impressions on the new engine. Wonder how much slower is it and if is even that much to be considered.

petee1997

I am not delusional. No V6 tt will ever have that beautiful sound of the TT V8 nor the the power. MB rates the V8 at 4.8sec and the V6 at 5.3 for the 0 to 60.

It's impressive for a 6 cyl but let's face it, it's a 6 cyl.

acuteperformance

Yes facelift looked exceptional when I checked it out yesterday. Bit of a downgrade in the performance aspect, but it looks like you've got a Porsche to scratch that itch

hyperion667

happy day at Petee's, make sure to share some pix

ch1derco

Are the US Prices for the CLS400 already available?

C63newdude

You are not being delusional, the V8s sound great, I have had 3 nice sports cars with V8s(c6 z06, C63 and now the CLS 550) but everything is subjective. Some people love the boxer sound, some others like straight 6. There are some 6 cylinders right now that are vey much the fastest cars in the planet(except Buggati), the GTR and the Porsche so I think that a 6 cylinder doesn't always mean less.

I must agree with you that in this particular case the extra 1663cc and two cylinders are worth

threeMBs

Personally, I take all MB (USA) 0-60 numbers as well as "available" power numbers with a grain of salt, see below.

For USA models:

2014 ML550 AWD 5,000lbs 402hp/443trq 5.3sec(0-60)
2014 E550 AWD 4,400lbs 402hp/443trq 5.2sec(0-60)
2014 CLS550 rwd 4,250lbs 402hp/443trq 5.1sec(0-60)

How is ML550 at 600lbs more that E550 sedan and about 750lbs more than CLS550 feels just as quick 0-60 while carrying 600+ lbs? ML550 must have more "available" power than MB states. How else "official" 0-60 numbers are so close and are "confirmed" by my "gut/feel" numbers?

On the opposite hand, for 2015:

2015 SL550 4,000lbs 429hp/516trq 4.5sec(0-60)
2015 SL400 3,800lbs 329hp/354trq 5.1sec(0-60)

I just drove both of the above. Acceleration difference feels a lot more than .6 sec especially when A/C is on in SL400. Acceleration 60-100 - there's really no comparison.

Then on top of that, for 2015 E350 cabriolet with identical power output as SL400, while weighing only 300lbs more "does" 0-60 in 6.3sec (1.2 sec 0-60 for only 300lbs is a massive difference)

equetefue

yeah their numbers dont make sense at all. A month ago I had an Infiniti Q50s that was replaced by the CLS and the manufacturer claimed 5.2 in the Q while Mercedes claims a .1 difference. I can assure you that is not the case at all. It feels way way faster.

petee1997

I'm as dumb as a bag of hammers but would gearing in these cars be different from model to model. For one, the ML has a lower gear ratio giving it more bottom end power.

But to settle this argument, there is no way that the tt 3.0L V6 is ever coming close to the tt V8 which I believe is underrated in the first place. That being said it will be a great improvement over the current V6 because the tt will give it torque that was sadly deficient in the current E350.

threeMBs

Gear ratio differences is certainly a plausible explanation.

As far as 400s... Its one thing up move from E350 to E400, but quit different front CLS550 to CLS400, unless...price difference is significant.

Hear me out:

'15 ML400 when similarly equipped to discontinued '14 ML550 is only about $2-3K less (yes ML400 now has more available options, but that's different). IMHO, not a "good" deal to give up that much power for only $2-3K.

Now '15 SL400 (when identically equipped) is a massive $18K less than (even more powerful) '15 SL550. A guess since they offer now both, the difference should have been significant otherwise SL400 (with SL550 still around) IMHO would not sell (for those shopping in that price range).

US '15 E400 coupe/cab is about $6K less than '15 E550. In US the difference IMHO is more - due to US E550s are available only with "AMG" exterior sports packages while E400s do not (to me this package is worth a minimum of $4K, maybe even $5K).

I know that for non-US markets one can get E400 with identical exterior look as E550. So my question to you is what is the $$$ difference between CLS400 and CLS550 when identically equipped including identical exteriors?