Edmunds’ Long-Term CL65 AMG is Straight-Up Hilarious
About a year ago, the guys over at Edmunds did a stupid, stupid thing. They bought a used 2005 Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG, sans warranty. The car was once $180,000 and has a 6.0L twin-turbocharged V12 engine that makes 604 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque. In other words, it’s a time bomb on wheels.
Their intro to the story about the car is priceless and perfectly shows the fear in their eyes while contemplating the purchase:
“There we stood in a Reno, Nevada, used-car dealership. In front of us was the same CL65 that turned heads in its prime. Horsepower, exclusivity, mechanical complexity: It was all there. A sticker on the window read 56,000 miles and $34,000. We made one last mental calculation of the potential cost to maintain a car that multiple sources warned was significant, and then we pulled the trigger.”
Throughout the past year, the car encountered loads of problems, but everyone at Edmunds seemed to love its performance. Here’s some of the finest praise…
“On the first run, with traction control on and going straight from brake to full throttle, this nine-year-old car did zero to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds. The rush of power is alarming, yet utterly smooth. If there ever was a deceptively fast car, it’s this CL65.” — Mike Monticello
“Yes, that’s 674 lb-ft of torque and 528 horsepower to the wheels. Factoring in driveline loss, it’s safe to say this thing is still plenty perky despite its near-double-digit age and almost sixty-thousand miles on the clock.” — Jason Kavanagh
Of course, it wasn’t all glowing, as you might expect:
“I am starting to think engine codes should include $ in them, like restaurant ratings: $ = you’ll make it, $$ = postpone vacation another month, $$$ = leave the key and run.” — Mike Schmidt
Yes, you can own a used luxury car, even one of these awesome CL65s. However, you must remember that you’re paying for a used luxury car that will still have new luxury bills.
After weeks of the CL65 sitting with a for sale sign on it, the team finally sold it for $20,000 even. That’s just a drop of $14,000 in a single year, not to mention all the stuff they had to buy to properly fix it. But oh, what a year!
Read the full article here.
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via [Edmunds]