mrobinso

In person, the car is even more good looking than in pictures! Things that I immediately noticed in comparison with the C55 (please keep in mind that I was in the passenger seat):

1) About the only thing at all similar to the C55 in terms of appearance or driving feel is the front hood and the front headlights. The hood and the headlights of the C55 is clearly a one-off of the CLK63 hood. That's where the similarities of the C55 and the CLK63 Black Series end. The giant (I mean those things are massive) wheel wells and unique grill totally changes the front-end appearance of what the "regular" CLK55 front-end looks like. The side strakes and body kit changes the side profile of the CLK63 completely. Another distinct aesthetic aspect of the CLK63 is the giant rims and low profile tires. They rims are gorgeous, not sure of the exact amount of spokes (thinking 16) but they are quite a sight. Additionally the rotors appeared to be about a foot and a half in diameter and the calibers looked to be about 10 inches long. The main thing is that all of these features are so understated in appearance. Someone looking at this car unaware of its background might mistake it for a regular CLK from a distance. It is truly a sophisticated exotic with a subdued outward appearance.

2) The interior is high quality, certainly on a higher level than my C55. In my opinion, the CLK63 Black Series was essentially a generation ahead of its time in terms of interior applications. The huge bolsters on the seats (same seats as used in the C63, or so the owner of the car told me), the carbon fiber trim, leather everywhere, no plastics whatsoever (unless the carbon fiber trim is plastic wrapped in carbon fiber vinyl, something makes me doubt this, however). In terms of actual cabin head room and width, the interior of the CLK63 does feel a bit smaller than the C55 does.

...on to the ride/drive feel...

3) The owner of the car took the time to warm up the engine before he really pushed the car. During that time the owner took the time to mention how heavy the steering felt at lower speeds. Once the engine was warmed up, we did a few blasts from 20mph to 70-75mph and back down to 40mph. I noticed several things about the difference in feel from the C55: weight, acceleration, braking, sound.

Weight: The weight saving techniques Mercedes applied to the CLK63 are fully apparent. When accelerating, you get the sensation that the car may be about to literally lift off the ground. The loss of utility from the removal of the backseat can't really compete with the C55s small back bench, but then again, the CLK63 really shouldn't be compared to the C55 anyway. The weight savings come into play in the braking category in a big way (see below).

Acceleration: As mentioned, the light weight of the car makes acceleration feel like you are about to take off in an airplane when the CLK63 is pushed. The feeling of acceleration between the CLK63 and the C55 are not comparable. Acceleration in the CLK63 feels so, and I underline so, much quicker in the CLK63. I would rate the feel of your body getting pushed to the back of the seat upon heavy acceleration as follows: C55 - 7, CLK63 - 10.

Braking: As if I hadn't sung the CLK63's praises enough, the braking on the CLK63 is on another level than the C55. The C55's brakes are certainly on the top end of the brakes that come standard on a four door saloon, however, when the owner was braking from 70mph to 30mph, it was literally neck snapping quick. My head was close to touching the dash board, and I was wearing my seatbelt (this is a slight overexaggeration).

4) The only other thing I can think of to compare between the CLK63 and the C55 is the noise of the engine. In this department, I believe the C55 holds its own in the sense that the sound of the two engines are unique and quite different. While the CLK63's engine was warming up, the engine sounded almost quieter than the C55's engine at a comparably cold start state. Once the CLK63 engine was hot by the end of our little spin in the car, the noise was a mix of ferocious oil burbling loudness and a deep gutteral noise. IMHO, the C55's engine noise is more of a consistent sound throughout. What I am getting at is that the CLK63's engine seemed to almost have different stages of noises, each stage having a different sound, the C55 on the other hand certainly has appealing deep rumble, but it is fairly consistent in terms of actual sound across the RPM spectrum, it only gets louder but does not change.

Anyways, that was quite a rambling summary of my ride in the CLK63 Black Series. I hope some C55 owners get a kick out of the comparison.

wawy

I would expect nothing less from the CLK63 Black! Good write up! Although I have not personally heard the CLK63 black, I agree that the C55 does sound pretty good on its own with the 5.4 V8...

betrezra

Thanks for that! THe BS is a DREAM of mine.... someday

MIKESV8

nice write up and review! i've never heard feedback from anyone about it before that actually experienced it.

german32er

hello,

i drive the CLK BS self last year on a events organized by AMG driving akademy in boxberg, germany, on the bosch proving ground -> http://www.bosch-boxberg.de/en/start/index.html

was overwhelmed by the driving behavior of the "CLK BS", even in direct comparison to the SL63/SLK 55BS/C63, no one can hold a candle to the CLK BS.

the european version has not the seats from C63, he have "recaro pole position" seats, -> http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/sh...g=&tabNumber=2

Since that day, the CLK BS is my absolute dream car ........

PC Valkyrie

Although there is use of some light weight materials, the CLK63 Black Series is still close to 4000lbs, which means the C55 is about 350-400 lbs lighter.

Also, I hope you really didn't think that the CLK63 BS felt like it was "taking off" when accelerating. That is exactly what you don't want, as the whole point of automotive aerodynamics and suspension calibration is to keep the car on the ground, especially at high speeds to get that sense of stability to instill driver confidence. If the CLK63 BS felt that unstable, I would be dissappointed. We all know one of the major strengths of the C55 is high speed stability (it's a night and day difference when I compare my C55 and 135i when going at > 200km/h on the straights at track days).

Here is a video of the CLK63 F1 safety car (which the CLK63 BS was based upon), and the C55 F1 Medical car doing hot laps. Make sure you see the whole video (and turn up the volume) to hear the differences in engine notes. The C55 also did all right in terms of its laptime, despite its power deficit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIuIbO2Ul1U

Quadcammer

no plastic?

The whole interior is plastic with the exception of the door airbag inserts, the steering wheel, and the seats.

MIKESV8

it's pretty much the same amount as the c55 except where we have plastic, this has CF.

splinter

There goes PC Valkyrie again bragging on his beloved C55. ;)

Interesting you’ve noticed a substantive difference from your 135i’s directional stability at speed. Equipped with proper spring rates, damping and chassis setup, even a C32 can perform acceptably. Seems that W203 acquitted itself rather well around Indy’s road circuit - approaching 10/10ths through several sections. What a thrill that must have been!
I’d not previously seen that footage. Thanks for sharing.

Viper98912

PC, that's a hot video you posted

wawy

I've never seen that video before! Thanks for posting! Nice to be able to hear that same sound whenever I jump in to my C55!

german32er

the safety and the medical-car have not a oem exhaust system, also the suspension, brake, tyre, rims, and so on are heavy modified, look at the medical-car and see only the big tyres.......

the "F1 service-cars" are all very special, i thing also the engine is not original

clkwork

Great write-up! Glad to hear you enjoyed the drive

Jeff

francoisisp

+1 that car has been a dream. For a while one day though

Tump43

I raced the CLK BS at the AMG challenge in the Pocono's. Great car!! It's strength is primarily in its handling -- absolutely precise. We did the auto cross with it. Would love to own the car but, I'm afraid, it would not be particularly user friendly as a DD.
I think the shocks are KW's, the steering rack is a specialty AMG piece, the brakes are much larger (perhaps a 6 pot, 4 pot compound deal) and I'm sure the trottle body, intake manifold, headers, ecu and tcu have been tweaked at AMG in a way not generally available to us. I'd love to hear from anyone with definate information.

PC Valkyrie

hahaha Splinter......this "bragging" is all in good fun, just like C32 owners claiming their straight line acceleration advantage over the C55, especially when modified.

Here are the aerodynamic properties of the C55, compared to the E46 M3 (from the Sport Auto Supertest). You can see there is clearly downforce on the front of the car when traveling at 200km/h, while there is relative lift at the rear. That's why the C55 feels so planted at very high speeds because that front end (and hence the steering feel) is so planted down.



Here is the same test for the CLK63 Black Series (from the Sport Auto Supertest). There is relative lift at the front, while there is much more downforce in the rear because of the optional rear wing put on the car.





The C55 F1 Medical car has the stock C55 engine and exhaust making the same output as the street car (367HP, 376lb-ft euro spec).

However, you are correct that the chassis was modified with the "Performance or Nurburgring" suspension which was tuned on the Ring, and it was equipped with the 6 piston brakes in the front and 4 piston brakes in the rear. The rims were 19"x8.5" in the front (235/35-19 tires), and 19"x9.5" in the rear (265/30-19 tires). Although not official, I suspect it may have been equiped with a locking differential as well. Basically, this whole "Performance Package" could have been ordered by the lucky C55 owners in Germany from AMG Manufaktur (now AMG Performance Studio). I wish it was available for North America at the time.......this is basically what C63 owners can now order with their cars.

In fact, I'm envious of you.....being able to get AMG OEM locking differential, performance brakes, and the Speedshift Plus transmission program as upgrades to your C32!!

thegreatfnr

Vids and info like this make me more excited about my next track day on the 24th at "lil tally"

SMP

You won't be disappointed. It's very stable at high speeds, trust me .... as far as the weight goes: Mercedes includes a driver of 150 #, luggage of 15 # and 90% fuel in the tank to the total weight of the car. All 3 added up, that's almost 300 #, which brings the weight down to about 3600 #.

To OP: Nice write-up!

PC Valkyrie

Fair enough, but that's the same for the C55 as well. Look at the measured curb weights of the CLK63 Black Series and C55 by independent magazines. The C55 is at least 200-300lbs lighter no matter what baseline you compare to. But that's OK.....the CLK63 BS has a much higher power to weight ratio, simply because of the huge power difference.

Don't get me wrong......I personally love the Black Series cars, as they are AMG's ultimate expression of performance, especially for track duty.

SMP

No problem .... In my weight comment I said "Mercedes" uses these guidelines, which includes a C55 and the rest of the models they produce. Unlike Porsche for instance, which publishes the weight of their cars dry. No engine oil, no gearbox oil, no differential oil, no coolant and so on.

I hope you didn't get the feeling I was comparing a C55 to a CLK63 BS and make one look better over the other .... btw, I think the C55 is a great car!