Gabri343

moa4r

too slow for you?? ; - p

Gabri343

Lap time, brake and elastizitat

Sleestack

Top Gear also ran the CL65 on their track and it posted a horrible time, despite all of its power. Then again, what moron buys a CL65 to run on the track. There's only one place where the CL65 belongs... the Autobahn.

Henrik

Exactly.. the CL is NOT intended for track-use!
I don't really understand those testing methods that have become so comon.. Why not in the same way take a ferrari to the woods and see how it performs in mudded terrain.. just as pointless...
Just for fun though it could be done.. but not as a serious test!
How many other 2,1 ton cars will perform at ALL at the racetrack???

The CL is made for Autobahn and high speed freeways where a lot of power, a comfortable suspension setup and highspeed stability all wrapped in a comfortable cabin comes in handy and makes nr1 priority.

If one wants to perform at a track.. for some reason.. then the SLR, or maybe the SL, is the car.. not the CL.
The SLR has the fastest lap time ever at Top Gears test track.

Holson

It's true that an M3 will run around a CL65 all day long (until the early generation S52 motor pops at least... :v j/k) but as others have pointed out it really isn't for a track day...

If I could buy a CL65, I'd have a GT3 RS or Carrera GT for the track or a Miata for autoX and the CL65 for long distance trips and for squashing tiny 'underpowered' cars on the freeway :v

ill shut up can't afford any of the cars I mentioned

Doctodd33

Actually, the SLR HAD the fastest time, "HAD" (past tense), at the Top Gear track until the Stigg finally got a good run down with the Carrera GT. It beat the SLR by about 1 second or less. The STigg spun out a bunch of times first though.

Agreed that the CL65 is not a track car.

T

Zlaatan

The Mac Merc did it in 1.20.9 and the CGT in 1.19.8 so it was quite a bit faster.

Henrik

Well.. one second doesn't sound THAT much to me.

MarcusBenz

What? 1 second on the track is an eternity! If it were one tenth of a second, that would be close, but not 1 full second!!!

Doctodd33

What impressed me the most about the SLR, and they even said it on Top Gear, was that the SLR was so easy to drive. I personally dont want a car that is going to "bite me" like the Porsche Carrera GT. I odnt want a car that is so hard to drive cuz im not a professional race car driver and i wont reap the rewards of 2 tenths of a second on any track. So yea, 1 second difference on a track that takes about 1 minute 20 or so seconds to lap after one morning of driving isnt much.

T

ntamp

Why don` t they test the CLK DTM Edition...

Henrik

Yeah really.. the other car is going away from with you with like 1 mph through the track. What a difference... That could be a matter of the driver taking a dump before he drives or not. A humidity of a little more causing a SLIGHTLY less gripp.. could be the difference in tire temperature before driving.. or anything! ..whatevever..
Such small differences in time in only one run would be considered highly statistical unsafe by anyone knowing the field.

If there had been a difference in one 10's of a second in one run the numbers would have been completely worthless because there wouldn't have been ANY way looking at those numbers that would give you the possibility to decide wich car is the fastest.

Jon200

I think thats what they said in Top Gear as well

Clarkson said the SLR is the most accessible supercar hes ever driven

Bilal

MB deliberately tunes the chassis dynamics of all its cars to give understeer at the limit, this goes for all AMG cars as well. This coupled with the intrusive ESP and ASR systems, keeps the car very safe. It could be said though that MB insults the driver abilities in this manner, but could the typical buyer of a CL65 really control a 2200kg vehicle powersliding on the street? Could Schumacher? Well, possibly

The only cars that give oversteer when pushed to the limit are the 55K's and that is with left foot braking and their 700Nm at 2700rpms. If Mercedes really wanted to make their cars handle better, they no doubt very easily could but the market demographic and driver abilities of buyers, or lack thereof limits them to making very safety conscious cars.

The SLR is the only exception of a well handling Benz. Just to see it go round corners with so much grip and such balanced handling is remarkable.

Truth be told, the CGT is aimed at people with an average income of 500K+ a year and people who track their cars. I know, stupid as it seems, there are people who would take such an expensive car to the track, and for them the ability of the car to bite your head off is just as appealing as its 600hp. Supercars are about challenges. Their raw nature dictates such driving behaviour.

I can't drive much so I'll probably take the SLR, but those days when I want to go round some fast and twisty country lanes, I'd take a GT3, or even an M3 CSL. That would be a more sensible challenge!

FrankW

horrible time is still better than the M3's time...HAHA

I'd buy a M BMW if I want to go tracking.

CynCarvin32

Ok good enough bilal. Forget chassis tuning that car is a porky pig! You cant make a massive car change direction with ease. That massive pile of a car called the Continental GT is one of the few cars to drive worse than the CL65 at a race track. Then again it is 5400 lbs!

Ok you have read bunch of reviews but I truly don’t think you have any ability to sit back and comment on the dynamic of a CL65 vs. a CL55. The SL55 is 100% different than a CL55 and a E55. It is more neutral than an E55 but by no means a neutral car. Your comments are based on what you read not what you have driven. The SL55 does not oversteer by nature it oversteers when the driver gets to aggressive with his right foot and the long pedal.

They design the car to understeer but there is a point where a car with a massive motor can not be set to drift with pure suspension settings. If the car were to be that loose out back the car would not be safe to drive on the road. The SL55 is a fabulous car but the 65's are all over the top. Making that V12 change direction with all that additional body bracing and huge wheel hubs, drive shafts, brakes, and intercoolers. The SL55 is the best drivers 55 and the S55 is the worst. The 65's are pointless for in the USA you wont really notice a difference unless you are out doing 3x the speed limit. It belongs on the autobahn and not hockenheim.. but heck why not do what you want with your CL65! Clearly money is no object if you bought the car so have fun.

Doctodd33

MOST production cars are built with understeer cuz they are safer for the average Joe or Joanne. When your average driver overdrives the car and it starts to push, braking is the solution, which is what your friendly neighborhood government wants. They dont want people spinning out and sliding the back end all over public roads for obvious reasons. There are lots of ways to intentionally make your car a little more neutral or oversteer such as springs and sway bar changes, but the easiest way would be to increase the rear tire pressures, although it wont make that much of a difference.

T

CynCarvin32

I agree with your entire post except that last part about tire pressures. Yes tire pressure can dial out some understeer but your recomendation of increasing rear pressures with respect to the fronts will make the car push more. I have gone though the joy of trying to make a C32 a more neutral car and the only thing that really helps (with a stock suspension) is setting the front tires to 42 psi and putting the rears at about 38psi. With the fronts at a high pressure the car will grip more forcefully and the rear will be "loose." The rear will break away sooner than normal and this will help the car rotate in the corner. Higher pressures up front give the front tires a stronger side wall and this helps it deal with the stress of a car that understeers and weighs nearly 43000 lbs.

Every MB I have ever driven reacted better with equal tire pressures (if it was neutral by nature) or with the fronts higher than the rears (if it was prone to understeer by nature). C240 rental cars LOVE 38 front and 36 psi rear. It will drift around on-ramps like a champ

Making a car like an SL or CL "driftable" is not logical. Once all that mass get going it is very hard to correct and bring it back in line. I would rather have a slight push than a loose back end in an SL55 but a car like a Miata or Lotus would work just fine with a neutral handling dynamic.

Of the cars I currently have in the stable at this point the C230k is the most neutral (but its also the lightest by far so its not fair to include it). The E500 however is extremely neutral for its size. The SL55 is about equal to the E500 but the SL has much more lateral grip than the E500. The E55 is clearly not made for aggressive cornering and it resists changing direction at all costs. The SL55 is one of the best cabrio's built today and AMG has done a great job making it a blast to drive. Wish the E55 was the same though.

DL_AMG

It will reverse faster then your car too.

RS-Kicker

Note that the Hockenheim time is not that bad. Much better than anyone here would expect if I let you guess, right?
M5 / RS6 time - and on the straights it's bye bye...

I have driven the CL65 and I can't say that I really liked it.
The acceleration is indeed insane, but I need "more" when I buy a car.
But I'd rather use it to go from here to the Côte d'Azur than any Porsche. (ok, the Carrera GT then)
And then I would have to be able to afford one...

Jon200

Hey, at least it wasn't compared with Ferraris

Bilal

My point was the 55K's will oversteer only once the accelerator is pushed to the limit and some aggressive turns are made. This is the 700NM of torque thats making the cars do this. None of the cars offer much feel and driving pleasure comaprable to Porsche or Ferrari thats for sure, but then it wasn't meant to.