The context of these forums by their nature become attractants for the doom and the gloom. As such, the outside observer cannot in any capacity hope to achieve a holistic view of what this platform is, does, etc. To some degree this serves as a benefit as it supports depreciation. In that same vein, it furthers the divide between those "in the know" and those "not in the know". While I'm not attempting to rectify that here, in so posting I am so doing.

So what's prompting this post? I've had this car for years, what's new? What's changed?

Well very early when I got the car, the driver's side coil pack went on the fritz and **** itself. The problem was a leaking valve cover gasket, putting oil into the spark plug wells/threads, which then wicked up into the ignition coil effectively destroying the PCB. I furnished a well-respected aftermarket replacement, rather than paying the extra $1000 to Mercedes-Benz. In retrospect, this was a mistake, however not necessarily an egregious one. I got unlucky. The replacement pack itself worked, but it had a non-obvious error where it pulled way too much current; so much current in fact, that at idle the alternator could not keep up and the voltage as indicated by my radar detector would slowly creep down to even under 12 volts. I didn't make the connection between the coil pack and the low voltage, because it was only known to me when my radar detector (which displays voltage) was hooked up to the vehicle. I ascribed it to a bad alternator, maybe a fried diode, or maybe a bad battery I can count my lucky stars that I didn't pursue this any further than replacing the battery, and that no additional components suffered as a result of this. Eventually this faulty ignition coil went completely on the fritz, and yesterday was replaced with a brand new replacement unit from the same supplier. This new ignition coil is good.

As a result of the bad ignition coil, and specifically the resulting low voltage on the main bus, the ABC system and other more delicate electronic systems of the car weren't operating optimally. I only partially fault mercedes for this, why should they ever be exposed to a low voltage scenario while the car is running? All of this could be felt as a slight uneasiness while driving. It didn't feel natural, it didn't feel right. While the car itself accelerated, handled, and performed, it wasn't right. The transmission wouldn't shift right, the ABC suspension would do weird stuff, anything low-speed just wasn't correct. Nothing tangible, but a very obvious intangible. This is how the car has been for the past 3 years or so.

Now it's fixed. Now it's as it should be.

My use of hyperbole and superlatives have cheapened my vocabulary, and now it's a problem. This platform: the M275 V12, the ABC suspension, the W215 chassis... is God tier. Is an elevation of the motor vehicle beyond what prior imagination. Had Mercedes not employed Schremp's cost-cutting measures: had the vision been executed at the same level as historic Mercedese, this would be a car for the ages. A car for all time. Mercedes would sit at the top indisputably for the coming decades. Even still, the vision is there, and with everything working, so is the experience.

S-tier. A different standard. Nothing in the automotive world can come close at all levels: the scale, the execution, the technology, the science, the vision, the goal. Wow.

I can't even begin to imagine what driving this in 2003 would have been like, when most of the roads were inhabited by mass-market 90s cars. I have a greater appreciation now for what high-class society can offer. Unfortuantely I don't even think a new s-class sits this level above everyone else as the w215/w220 v12 did at the time.

 

You are gushing over a 2003 CL. Can’t wait to hear what you think of a 222 car with MBC, Carbon Ceramic brakes, the seven speed box and all that went along with it.