Mercedes CLS 320 CDI 4dr Review

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4.1 stars
Average rating for this product is: 4.1 out of 5

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obez42's Review of Mercedes CLS 320 CDI 4dr

6th Jan 2008

Overall Rating

4.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4 stars
  • Length of ownership
    2 Years 3 months
  • Performance
    4.5 stars
  • Reliability
    3 stars
  • Year Manufactured
    2005
  • Doors
    4
  • Practicality
    4.5 stars
Good Points

The CLS 320CDI is a supreme cruiser, cocoons you in absolute comfort, crosses continents effortlessly, beautiful to look at inside and out, brilliant balance between performance and economy, huge boot, full size 4 seater / 4 door car, very stylish head turner, FANTASTIC feel-good-factor!


Bad Points

Not as reliable as you'd expect, a fair few glitches and software problems and a tad expensive to maintain; standard 17 inch wheels / tyres look too skinny, optional extras are comparatively expensive.


General Comments

I've owned my CLS 320CDI for over 2 years and have covered over 37,000 miles in it and it still looks as good and drives as well as it did the day I bought it.

It's a very practical full size family car that will sit 4 adults in supreme comfort and has a simply cavernous boot! It provides the best balance between performance (very quick), style (head turner)and economy (a steady motorway cruise of 80mph in France over 250 mile journey returned a fuel consumption of 42mpg!).

The standard tyres are too skinny and the car looks better with the 18 inch wheels and best with the 19 inch AMG wheels though they are a tad costly! I added to mine the AMG body kit (plus dealer only ordered subtle boot-lip spoiler) and the 19 inch AMG wheels and to my eyes, this absolutely set off the overall design beauty of the car from whichever angle you look at it, giving it subtle aggression with a slight hint of menace when viewed from the front. I'm not necessarily recommending this full AMG package to all though as the cost of this is fairly significant and to fit the AMG 19 inch wheels, you have to order the air suspension as an optional extra.

In terms of reliability, it was reliable in the first 23 months / 30,000 miles but has been in and out of the workshop for all manners of minor problems / software glitches; Radio, Sat Nav, Keyless Go, etc. I wonder whether the fact that I loaded the car with nearly £20k worth of options has played its part?
Mercedes Dealers are thankfully a lot improved in the last 2 or so years. This has certainly changed since Mercedes UK bought out most of the Franchises and the quality of the service now is about as good as you'll get from say BMW.
So in summary, if I had my time again, would I buy the car knowing what I know about it now...........AN ABSOLUTE UNQUALIFIED YES!!

What a Motor!

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