Thursday 28th August 2014

Mercedes CL600: Spotted

Somebody once spent an awful lot of money on this V12 CL so you don't have to - nice of them

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Do you ever find yourself wishing for a time machine? Not for the normal reasons of meddling with the past, creating alternate realities where you date your own mother or amassing a fortune by gambling on sports games you already know the results of. Not, in other words, any of the usual cliches.

Nope, if you really had a temporal portal - and it would have to be quite a sizeable one - think how easily you could make money by shipping almost immaculate luxo-barges like this CL600 into the recent past.

215-series CL remains a classy looking car

Because back in 2003 the CL600 sat at the very top of the Mercedes tree. Walk into a dealer back in 2003 and order one without haggling and you would be writing a cheque for £90,720 before options. And this particular example seems to have had every extra-cost box ticked, too. These days it's possible to spec diesel Audi estates past £100,000. But in the early noughties six-figure pricetags were the exclusive preserve of genuine exotica.

Add a decade and the same car, in what looks to be pristine condition, is just under £10,000. Even with the anvil-through-a-greenhouse depreciation these things suffered from new, imagine the profit if you could send it back to 2005 or 2006 - just far enough from new to explain its 89,000 miles.

Mostly, of course, the first buyer was investing in the engine. The CL600 had a 5.5-litre twin-turbocharged V12 that produced 500hp. That was exactly the same output as very slightly less posh CL55 AMG produced from its 5.5-litre supercharged V8, and although the 600 had more torque, Mercedes claimed identical acceleration figures for both cars (a brisk 4.8-second 0-62mph.) But of course, in the minds of most potential buyers the CL600 was better - because it had more cylinders.

And this was, and almost certainly still is, an almighty engine. Very refined low down but with a keenness for revs and a surprisingly snarly top end when worked hard. And, of course, the sort of cruising pace to shorten the longest Autobahn; those hoary old lines about 120mph feeling like 75mph really do come true sitting behind the wheel of a C215 CL, although faster use comes at the cost of truly scary fuel consumption.

Wood gives you wood? Well served here then

Even after 10 years the kitchen sink spec of this one means it still looks well equipped, with keyless entry, Distronic active cruise control, heated and cooled seats, a power-operated boot and the full-spec BOSE audio system (albeit driven by an in-dash cassette deck as well as a boot-mounted CD changer.) Of course, Mercs from this era are not exactly famed for the bombproof reliability of their forebears, and it's fair to say that there's lots and lots on a fully loaded CL600 to go wrong - faults in the myriad electrical systems can be very expensive to fix and the ABC active suspension has a well-deserved reputation for wallet-shredding meltdowns.

But look on the bright side - full history, two owners from new and the sort of provenance that suggests few corners have been cut keeping it in its tip-top condition. As risks go, it's what the financial types would call a hugely attractive one.

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MERCEDES-BENZ CL600
Engine: 5,513cc V12, twin turbocharged
Transmission: Five-speed automatic, rear-wheel drive.
Power (hp): 500@5,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 590@3,500
MPG: 19.1 (with a very stiff tailwind)
CO2: 355g/km
First registered: 2003
Recorded mileage: 89,000
Price new: £90,720, before options
Yours for: £9,995

Original advert here.

 

[the_hood]

If I had deep pockets, I'd be very tempted by one of these.
Wasn't it a CL that Clarkson bought on Top Gear that needed a bit of work done to it after he'd been singing it's praises?

[j_s14a]

One of the truly beautiful Mercs.

[BlackPorker]

Barge-tastic! Would rust be an issue at this age? I know Merc had serious rust problems around the late nineties and early noughties.

[kambites]

Not usually my sort of car, but that is a rather lovely thing. No way I'd be brave enough to stomach the potential running costs, though.

[Stu78]

We were selling these above list in 2003. Epic car. Epic failures. We had one back with months of selling it, can't quite remember the fault but the whole dash and and transmission tunnel came out and the amount of wiring was just frightening. I'd love to drive one again but I certainly wouldn't spend my own money on one.

[Watchman]

Cheap way to achieve a 200mph run, maybe?

[Walter Sobchak]

Lovely car, although for the money I would take an E55 AMG, air matic is slightly cheaper to fix than ABC suspension and you'd get a later one so you wouldn't have to worry about rust as much.
The CL is lovely though.

[soad]

I like that kind of a depreciation. So, who's going to snap this up?

[Liquid Tuna]

There's a reason they're so cheap now. You'd need balls the size of melons to take one of these on, surely? Repair costs must be staggering.

[Numeric]

Met the head of in car automation for BMW once at the launch of the Bangle 7-series I think, and while he was talking a language way out in front of what this numpty could understand, the gist was that cars were so well engineered in the core mechanicals that they could work well for 20 years - his view was that it was the electronics that would kill the more expensive cars and bring about crushing depreciation as £5,000 repair bills for computers and I-drives came to the fore. He seems to have been right about the depreciation - but are the electronics now the killers of cars or is that more an assumption we make?

[burwoodman]

the_hood said:

If I had deep pockets, I'd be very tempted by one of these.
Wasn't it a CL that Clarkson bought on Top Gear that needed a bit of work done to it after he'd been singing it's praises?

This car was 9 years old at the time. The PH car is 11 and several K more expensive than the £7k Top Gear car. A coil pack failed the week after the show was made at a cost of £1,200

[burwoodman]

Numeric said:

Met the head of in car automation for BMW once at the launch of the Bangle 7-series I think, and while he was talking a language way out in front of what this numpty could understand, the gist was that cars were so well engineered in the core mechanicals that they could work well for 20 years - his view was that it was the electronics that would kill the more expensive cars and bring about crushing depreciation as £5,000 repair bills for computers and I-drives came to the fore. He seems to have been right about the depreciation - but are the electronics now the killers of cars or is that more an assumption we make?

So well engineered you say lol. That is why my Bangled 7 series was a shed, spending more time in the garage than on the road. A full 20 pages of warranty work before being rejected.

[burwoodman]

Numeric said:

Met the head of in car automation for BMW once at the launch of the Bangle 7-series I think, and while he was talking a language way out in front of what this numpty could understand, the gist was that cars were so well engineered in the core mechanicals that they could work well for 20 years - his view was that it was the electronics that would kill the more expensive cars and bring about crushing depreciation as £5,000 repair bills for computers and I-drives came to the fore. He seems to have been right about the depreciation - but are the electronics now the killers of cars or is that more an assumption we make?

So well engineered you say lol. That is why my Bangled 7 series was a shed, spending more time in the garage than on the road. A full 20 pages of warranty work before being rejected.

[leedsutd1]

I was looking at these 6 months ago you can pick up a 2001 for £5,000 , not too keen on the interiors though

[foxhounduk]

the image caption; "wood gives you wood" haha

fantastically written article. love it

[duffy78]

I'll just leave this here

http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/how-to-make-a-used-m...

How to make a used mercedes sound like a zonda.

[irish boy]

leedsutd1 said:

I was looking at these 6 months ago you can pick up a 2001 for £5,000 , not too keen on the interiors though

The early v12's are supposed to be a money pit of an engine. These newer bi turbo ones are much better.

I got a chance to take spin in one last year, my first in a v12 (bar an absolute dose of an xjs going for £1500 one time) was fantastic. Turbine smooth with an uncanny ability to pile on speed.

[02joe]

burwoodman said:

This car was 9 years old at the time. The PH car is 11 and several K more expensive than the £7k Top Gear car. A coil pack failed the week after the show was made at a cost of £1,200

The TG CL600 was a pre facelift 600 so it had the 5.7 NA V12. The 5.5 Bi Turbo is regarded to be a stronger unit and it doesn't suffer with reliability like the NA unit did. Obviously both cars have similar electrics and suspension systems, but piece of mind can be had for £1000 a year for a an extended Merc warranty. Certainly worth having.

Both units are good. The NA sounds colossal with some of the mufflers removed and the BiTurbo has aweomse torque (as mentioned)

[Geoffcapes]

duffy78 said:

I'll just leave this here

http://carbuying.jalopnik.com/how-to-make-a-used-m...

How to make a used mercedes sound like a zonda.

Oh my......

Just off to check the bank balance. I think I need some of this in my life. If only for a month!
Cooler than a polar bear eating an ice cream on an iceberg!

[mwstewart]

Great article and great car. I don't think they have aged very well but I still want one.

Minor point: "albeit driven by an in-dash cassette deck" - I see a DVD based COMAND, which must be a rare last of the line thing in these.