Mercedes CL500

[Alex_225]

snotrag said:

Potentially bonkers question but... Do the rear seats fold?

I've been asked worse! haha

I'm not aware they do fold though. Why do you ask mate?

RATATTAK said:

I bought one of these cars last year so that I could rest my 911 in the garage over winter. I have now fallen in love with my CL and tend to use it more than the Porsche.

It's a fabulous car !

I don't blame you. I have a couple of cars stored away, one is a CLS63 which is not dissimilar but much quicker. This replaced my S Class diesel as a semi-daily car. It's totally won me over. They're far more special cars than I quite realised. More so than the S Class and that was quite something.

[snoopy25]

Absolutely love theses CL500's!

Lovely looking car you have got yourself there!

[Mezzanine]

I’m excited to hear you have a warehouse with even more Mercedes stashed away

[Alex_225]

snoopy25 said:

Absolutely love theses CL500's!

Lovely looking car you have got yourself there!

I must say I overlooked the CL for a long time, was more into the typical Merc saloons. Was only when I considered selling my S Class I didn't want to lose that comfort I steered toward the CL. Now I'm a massive fan, pictures don't do them justice as they're much bigger and have more presence than I realised, in a photo they don't look a million miles off the old CLK.

Mezzanine said:

I’m excited to hear you have a warehouse with even more Mercedes stashed away

Haha I wish I had a warehouse full of them! haha

My CLS63 and Twingo 133 Gordini are both tucked away in a storage facility

[Mezzanine]

CLS looks lovely.

Twingo Gordini is a lovely little surprise

[Alex_225]

Mezzanine said:

CLS looks lovely.

Twingo Gordini is a lovely little surprise

Haha yeah the Twingo I bought new back in 2010. The Twingo 133 was such a brilliantly underrated car, noticeably less powerful than a Clio 182 but better handling and a more modern feel, plus a shaper gearchange.

There's under 200 of these Gordini models around now so it's fairly rare.

[Mezzanine]

Alex_225 said:

Mezzanine said:

CLS looks lovely.

Twingo Gordini is a lovely little surprise

Haha yeah the Twingo I bought new back in 2010. The Twingo 133 was such a brilliantly underrated car, noticeably less powerful than a Clio 182 but better handling and a more modern feel, plus a shaper gearchange.

There's under 200 of these Gordini models around now so it's fairly rare.

Definitely worth stashing away, I always preferred the Twingo RenaultSports over the Clios as they look like go karts

[snotrag]

Alex_225 said:

I've been asked worse! haha

I'm not aware they do fold though. Why do you ask mate?

I didnt think they did, but only based of what I have read on US based forums.

I'm looking for something big engined (v8, more than likely) with room for 4, considering saloons and coupes, but they must have folding seats for bike carrying - for instance, Jag XJs or BMW 7s do not have folding seats, nor do S classes (hence me asking about this CL), cars from the next size class down do tend to fold though - so Merc E coupes, CLK, BMW 5 and 6 coupes... Its an abolute must have as I need to be able to get a bike in the back, but unfortunately makes choosing cars difficult!

[Alex_225]

Mezzanine said:

Definitely worth stashing away, I always preferred the Twingo RenaultSports over the Clios as they look like go karts

It's funny I've had a couple of Clio 172s and I loved them, one new and one at ten years old. Both made me smile. The 133 Twingo is based on that Phase II Clio but I think they're better looking, I'd say they handle better but lack the power. I think their scarcity makes them that bit more appealing, highly rated but overshadowed by the Fiat 500.

snotrag said:

I didnt think they did, but only based of what I have read on US based forums.

I'm looking for something big engined (v8, more than likely) with room for 4, considering saloons and coupes, but they must have folding seats for bike carrying - for instance, Jag XJs or BMW 7s do not have folding seats, nor do S classes (hence me asking about this CL), cars from the next size class down do tend to fold though - so Merc E coupes, CLK, BMW 5 and 6 coupes... Its an abolute must have as I need to be able to get a bike in the back, but unfortunately makes choosing cars difficult!

I'll have a look when I'm next in the car but I'm pretty sure it's fixed much like the S Class. The E Class Estate most likely would I don't believe my saloon.

You might not consider it but we have an ML350 as the family car. It's not too far removed from the comfort of the S Class I had but with the practicality of an estate. An ML500 would have the same engine as my CL, a nice combination. Sadly not as pretty a car IMO though.

[Alex_225]

Little scrub of the CL at the weekend, weather is far nicer for getting out and cleaning cars!



I'm not using the CL daily as such so ordered a convenience plug for my C-Tek. Stupidly left the old one hooked up in my S Class.



Also, I've never really heard the car from outside so thought I'd record it quickly. Pleasantly surprised how it sounds, it had been idling 15 minutes or so but was a chilly morning. Better sounding than I expected as inside the car it's fairly quiet.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gVSf1dbATMw

[d_a_n1979]

Alex_225 said:

Little scrub of the CL at the weekend, weather is far nicer for getting out and cleaning cars!



I'm not using the CL daily as such so ordered a convenience plug for my C-Tek. Stupidly left the old one hooked up in my S Class.



Also, I've never really heard the car from outside so thought I'd record it quickly. Pleasantly surprised how it sounds, it had been idling 15 minutes or so but was a chilly morning. Better sounding than I expected as inside the car it's fairly quiet.

https://youtube.com/shorts/gVSf1dbATMw

Sounds well!

My E39 was far too quiet with the huge OEM back box; so the 'delete' I've done was absolutely the right thing...

Sounds great on start up and when the loud pedal is pressed; but quiet when cruising and no drone at all!

Good call on the CTEK quick connect too; I've had one for every car, comes in really handy

[RATATTAK]

Alex_225 said:

I'm not using the CL daily as such so ordered a convenience plug for my C-Tek. Stupidly left the old one hooked up in my S Class.

I thought the CL shut down the main battery when left for long periods thus mitigating the requirement for a C-Tek trickle charger.

[Alex_225]

RATATTAK said:

I thought the CL shut down the main battery when left for long periods thus mitigating the requirement for a C-Tek trickle charger.

I believe with this being a 2010 it only has the one main battery under the bonnet, by contrast my old S Class (08) had an auxiliary battery under the bonnet and main one in the boot, same as my CLS63.

I noticed that firing the engine up on Sunday, it was a little slow to start so it's not liking the cold nights and minimal mileage.

[RATATTAK]

Alex_225 said:

RATATTAK said:

I thought the CL shut down the main battery when left for long periods thus mitigating the requirement for a C-Tek trickle charger.

I believe with this being a 2010 it only has the one main battery under the bonnet, by contrast my old S Class (08) had an auxiliary battery under the bonnet and main one in the boot, same as my CLS63.

I noticed that firing the engine up on Sunday, it was a little slow to start so it's not liking the cold nights and minimal mileage.

Well mine's a 2008 and only has a very small battery under the bonnet so I assumed it has a main battery in the boot.
I've noticed that the normal driver's seat and steering wheel movement does not occur when I've not used it for a week or two and assumed that the small battery at the front was saved to start the car.
Is your front battery small or normal size for a big car ?

[bolidemichael]

RATATTAK said:

Alex_225 said:

I'm not using the CL daily as such so ordered a convenience plug for my C-Tek. Stupidly left the old one hooked up in my S Class.

I thought the CL shut down the main battery when left for long periods thus mitigating the requirement for a C-Tek trickle charger.

I fitted a Ctek monitor as pictured above, to my E500. It's a finicky thing -- the day after having charged it, it'll indicate red when I open the rear door in the morning, prior to starting the engine. After a half hour drive in town, engine off, it indicates orange. It was happily green the night before and the battery is relatively new.

[Alex_225]

RATATTAK said:

Well mine's a 2008 and only has a very small battery under the bonnet so I assumed it has a main battery in the boot.
I've noticed that the normal driver's seat and steering wheel movement does not occur when I've not used it for a week or two and assumed that the small battery at the front was saved to start the car.
Is your front battery small or normal size for a big car ?

It's a big battery under the bonnet on this one, same size as the one in the boot on my CLS63 and old E320cdi. I think it was around 2009 Mercedes started doing a more conventional set up as I'm pretty sure my other half's 2009 CLS3350cdi had normal full sized battery up front rather than the small auxiliary battery. My 2008 S Class had the two.

I know these cars tend to switch off certain features if there is a detected drop in voltage, no heated seats and other convenience features. Not had that on the CL dashboard. I'll just keep the C-Tek on it, should keep it happy over the winter.

[RATATTAK]

Alex_225 said:

RATATTAK said:

Well mine's a 2008 and only has a very small battery under the bonnet so I assumed it has a main battery in the boot.
I've noticed that the normal driver's seat and steering wheel movement does not occur when I've not used it for a week or two and assumed that the small battery at the front was saved to start the car.
Is your front battery small or normal size for a big car ?

It's a big battery under the bonnet on this one, same size as the one in the boot on my CLS63 and old E320cdi. I think it was around 2009 Mercedes started doing a more conventional set up as I'm pretty sure my other half's 2009 CLS3350cdi had normal full sized battery up front rather than the small auxiliary battery. My 2008 S Class had the two.

I know these cars tend to switch off certain features if there is a detected drop in voltage, no heated seats and other convenience features. Not had that on the CL dashboard. I'll just keep the C-Tek on it, should keep it happy over the winter.

Schoolday ! Thanks

[Alex_225]

RATATTAK said:

Schoolday ! Thanks

Haha no problem, every day is a school day. With Mercs of this era, there's so much to learn.

[AndrewCrown]

Alex
Good to see you’ve graduated to a CL…best of luck with it.

On the slow to turnover, these are very good at keeping charge generally. If it is slow starting might be worth looking at the starter motor,
I had these symptoms and it was the starter.

[AndrewCrown]

Just noticed on your photos…. Shouldn’t there be a starter button?