The Banana - 2007 Mercedes-Benz W219 CLS320 CDI

[James Hay]

Hi all,

An introduction to my daily! I absolutely love this car, so effortless drive, very comfortable, quick enough, looks ace and feels very luxurious inside. It's a late pre-facelift which is exactly what I wanted as I prefer the styling but have no SBC to worry about. A fairly standard car with the options being Command, ParkTronic and Telephone Pre-Wiring, finished in Iridium Silver Metallic with Black Leather.

I think they represent such great value of money, I've owned it since July 2018 when I paid just £4,500 at 96,000 miles with a full Mercedes service history, now on a shade under 140,000 miles and I still really enjoy it. I carry out almost all servicing and maintenance myself, being a big old boat some components take a lot of punishment and like all cars there are a couple of particular things to look out for. I've also done a couple of little OEM+ upgrades. I won't list everything I've done during my ownership but recently treated it to a new set of dampers, front springs, front calipers, one rear caliper, disks and pads all round, handbrake shoes and associated parts, front upper wishbone ball joints, oil and filter change, pollen filter and air filters.

Here's a photo at Bamburgh Castle on the way up to Edinburgh a couple of years ago...



I recently got hold of a Carly which is very handy! It shows I have a faulty oxygen sensor (might explain the fuel economy dipping) and cylinder two glow plug which I'll sort in due course.

Thanks,

Edited by James Hay on Friday 28th January 22:12

[Alex_225]

Good choice of car that OP!

I've got a 2007 CLS63 but it's never been my daily car. My other half bought a CLS350cdi and it was excellent as a daily car. We used it for family duties, it was hugely reliable, good on fuel and had plenty of speed.

Enjoy. Oh and re-map it, it'll be awesome!

[James Hay]

Thanks!

You know I have thought about a map, just to improve response and fuel economy a little and to make the power delivery more linear. I'm not bothered about winding the power up too much as I hope to keep this car a long time and don't want to stress anything more than I need to.

Any specialists you can recommend?

Edited by James Hay on Friday 28th January 22:12

Edited by James Hay on Friday 28th January 22:16

[Squishey]

Lovely car OP, these early CLSs are still head turners. I remember Top Gear magazine describing them as "what an E class looks like if you're not a boring bd"!

I had an E350 coupe remapped by GAD Tuning based in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. I went for their "turn it up to 11" map and had no problems in >50,000 miles. It was quicker, quieter, had more linear power delivery, and improved MPG by around 10%.

[The Bearded Tit]

One of the best-looking cars made in my opinion. I'll likely never own one, but they're stunning things to look at.

As for remaps, it's not apples to apples but I had my work van mapped with one of those cheap £200 places, and chose the 'eco map'. It pushed power from 75bhp to 95bhp and acceleration is completely different now, much more instant, though it's a bit jumpy. Almost too responsive, so maybe a higher end tuner might be able to customise it a bit more to make throttle response a bit smoother.

[James Hay]

Squishey said:

Lovely car OP, these early CLSs are still head turners. I remember Top Gear magazine describing them as "what an E class looks like if you're not a boring bd"!

I had an E350 coupe remapped by GAD Tuning based in Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex. I went for their "turn it up to 11" map and had no problems in >50,000 miles. It was quicker, quieter, had more linear power delivery, and improved MPG by around 10%.

Yes I remember that too! ...in the back where all the specs and prices were. They then said the downsides were something like 'Doesn't handle as well as it looks' which is fair considering they're big, heavy and quite squishy things with a slushmatic gearbox!

I'm in Cambridge so anywhere Essex based isn't too bad. I'll take a look. Cheers.

[James Hay]

The Bearded Tit said:

One of the best-looking cars made in my opinion. I'll likely never own one, but they're stunning things to look at.

As for remaps, it's not apples to apples but I had my work van mapped with one of those cheap £200 places, and chose the 'eco map'. It pushed power from 75bhp to 95bhp and acceleration is completely different now, much more instant, though it's a bit jumpy. Almost too responsive, so maybe a higher end tuner might be able to customise it a bit more to make throttle response a bit smoother.

The newest ones are now 12 years old but considering they launched in 2004 I think they still look awesome. Such a clean and elegant design, unlike most modern crap that just looks a fussy mess.

Yes some finer tuning may help you out. I've never had a car mapped but I would do as you have done and opt for an 'eco' option just to make the most of the fuel as I understand the parameters for factory mapping can be very wide to deal with a range of fuel qualities and environments.

[WTFWT]

I had one of these in '55 flavour and it was, on balance, the best car I've ever owned. Really got under my skin. Enjoy it!

[J4CKO]

I had a CLS 500, 2008 model and it was lovely.

Wonder if these will attain a classic status, currently down as "Old Merc" and in limbo price wise, at least for the non AMG ones are.

Its funny, thought they were huge when I had one, seem almost compact as time goes on and cars get more bulbous.

Did nearly buy a CLS55 but kind of felt going faster in one wasn't what I needed, never forgot my youngests mates mum arriving in brand new black one in 2005, jaw dropping.

[Alex_225]

James Hay said:

Thanks!

You know I have thought about a map, just to improve response and fuel economy a little and to make the power delivery more linear. I'm not bothered about winding the power up too much as I hope to keep this car a long time and don't want to stress anything more than I need to.

Any specialists you can recommend?

I've had Quantum maps applied to both my old E320cdi (I6) and now my S320cdi which is the same V6 as your CLS. Main thing I noticed on my E was way better throttle response, fuel economy was always good so that didn't vary massively. On my S it's the torque I noticed most, it never felt slow but despite similar power to the mapped E it's obviously heavier so the map gives it that in gear shove that it should, plus I've noticed 1-3mpg more over a long journey.

A map on yours would be around 260-270bhp but about 440lbs-ft of torque!

[Roboticarm]

Nice car, always like that these looked different to the standard c class, 3 series etc.

When I saw the thread title j was expecting a yellow car though, why is it called the banana ?

[James Hay]

Alex_225 said:

I've had Quantum maps applied to both my old E320cdi (I6) and now my S320cdi which is the same V6 as your CLS. Main thing I noticed on my E was way better throttle response, fuel economy was always good so that didn't vary massively. On my S it's the torque I noticed most, it never felt slow but despite similar power to the mapped E it's obviously heavier so the map gives it that in gear shove that it should, plus I've noticed 1-3mpg more over a long journey.

A map on yours would be around 260-270bhp but about 440lbs-ft of torque!

Impressive! A little extra power and torque would be advantageous, the primary goal though would be to just make it run a little more efficiently and cleanly with a better spread of power available across the rev range. 440lbs ft would certainly make it an overtaking missile!

[James Hay]

Roboticarm said:

Nice car, always like that these looked different to the standard c class, 3 series etc.

When I saw the thread title j was expecting a yellow car though, why is it called the banana ?

Just something I've always called it due to the shape, mainly because of the side and rear quarter profile. That line between the windows and door handles is slightly bowed and both ends then curve down like a banana. Thankfully it's not yellow though, that would be rather ghastly

[James Hay]

James Hay said:

Hi all,

An introduction to my daily! I absolutely love this car, so effortless drive, very comfortable, quick enough, looks ace and feels very luxurious inside. It's a late pre-facelift which is exactly what I wanted as I prefer the styling but have no SBC to worry about. A fairly standard car with the options being Command, ParkTronic and Telephone Pre-Wiring, finished in Iridium Silver Metallic with Black Leather.

I think they represent such great value of money, I've owned it since July 2018 when I paid just £4,500 at 96,000 miles with a full Mercedes service history, now on a shade under 140,000 miles and I still really enjoy it. I carry out almost all servicing and maintenance myself, being a big old boat some components take a lot of punishment and like all cars there are a couple of particular things to look out for. I've also done a couple of little OEM+ upgrades. I won't list everything I've done during my ownership but recently treated it to a new set of dampers, front springs, front calipers, one rear caliper, disks and pads all round, handbrake shoes and associated parts, front upper wishbone ball joints, oil and filter change, pollen filter and air filters.

Here's a photo at Bamburgh Castle on the way up to Edinburgh a couple of years ago...



I recently got hold of a Carly which is very handy! It shows I have a faulty oxygen sensor (might explain the fuel economy dipping) and cylinder two glow plug which I'll sort in due course.

Thanks,

Edited by James Hay on Friday 28th January 22:12

Quick update, I got the glow plugs and oxygen sensor replaced at a local specialist, I toyed with the idea of doing glow plugs myself however talked myself out of it through fear of breaking one or stripping threads, at which point I would have become very stuck indeed...! The plugs themselves were Bosch items from AutoDoc at £52.14 for all 6 which seemed very reasonable, the specialist then sourced the oxygen sensor from Mercedes (£322.80...!) and carried out the replacement of all parts for a shade over £540 all in which I thought pretty reasonable for piece of mind. Cold starting is better, plus fuel economy has improved by about 15%, I assume due to the engine not running quite as rich. I also requested they have a look for the source of a slight power steering weep which turned out to the pump, and I asked them to do a battery test which showed it running at around 48% of what it should hence as I suspected it's likely original. Two more things to add to the list to sort out.

The specialist for reference is Stewart & Wisbey LTD who I can very highly recommend, excellent customer service and knowledge, plus they have a range of courtesy cars available which for me makes all the difference. A great experience all round and I'd be happy to give them my business moving forward.

Lastly it seems my wrapping technique is not up to scratch as after just a year or so the B pillar piano black wrap had started to lift and bubble and generally look crap. Whist I was cleaning the interior and moisturising the leather my friend Fred came over and painted the panels with some satin black paint I happened to have lying around. After about half a dozen coats each I left them inside for 24 hours to harden, it's been a few weeks now and they're still looking great. Not original but a vast improvement.

[Got4wheels]

Lovely car OP! The original CLS is a brilliant design and has aged like a fine wine.

Michael

[James Hay]

Got4wheels said:

Lovely car OP! The original CLS is a brilliant design and has aged like a fine wine.

Michael

Thanks! I love the styling as well. Used to have a W211 E320 CDI Avantgarde which had better spec but I've always loved the W219 CLS.