Mercedes-Benz CL500 | High Mile Club
£2,500 is a steal for a big Merc that's done the miles but doesn't show it...
If anyone comments on the price, it better be to express surprise at what £2,500 buys you. Even the most ardent critics of the car market’s current state can’t complain about two bags of sand and a monkey for a whole lot of Benz. And not just any Benz, either; we’re talking the pinnacle of the range – well, apart from the fact it has ‘just’ eight cylinders and not twelve. The only issue is this Mercedes-Benz CL500 has done some miles – nearly 200,000 of them – but come on, it’s a Mercedes. What could possibly go wrong?
Okay, quite a lot. This isn’t Mercedes in its heyday, as a supplier of cars as reliable as RSJs, true. My first thought when I saw the advert and this mileage and price was, ‘That can’t have an MOT’. I was wrong, it does, and a lengthy one, too. My second thought was, ‘I bet that’s got an MOT history as chequered as the flag that drops at the end of a Grand Prix’. Wrong again, Howell. I’ve just been online, pulled up its history and low and behold, ‘Pass’ is written in green many, many times. ‘Fail’ in the dreaded red ink pops up a few times, mind, but scanning through the list of faults described, the worst one I could see was a corroded brake pipe. Otherwise, it’s mainly a mixture of worn tyres, blown bulbs and a dodgy windscreen wiper rubber that caused the red ink to flow.
Not bad, that, considering the history goes back to 2006, when this CL500 had already covered 93,498 miles in just four years. And perhaps we’ve maligned Mercedes too much for its diminishing build quality, because from what I can see it’s faired extremely well cosmetically. Scrutinising the pictures describes a car that’s clean and tidy for its 20 years and 200k. All the tell-tales of high miles and lack of care are happily missing. The leather on the driver’s seat looks in remarkably good shape, as it does on the centre armrest and steering wheel. There aren’t any worn surfaces on the commonly used switches, either, and I can only imagine this CL500 has been garaged for most of its life, because the woodwork isn’t faded or cracked. Behind the lustrous lacquer, the walnut is rich and burry.
My assumption about this car being tucked away in a garage is bolstered by the exterior condition, too. Was it Obsidian Black in those days? I think so, but whatever the paint shade it’s still shiny, with no obvious dings or scuffs. And the headlight lenses, which so often go milky under the harsh glare of the sun, look totally transparent. The more I look at this, the more it seems too good to be true. How can a car of this complexity, with this accumulation of years and miles, be so well preserved? The only issue I can see is the corrosion and kerb damage on those lovely, five-spoke AMG wheels, and the misaligned exhaust tailpipes. None of which is exactly the stuff of nightmares, is it?
And then there’s the C215 CL as a whole. This is by far the best-looking CL there’s ever been. Sure, the bulky, Bruno Sacco-designed C140 had more gravitas, but only because it lacked elegance. The C215 also had Sacco’s influence in its form, but by this stage he’d swapped sharp angles and straight lines for swoops and curves. And he joined them all up beautifully to create an organic, flowing form, which is no mean feat for a car that’s 16 feet long and weighs around two tonnes. Yet there it is, looking slighter and sleeker than it has any right to, and just as beautiful today as it was two decades ago.
This was also the era when a top-of-the-line Mercedes brought new and wondrous toys to tease us with. The C215, along with the W220 S-Class on which it is based, pioneered radar-assisted cruise control, high- and low-beam xenon headlights and Active Body Control. You could also talk to it via the Linguatronic voice activation, and open the doors and start the engine all without a key. I know that’s quite the norm in 2023, but it was cutting-edge stuff when the C215 came out. So there you have it: the car that has it all. Good looks, good condition, a silky V8 with plenty of go, a heap of toys, and, for once, not just a sensible price tag but an astonishingly low one. If this isn’t worth a punt, I don’t know what is...
One of the few cars I've owned that I'd buy back in a heartbeat. I had a facelift '03 model, did 30,000 in it over 2 years including a trip to Bologna and Modena, the 'Ring and Monaco. It never missed a beat and was superbly comfortable on those cross-continent runs.
I later had a next-gen S-class, the W221, and it was nowhere near as nice to be in. The seats in the CL were just wonderful.
The best of my many Saabs was a 7 year old (at the time) that had done 30,000 miles per year, so was just over 210,000 when I bought it. It had been properly maintained - and that's the key.
I would (and did) drive everywhere in that car with complete confidence and I reckon - as long as you know a decent local indie - you could do the same in this.
Shame I don't need one...
Went to a Masonic so in 2003, memorable as I got a ride there in a CL600
The chap had his own company and had treated himself, but the fuel consumption was frightening
Could this be the choice of the range as it’s a n/a engine if I’m correct so potentially less to go wrong…?
Went to a Masonic so in 2003, memorable as I got a ride there in a CL600
The chap had his own company and had treated himself, but the fuel consumption was frightening
Could this be the choice of the range as it’s a n/a engine if I’m correct so potentially less to go wrong…?
Went to a Masonic so in 2003, memorable as I got a ride there in a CL600
The chap had his own company and had treated himself, but the fuel consumption was frightening
Could this be the choice of the range as it’s a n/a engine if I’m correct so potentially less to go wrong…?
It was an odd time for Benz's, some of them rotted away as you looked at them, others went on for years, this one seems to be one of the good ones but i'd have a good poke nose round the rear wheel arches.
Agree one of the prettiest MB coupes of the last 40 years, generally i prefer the saloon versions to the coupes but not here.
I love this car, it looks in amazing condition for age and mileage. It almost looks like it has been garaged all its life and chauffeur driven with white gloves but then it's the 2 door coupe so must be owner driven.
16 ft long and 2 tonnes was huge back in the day but nowadays that is a normal family saloon.
I sort of like its done nearly 200k as it wont have got there without some work, plus everything has been kept in use as for these, and a lot of other cars being left seems to do them no favours.
But, it will have ABC, I know this is a CL65, not a 500 but the underpinnings are more or less identical,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1rzBqoO2vU
That is some complicated stuff, check it out well and be prepared to bail out at some point if it gets silly.
Wouldnt be worried about the engine, aside from rocker cover gaskets, they seem pretty tough, gearbox will be the 5 speed, again not a concern, so its the ABC, some electrics, suspension bushes etc
It'll produce more CO2 hence more global warming, but less NOx & particulates so less air pollution.
My mum, seeing me turn up in South Ken for a family Christmas party in my M113-engined Merc, said 'I expect you've paid a fortune to drive that in here', and was surprised when I explained that it hadn't cost me anything beyond the petrol, as it's ULEZ-clean.
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