When it comes to culture and art, then it is Florence the capital of Italy, in no other Italian city is the cultural life so tangible. A good place to present a station wagon that is not a station wagon. Based on a coupe that was never a coupe:
Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake
When the Mercedes CLS was presented in 2003, I often heard the question: “Who should buy a coupé with four doors?” In my opinion it was the most beautiful form of limousine that was presented at the time. And so for my birthday in 2005 I wanted nothing more than a weekend in the CLS.
Our local Mercedes-Benz dealer granted my wish and I had a wonderful weekend with the CLS 500. Many kilometers and hours in a beautiful vehicle. A video of this vehicle still exists today. Filmed at the time by the Würzburg autobahn police. Well - the then 326PS strong V8 vacuum cleaner ran really too loosely through the speed range 😉
Beautiful station wagons have a new name!
With the appearance of the Shooting Brake, the name for beautiful station wagons changes. Anyone who has always preferred the station wagon to a limousine without looking for the reason in the maximum variability and trunk volume will be interested in the Shooting Brake in the future.
A short driving report about the new Shooting Brake, the first coupé that is also a station wagon.
What does he want to be?
With his sexy swing of his hips he wants to beguile us, make the seemingly impossible liaison between coupe and station wagon palatable and fill a niche that was previously unknown. The star may make the immoral offer of lifestyle station wagon and noble coupe palatable to us with a wide range of sensible and / or pleasurable engines.
Outrageously elegant or beguilingly sensual? In the end, both?
What can he do?
The load master in the starry sky remains the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, but here at Mercedes it was not even the aim to present a new transport. Contrary to initial assumptions, the new CLS Shooting Brake with over 1.500 liters of loading volume is in fact able to take on a somewhat rougher loading task.
Mercedes-Benz is introducing the CLS Shooting Brake with 5 engines to start with. The almost boring basic engine and at the same time the cheapest entry-level version (61.761 €) is the CLS with the 204hp bi-turbo diesel four-cylinder. The 500Nm of the basic diesel work successfully against the suspected boredom.
In the CLS Shooting Brake, the 265Ps 350cdi can be understood as a top-of-the-range diesel. On the petrol model side, the Shooting Brake starts for € 66.818,50 with a 306hp V6 engine. The V8 Bi-Turbo in the CLS is convincing as a premium engine and throws 408PS into the ranking for the most beautiful station wagon.
More sport? More efficient? More cargo space. Mercedes-Benz offers the CLS63 AMG to fulfill all three adjectives. With 525hp, nothing remains in its place in the luggage compartment, optionally finished with American cherry wood, and the station wagon coupé, accompanied by the rumbling of the V8, is probably the fastest cargo compartment, but most certainly the most elegant express transporter that the automotive world has seen could experience to date.
What can not he do?
Cruise unrecognized through the streets of Florence. Even in one of the strongholds of art, a city whose name goes back to the Roman Emperor Julius Caesar and an extremely culture-loving audience, heads are turning for the new shooting star. Shooting Brake becomes the “Handyshoot”. Cameras are pulled out, the previously unknown adjective of the new Daimler design language becomes the main protagonist of the Italian cultural performances.
What is he?
Brave. First and foremost, it is brave to occupy a niche that was previously unknown. However, Mercedes-Benz had great success with this method a decade ago. After a first trip in the new Shooting Brake, I have no more doubts that this new model will not have the same success as the first generation of the Mercedes-Benz CLS.
They were there with me Jens from rad-ab.com, the Jan from auto-geil.de and also the Fabian from autophorie.de. More articles about the CLS Shooting Brake can be found here and here.