03 July 2012

Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake - crossover sedan+coupe+wagon

 First it was the cross breed between sedan and coupe, giving birth to the low slung four door with sloping roofline. Then the German start jacking-up the coupe (or compressing the roof of their SUV, whichever angle you look at) to create the coupe-SUV, now they have pumped up the back end of a wagon to their low-slung sedan. Enter the CLS Shooting Brake. Independence at its most beautiful, or so according to Mercedes speak.


The CLS Shooting Brake carries all the distinctive styling features of the normal CLS right up to the B-pillar when the roof line starts not to drop too drastically, but instead continues to run a bit longer before sloping downwards a steeply raked rear screen on the tailgate. Dimensions of this latest cross-breed is 4,956mm long, 1,881mm wide and 1,413mm tall. Inside the exquisitely crafted cabin, 5 passengers can be accommodated, together with their sum of 590L of luggage. The Shooting Brake body styles is 16mm longer and 3mm lower than its sibling. Carrying similar intricately-styled interplay of leather, wooden and metal texturing and amalgamation, the boot of the CLS Shooting Brake is suited to LV bags more than the dog as it is lined with the optional designo wooden floor. Folding down the rear seat, CLS can housed some 1,550L.
The newly introduced CLS Shooting Brake comes in four variants where all versions are mated to 7G-Tronic gearbox and equipped with Start/Stop function. The line-up is kick start with CLS 250 CDI (2,143cc turbocharged diesel) punching out 204hp@4,200rpm and 500Nm of torque between 1,600-1,800rpm while sipping only 53.3mpg. Performance figures for this version include 7.8s century sprint and 233km/h of top speed. The other diesel version is CLS 350 CDI (2,987cc, 265hp@3,800, 620Nm@1,600-2,400, 6.6s & 250km/h). The gasoline models are CLS 350 (3.5L V6 with 302hp) and CLS 500 (4.7L V8 turbo with 402hp).

The gallery of the Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake can be found after the jump.














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