I am virtually SPEECHLESS.

Today, while buying a new battery at my local Mercedes dealership, I saw a brand new CL600 parked in front of the showroom. My jaw dropped. "Should I test drive it?"

Then, I looked at the price tag (ready?): $180,000.00!

Yikes! Maybe I'll just keep saving for the Bentley...

Needless to say, I thought it a bit pretentious to test drive a car I was OBVIOUSLY not going to buy, anytime soon.
I asked my Sales Associate friends if anyone had driven it.

Yes, they said - two men had: Jerry Rice (NFL star) and Larry Ellison (Oracle Corporation CEO) - both more than a bit out of my league, to say the least.

On the other hand, a 1993 S600 was available for just $60K!

Buy it while you can (if you're fortunate enough to be prospering amidst our current "pre-recession")...

The CL600 is a beautiful car, but the V-12 should have more power. Thats quite a markup from $120,000 to $180,000. Its wrong, but they still sell. But these dealers are really taking advantage of people. There is a BMW Z8 at a local dealer going for 300K, and the MSRP for a Z8 is around 128K.

Is the CL55 F1 AMG being imported into the US? If so, how much are they going for? It seems to me that i'd be much more partial to that baby rather than the CL600. The idea of a v12 is nice, but the performance of the CL600 is limited when compared to even the basic CL55.

CL55 (MSRP: $99,500):

Horsepower: 349 hp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 391 ft-lbs. @ 3150 rpm
Weight: 4115 lbs

CL600 (MSRP: $117,200):

Horsepower: 362 hp @ 5500 rpm
Torque: 391 ft-lbs. @ 4100 rpm
Weight: 4312 lbs

Thanks, i'll take the AMG!

Porsche:

I have no data, regarding the CL55 F1 AMG; however, today, I test-drove a friend's S55 AMG.

That car, by far, is the most solid feeling, quiet (road-noise-wise) vehicle I have ever driven. I can only speculate that it is analogous to piloting a jet through the transatmosphere, into space. VERY nice!

Do you have any pictures of/links to the CL55 F1 AMG?

RSVP / Thank you,

MarkL posted the pictures of the AMG factory that included the F1 CL55. His link was:

http://www.neighbourhoodinter.net/mbclk/images/amgfactory/

There won't be any CL55 AMG F1's coming to the US. Only 55 were made, mostly for the European market.

Well, wherever it's going, i assume that AMG will continue on that kind of trend. The germans seem to all do the same sort of thing with the racer-type cars, so we're likely to see more of that. Maybe, eventually, we'll even see in the US an M55 Estate 4matic!

I have driven both a CL55 and a CL600, and they are very close inperformance. The CL55 is a bit faster and definetely more brutal to drive. The suspension is harder and it handles like a sports car. On the other hand, the CL600 is more loose and luxurious feeling. The acceleration in both is very close, but the 55 seems to pull a bit harder. I also had the opportunity to drive very briefly a CL55 that RENNTech put the full exhaust, brakes, ECU, Carbon Fiber Intake, and wheels to, and let me tell you that car is a beast. 399 hp and 406 lbs. of torque, not to mention that the man who owns it is having a supercharger made for it to pump it to over 500 hp..WHEW.....