29 Jun 06
As you would expect from a high-end car such as the CL, Mercedes has included a long list of features in the car's specification.
There are airbags aplenty, including adaptive front airbags, side-mounted airbags and curtain-style windowbags. Also on the passenger safety side are belt force limiters and pre-tensioners, plus the elements of the Pre-Safe system described above.
There are also an Intelligent Lighting System, which has five lighting functions that helps the CL's bi-xenon headlights adapt to different road and weather conditions. Modes include Country Road, which lights up the driver's side of the road brighter than standard low-beam headlights; and Motorway Mode, which is activated at 55mph and delivers a uniform cone of light that illuminates the entire width of the road - Mercedes claims that the driver is able to see 50m further thanks to this system.
The CL also comes fitted with a number of technologies that make the driver's life easier. A parking guidance system, for example, uses radar to measure the length of a parking space when driving past and show whether there's enough space on the cockpit display: once reverse is engaged, the display then uses guide lines to show the line the driver has to take into the parking space. Very useful for those with Paris Hilton-like parking skills.
Finally, the CL is chock-full of in-car infotainment features, controlled by the Comand control system from the S-Class. Passing time in the CL will be a very pleasurable experience, thanks to a TV tuner that receives both analogue and digital terrestrial signals; a multi-channel sound system that provides surround sound on every seat; a hard disc-based sat nav; and a Linguatronic voice control system that will operate the radio, sat nav and telephone.
