Mercedes CLK Cabriolet (2003-) Review

Comfort and Equipment

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Mercedes has managed to make a sports car that is stiffly-sprung and responsive to drive, yet rides smoothly and soaks up bumps and inconsistent surfaces, and one that can be fitted with low-profile tyres and huge alloys yet not jolt or thump. No mean feat, that. The CLK is on the firm side, even with the standard suspension, but is never less than composed or cosseting (apart from the much lower-slung and less compromising AMG model, but then, you don't buy one of those for comfort). The seats and steering wheel are amazingly adjustable, and there is the usual high level of creature comforts, gadgets and helpful touches, including the automatic seatbelt feeders, which mean that you need never reach backwards for your seatbelt again. And, importantly for a convertible, wind noise is well-suppressed with the roof down or up, the hood is insulating and keeps the noise levels low, and with the wind deflector in place, you barely need get your hair ruffled. Cars of this type are never really 'roomy' as such, but in relative terms, the CLK is pretty spacious. Two adults in the back bucket seats will have to be friendly and/or short-legged. The driver and front seat passenger are well-served, though, with plenty of headroom, sufficient elbowroom to the side and enough space to stretch their legs out. The boot isn't enormous, but with the roof up (when folded down, it intrudes into the luggage compartment) you could fit two bags of golf clubs in there, and even with the roof down, there's space enough for weekend bags. Rather stingily, a CD player is not fitted as standard on entry-level models. A CD autochanger is optional as a separate item, but the COMAND APS system, fitted with Elegance and Avantgarde trims, combines a CD player, radio, satellite navigation and telephone all in one, and it's an impressive set-up with good sound quality. The sat-nav is easy to use, and the CD drive can be used for loading navigation data as well as audio CDs. The options list also includes a TV monitor, a simpler Audio 30 APS CD unit/navigation/radio set-up or separate phone kit, and German customers are offered the Teleaid SOS emergency call system, which automatically alerts the emergency services in the event of an accident, the Telediagnosis service in the event of a breakdown, which connects the car's on-board computer with that of technicians back at base, and the MB-Info service, for general enquiries to a switchboard. AMG models have a top-end Bose sound system, optional on the other versions.