Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: £45,950 to £74,555
Obscenely fast, grippy, fantastic to look at, plenty of safety features.
Pricey, rear space is compromised, huge running costs, poor residuals.
The standard CLS is no slouch, but this thing just raises the bar. It's a perfectly manageable high-class hot rod.
The CLS is based on the E-Class platform, which was crash-tested by Euro NCAP in 2002. It scored an impressive five out of five stars for occupant protection, but only one of four for pedestrian safety.
The CLS provides all of the latest safety technology, starting with large deformation zones at the front end. The idea is that even in a big crash, the passenger cell remains intact, protecting the occupants. Inside, the driver and front passenger get dual-stage airbags that inflate according to the severity of the crash. There are also side and window airbags, as well as seatbelt force limiters.
Active safety includes ESP stability control, which monitors wheel rotation and intervenes if it detects the symptoms of a skid. There is also a very clever emergency braking system that detects a sudden switch from throttle to brake pedal and increases braking pressure automatically to help with a panic stop.
If the wipers are activated for long enough to tell the car's computer that it's raining out there, an undetectable brake pulse clears water from the discs, keeping them dry and ensuring that maximum braking is available, even in pouring rain.
The Mercedes Hill Start system, which stops you rolling backwards, is now standard, as is Pre-Safe, which braces the car for a crash by tensioning the seatbelts and closing the windows.
