Loathe as we all may be to call any car with four doors a coupe, today’s Nice Price or No Dice CLS might just get a pass because it’s so dang pretty. With its AMG V8, it should be pretty quick too, but we’ll have to decide if it’s priced to sell just as quickly.
The biggest gripe leveled at last Friday’s 2009 Dodge Challenger SRT-8 project wasn’t that its Viper V10 engine install was incomplete, but that it had been undertaken at all. Many of you felt throwing a supercharger on the factory Hemi V8 would have proven the better choice. That apparent misstep, along with a slew of other issues, challenged the Challenger’s $23,900 asking price, ultimately resulting in it falling in a 65 percent No Dice loss.
One thing that can be said about last Friday’s Dodge is that it was a true coupe. That was made clear by its two doors and a fairly racy roofline. If you step outside and look around, you might notice that the two-door coupe style is not all that popular anymore. The blame for that should be placed squarely at the tires of the SUVs and Crossovers that have come to dominate car sales not just here in the U.S. but globally. People just like the higher seating positions and the greater practicality the four-door hatchback body style offers over a scrunchy two-door. Somewhere in between these two extremes lies cars like today’s 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG, which owing to the particulars of its body design, can best be described as a four-door coupe.
Now, the C in the CLS’s name shouldn’t be allowed to fool you. Don’t you let it! The car is not based on the C-class platform, but on that of the larger E-class. This is a good thing as the larger form factor still allows for reasonable room inside under those swoopy body lines.
This one happens to be the ultimate edition of the first-generation CLS, the 63 AMG. That nomenclature informs that this car has overall been massaged by Mercedes’ in-house tuner, AMG, and that it rocks that tuner’s take on the V8 mill. Oddly enough, the M156 packaged under the CLS’s svelte bonnet doesn’t displace 6.3 liters as the car’s name implies. The 507 horsepower DOHC V8 is actually only 6208 ccs, but that was bumped up for the 63 badge to commemorate the displacement of Mercedes’ venerated M100 V8 of the early ’60s.
It’s not just a hot V8 that impresses here. This CLS has a lot to offer, so much so that the seller claims “It has everything you would need.” The ad includes a long list of those attributes and options, some so important I guess that they warranted multiple instances on that list. For instance, you get “Premium Wheels 19”+” as well as “Premium Wheels,” AND “Airmatic AMG wheels.” The side-impact airbags warranted two listings. So too, apparently, do the heated seats.
The ad lists some helpful information too. From that, we find that the car has a modest 91,440 miles on the clock and that it has a clean title. The tires have used just 10K of tread and more recently the car has received new brakes (assuming only pads) and a radiator. Per the ad, the Benz has been properly maintained its entire life.
The car looks pretty good for its age too. The Flint Gray Metallic paint seems to be serviceable with no obvious flaws. The interior appears to be holding up as well, with no appreciable wear on the leather or any failings in the burlwood trim. There are two air fresheners on the vents so I bet it doesn’t smell like ass either.
One thing to note is that all of the pics in the ad are so dark and muddy that they appear to have been taken via a zoom lens from one of the Mars rovers. That doesn’t really show the car in its best light and actually could be hiding some real boogers.
Whenever you set a price, it’s good to have an appealing and verifiable reference to support your position. In the case of this CLS’s $20,500 asking, the seller has included a screenshot of an Edmunds page claiming that in clean shape this model should reasonably be worth three-grand more. That’s a smart thing for the seller to include, but to be honest, we don’t hold much weight over what Edmunds thinks something should be worth. That’s our job, right?
Okay, since it is our job to judge values, let’s get to work. What’s your take on this ultimate C219 CLS and that $20,500 asking? Does that seem like a fair deal to get a load of horsepower? Or, does that price have this Benz breaking the bank?
You decide!
Phoenix, Arizona, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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