Mercedes Benz CLK 500 CLK 63 AMG
August 25, 2006 by Alborz Fallah
When I initially mentioned the Mercedes Benz CLK range I decided to call the new 5.5 Litre V8 powered CLK the CLK 550. I took a while guess and figured given that the engine is a 5.5 Litre, Mercedes will simply just change the name to CLK 550. So today I was proven wrong. Mercedes-Benz Australia released details of the new CLK class and they have instead decided to keep the 500 name with the new 5.5 Litre engine.
The Mercedes Benz CLK class has been the leader of its segment, accounting for over a third of all sales in the sports car greater than $80,000 category. The CLK-Class was released in Australia in 1997 and since then close to 10,000 vehicles have been delivered to customers, with the current model, released in 2002, making up 6,000 of those sales.
So the new CLK range coming out The successful CLK-Class model range to be released soon will include :
CLK-Class Coupe
CLK 200 KOMPRESSOR $85,100
CLK 280 $95,100
CLK 350 $120,100
CLK 500 $149,100
CLK 63 AMG $199,100
CLK-Class Cabriolet
CLK 200 KOMPRESSOR $99,400
CLK 280 $109,100
CLK 350 $134,100
CLK 500 $163,100
CLK 63 AMG $213,100
The newly developed 5.5-litre V8 engine powering the CLK 500 boasts a peak torque of 530 Nm (outgoing model: 460 Nm), giving the CLK the ability to get from 0 to 100 km/h in 5.2 seconds (outgoing model: 5.9 seconds), while the top speed is 220 km/h (electronically limited). Despite the 26 per cent boost in power, combined city/highway fuel consumption remains at a somewhat unbelievable 11.4 – 11.5 litres per 100 km. For those of you who are advocates of American muscle cars, you have to give the Germans some credit here for making a 5.5Litre V8 engine that uses less fuel than your average Holden Commodore.
Mercedes Benz Australia said that the new CLK 500 will come standard with
- digital/analogue TV tuner,
- electrically folding exterior mirrors
- Harmon Kardon LOGIC7 surround sound system
The new CLK 500 is $2,400 more than the price of the predecessor model.
The new CLK 63 AMG
The new CLK 63 AMG is another car, imagine a 6.3 Litre German made, AMG tuned engine. It almost doesn’t matter what car it goes into, because you know it will be fast! The AMG tuned engine produces 354 kW of power and a peak torque 630 Nm, representing an impressive increase of 84 kW of power and 120 Nm of torque over the superseded CLK 55 AMG. The CLK 63 AMG which comes with 7G-TRONIC seven speed transmission, is available in Coupe and Cabriolet variants. In addition to the standard features on the CLK 500, the CLK 63 AMG comes with a host of extras including AMG SPEEDSHIFT and steering wheel mounted gear shift paddles as standard.
I simply can’t wait for the new CLK series. However just like Porsche, Mercedes are not too fond of changing the looks of their cars often, and hence the new CLK, although slightly changed, doesn’t look overtly different from the old model.
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