Sometimes a car’s color and design combine to make a striking package, and that’s what got my attention about this 2015 Mercedes CLS550 unicorn. CarMax has 88,000 cars for sale today, around 6,000 are red, and of those, only 100 are Mercedes.
As an aside, I created an innovative tool I’ll call a “pie chart” to illustrate the color breakdown. I would patent it if I were smart enough to make the slices match the car colors. Two points to be made here: one is that three-quarters of the cars on CarMax lots are your basic black, white, gray, or silver. Not much interest in colorful cars in the US at the moment. The second is that there are technically eight “pink” CarMax cars. There really are four; the others are mislabeled. The four are “Barbie” pink Jeep Wranglers – one a diesel and one a PHEV! Enough already.
The CLS has been one of my favorite designs since its introduction in 2004. The second generation launched in 2010 and ran through 2018, and the one above is a facelifted model. It’s a lovely red over tan. Eyecatching.
I wouldn’t call the interior dated – more like “traditional” for its time. I once owned, for about 48 hours, a Mercedes E63 AMG with the same interior, and it fit me well. This car has automatic cruise control and automatic parking, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, heated, cooling, and massaging seats, Harman Kardon audio, and the Driver’s Assistance Package. That’s a fairly loaded car only wanting for 4Matic. Like all CLS models, it’s a four-seater only.
Under the hood is a 4.7-liter twin-turbo V8 rated at 402 horsepower. Coupled with a nine-speed transmission (9G-Tronic), the CLS550 hits 60 mph in 4.7-5.0 seconds, depending on who you believe. Quite respectable for a non-AMG car. The engine bay looks brand new.
The 2017 Mercedes CLS550 sold for maybe $74,000 new almost nine years ago. It’s depreciated adequately, and priced at $32k, there’s hopefully room in the budget for MaxCare for another 85,000 miles and four years of risk-free driving. At the moment, the car is reserved here in Memphis, Tennessee. The stock number and VIN are below if you want to track it that way. If you’d like some first-hand feedback from one of my readers and a CarMax enthusiast, check out this exchange I had with Seth Steiner, who owns one of these CarMax CLS550’s. Auf wiedersehen!
Stock No: 27384211 VIN: WDDLJ7DB0HA192000
I have one of these (2011). Terrific car. Beautiful design and excellent performance.
Cool. Did you buy it new? Mileage?
Hey Seth. Just saw your video on your CLS! Can I add a link to my writeup we did on the rare chance someone reads my piece? 😎