Quick Hit – A Couple Of Coupes Below $35,000

Still surprised to see Mercedes CL models at CarMax, and this month there were two. One just sold, leaving this 2014 Mercedes CL550 the sole surviving unicorn for the moment. Reminds me of last spring when I wrote about three CL550’s available at the same time. This isn’t a spectacular car like the CL65 AMG V-12, but it is a handsome coupe nonetheless, not a lot were sold, and 2014 was the last year for the CL-class – two door S-classes, really, before being replaced by S-class coupes. This is a nine year old Mercedes and is still eligible for another five years and 85,000 miles of MaxCare!

This was also the last year for this interior. The 2015 S-class was all new. Think the “discounted” price reflects that this car was three generations ago. It’s the same interior I had in my 2010 S600. I keep mentioning that car because I keep missing it – and will until I replace it. This CL550 is fairly well equipped with heated and cooled seats, seat massagers, heated steering wheel, night vision, Harman Kardon audio, and even AWD. The front seat leg room is 42.2″ – almost out of Justin Tuckers’ field goal range.

What I originally wrote: Remember the 2017 S600 I wrote about last week and its luxurious rear seating? Not so much in the CL550 coupe. No room for humans and hard to toss guitars or groceries back there. It does have a decent trunk.

Updated by blog reader Aaron – he rented a CL550 and was able to put four six-footers in the car comfortably. Believe he’s right this shot was taken with the driver’s seat all the way back. I still hate trying to get things in the back seat of two door cars (same with my M3) but you can get peeps in here if need be. Thanks, Aaron!

The 2014 CL550 has a good enough V-8 motor, all of 4.7 liters and turbocharged and rated at 429 horsepower and 516 ft-lbs of torque. That should be plenty. Even gets 24 mpg on the highway and will cruise for well over 500 miles between road trip fill ups. This two-owner, accident free, low mileage, 2014 Mercedes CL550 is between Baltimore and Washington at the moment, here in Laurel, Maryland. (I notice the link includes “beta” – and the photo below is NOT what I’m used to and I hate it. I’ll be writing a harshly worded comment to CarMax when I’m done!) The 2014 CL550 sold for maybe $117,000 new and is nicely depreciated at $35,000.

Stock 23450827  ·  VIN WDDEJ9EB6EA031990

Promised you a pair of cars, and I’ll coupe my promise with this pretty, and quite familiar and gorgeous, 2013 Jaguar XK “Touring” model. If you’ve been with me over the years you know I just love hardtop XK’s. But you’re thinking, “wait! This is a “Touring” edition, it must be pretty special, right?”.

Nope. Jaguar fans probably knew. I had to look it up. The Touring model was actually a reduced-price entry level Jaguar XK that sold for $5,500 less than the standard XK. This one sold for maybe $80,000. What was left out to bring down the price? According to Car and Driver, “the low-grade Touring coupe forgoes the XK’s suede headliner for a regular woven cloth piece; 20-inch wheels get downsized to 19-inchers; and the upmarket Bowers & Wilkins audio system is shelved in favor of a “Jaguar premium” system“. That’s it! What’s wrong with an Alpine radio, anyway?

The Jaguar XK has a nice interior and as with the CL550, it’s a 2+2 with no back seat room. It’s a low mileage car and very clean inside. Not as well equipped as the CL550, the Jag only has seat heaters and Bluetooth and a rear view camera.

The last Jaguar I covered was a 510 horsepower XKR, and this one is more tame – 385 horsepower from a 5.0 liter V-8. That’s what six-cylinder Jaguar makes now. But that’s probably enough to move this 3,700 pound coupe. I was struck by the pretty dark blue over tan – haven’t seen that before. Car and Driver also noted the Touring has an aero kit not on other XK’s, although I can’t see it. Another crappy “beta” photo below. This 2013 Jaguar XK Touring is here in Denver. Unlike the CL550, though, it’s a four owner car and has been in one fender bender. I think it should be selling for $5,000 less. I’ll watch and see if it gets reduced.

Stock 22576258  ·  VIN SAJWA4DB0DLB50533

Quick Hit – Three’s Company: A Third Mercedes CL550 Now Available!

Last week I found this beautiful white-over-tan 2014 Mercedes CL550 with only 23,000 miles on it selling for $42,998. Here’s the link to that car. Seems that only a few hundred CL550’s were imported annually, making this a unicorn. And out of nowhere CarMax now has two more CL550’s, a bit older, more mileage, but far cheaper. The first one below is to whet your appetite – the second is a far better car and deal.

The first is a 2011 model with 58,000 miles. All the same features as the more expensive one, less adaptive cruise control. The 2011 model ran with a 4.6 liter twin turbo V-8 rated at 382 hp, a good 47 hp less than the 2014 model. Tradeoffs for $8,000?

I’m always fascinated when CarMax sells high end European cars that are almost a dozen years old and offers MaxCare warranties until the car is almost 17 years old. MaxCare is available for 60 months and 125,000 miles on this one. Find it here in Centennial, Nevada.

Stock # 22442117  VIN # WDDEJ9EB3BA026810

Continue reading “Quick Hit – Three’s Company: A Third Mercedes CL550 Now Available!”

Quick Hit – 1 of 237 2014 Mercedes CL550 $42,998

This 2014 Mercedes CL550 has been on and off the web for months, I believe. I’ve started to write about it and paused, either because I was including it in a lengthy blog about a bunch of cars and changed my mind, or it went into “Currently Unavailable” status. It’s been back for a few days so here we go. The CL class started way back in 1992, and this 2014 is the final year of the third generation spanning 2006 to 2014. The successor to the CL is the S-class coupe. As far as I can tell only 237 2014 CL550’s were sold. A unicorn?

From the B-pillar forward (if it had a B-pillar!) it would be the same cockpit as an S-class sedan and looks and functions the same as my S600. I’d feel real comfortable here. Not lost on me it’s the same color combo as the CT6 I just gave up. Grrrr. I’ll get over it.

The CL550 is AWD (4Matic), and has auto cruise control, seat massagers, heated and cooled seats, and a Harman Kardon sound system. The coupe is such a pretty car from the angle above. From the front I always thought it a bit porpoise-like.

The CL550 is powered by a 4.7 liter twin turbo V-8 rated at 429 hp mated to a seven speed automatic, good for sub-five second 0-60 mph runs. The car sold new eight years ago for probably $120,000 and is now depreciated to about a third of its sales price. I like that. MaxCare is good to 125,000 miles and the max of 60 months, and with the ultra low mileage on this car – only 23,000 – you could cruise 20,000 miles a year worry free. Not a bad deal for $42,998. Rare car and out the door for under $50,000. Find it here in Kearny Mesa, California.

Quick Hit – Nice $26k CL550

Not a lotta Mercedes CL’s out there so this relatively cheap one caught my attention. The coupe version of the S-class is well appointed with AWD, heated steering wheel, night vision – all the necessary stuff for a luxury cruiser.It’s a five owner east coast car. It only has the 382hp V-8, though, but it’s $10,000 cheaper than this 2013 in Georgia – a nicer, more powerful car that started at $40k months ago and has inexplicably dropped to $36,998 and still not sold. Find the 2010 CL550 here in Frederick, Maryland.

1 of 723…2012 Mercedes CL550 – By Chuck Banks and Mustafa Gardezi

CL550 3-4Last week I wrote about a couple of BMW 650i’s and the Car and Driver review suggesting big coupes were not long for this planet.  Well, here’s another big coupe unicorn, a 2012 Mercedes CL550 (C216) – the third and last generation of the CL class, as Mercedes transitioned to the S-coupe in 2014.  But the CL has always been the coupe version of the S-class Mercedes, a big, luxurious, powerful GT.  Mercedes never sold more than 4,000 of these in the US, and in 2012 only 723 units.  So this CarMax offering is a bit rare.  Last year I covered a few of the older ones, far less expensive 2007 models with fewer horsepower, and it’s been a long time since CarMax offered one.  Of course, I would not recommend one without the bumper-to-bumper MaxCare warranty – repairs ain’t cheap.

The CL550 knocks out a 0-60mph run in 4.6 seconds, courtesy of a 429hp twin-turbo V-8.  The car is all wheel drive, has my beloved night vision (Car and Driver review of Mercedes night vision here), and pretty much every luxury option available in 2012.  The car listed for about $130,000 new and six years later is about $95,000 less.  Here’s the review from Autoweek back in the day.  I’ve driven CL550’s and have only one beef.  The car is for secure drivers only, since it’s one of the most anonymous high performance luxury cars out there.  If you likes sleepers, you’ll love the CL550.  They don’t even look large on the road.  That said, the CL550 should be my perfect car.  When I had my S55 I was always aware of the size of the gigantic car.  I loved it, but since I largely drove solo I didn’t need all that heft.  The CL550 is an S-class from the driver seat forward – how nice it would be to have all that luxury and performance up front without the tail?  Find this one owner car here in Colorado.  If the link is dead it’s sold, on hold or being transferred.

2012 CL550 $34,998 47k Colorado