Mercedes CLS250 CDI (2012) long-term test review
By Ben Oliver
Long Term Tests
We take our CLS to the Geneva motor show
So my Mercedes-Benz CLS250 CDI and I are in Lausanne today, just near Geneva. It’s been an eventful trip: with a weekend in Dijon and a week’s skiing in the Alps we’ve covered about a thousand miles already, and then there was the 2012 Geneva show itself.
Random stuff to report: be aware that the French police are using some unpredictable unmarked cars. I was about to overtake an innocuous-looking Dacia Logan at a frisky pace when I spotted its extra aerials, second rear-view mirror and two burly blokes crammed inside. The British-registered Range Rover behind me wasn’t as observant and came steaming past us both. Watching the little Dacia trying to pull the Range Rover over was like watching a Jack Russell worry a cart-horse, and the fine probably cost as much as the Dacia. Good to see the French state taking serious austerity measures: less good to see them plugging the deficit by fining Brits.
Had it been me, I’d have had no excuse as the CLS’s smart speed-limit recognition camera even spots French signs that show different limits for wet and dry conditions and flashes them up on the central display. For this and a dozen other reasons the CLS is a pretty perfect long-distance tool. But it’s chiefly the economy that impresses, and the very infrequent need to stop: I’m getting 40mpg on this trip, though 50mpg and nearly 600 miles from a tank is more typical in slower UK driving. Doubt I’ll ever repeat the 80mpg I got coasting downhill from Val d’Isere though…
By Ben Oliver
Long Term Tests
We take our CLS to the Geneva motor show
So my Mercedes-Benz CLS250 CDI and I are in Lausanne today, just near Geneva. It’s been an eventful trip: with a weekend in Dijon and a week’s skiing in the Alps we’ve covered about a thousand miles already, and then there was the 2012 Geneva show itself.
Random stuff to report: be aware that the French police are using some unpredictable unmarked cars. I was about to overtake an innocuous-looking Dacia Logan at a frisky pace when I spotted its extra aerials, second rear-view mirror and two burly blokes crammed inside. The British-registered Range Rover behind me wasn’t as observant and came steaming past us both. Watching the little Dacia trying to pull the Range Rover over was like watching a Jack Russell worry a cart-horse, and the fine probably cost as much as the Dacia. Good to see the French state taking serious austerity measures: less good to see them plugging the deficit by fining Brits.Had it been me, I’d have had no excuse as the CLS’s smart speed-limit recognition camera even spots French signs that show different limits for wet and dry conditions and flashes them up on the central display. For this and a dozen other reasons the CLS is a pretty perfect long-distance tool. But it’s chiefly the economy that impresses, and the very infrequent need to stop: I’m getting 40mpg on this trip, though 50mpg and nearly 600 miles from a tank is more typical in slower UK driving. Doubt I’ll ever repeat the 80mpg I got coasting downhill from Val d’Isere though…
By Ben Oliver
Categories:
Mercedes CLS250 CDI,
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