An Extreme Makeover of the Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG


The Carlsson Aigner CK65 RS seems to sense that this road into the hills above Monte Carlo is gradually opening up and it piles on the speed almost instinctively. Freed from the tight and winding roads around Casino Square, the red-and-black peril simply sucks up the black ribbon of road.

There's no nautical feeling of 2 tons getting up on a bow wave, just a shimmy from the wide rear tires as 700 turbocharged horsepower wrestles with the stability control computer of this highly tuned Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG.

Suddenly we forget that the interior has given us a migraine. Suddenly we overlook the eye-watering price tag of $465,000. Instead we remember the glimpse of the mouthed expletive from the window of a police cruiser that we passed in Casino Square and we finally appreciate the work that's gone into this monster.

We're aboard the finest grand touring car available at any price. Carlsson says to think of this as a Maybach for those who actually like to drive.

Maybach With Fangs

The Carlsson Aigner CK65 Eau Rouge is Carlsson's first collaboration with Etienne Aigner, the designer of luxury leather goods — the first of many, by the look of it. Carlsson is only making 10 of this model and each will be unique, and it's already started work on the S-Class version. This is a car built around visual impact, an ostentatious demonstration of pure spending power. And there's no doubt it will make an impression.

This car is known as Eau Rouge, and acres of quilted, wine-color leather and suede fill the cabin. This is Aigner's signature hue, and helped the marketing department earn permission to use the name of the famous bend at the Spa-Francorchamps racing circuit where the track crosses a narrow stream called the Eau Rouge. This leather is the same grade as Aigner's pricey mobile-phone holsters.

Whether you love it or loathe it, there's no denying the beauty of the interior's fit and finish. Both Carlsson (headed until recently by Rolf Hartge, brother of well-known BMW tuner Herbert Hartge) and Aigner are craftsmen.

As for the bodywork, we're not prepared to vouch for Rolf Hartge's claim that it pins this 5,159-pound car to the road at high speeds. Testing this assertion on a winding mountain road with dizzying views of 1,000-foot drop-offs doesn't seem wise, so we can only say the carbon-fiber rocker sill skirts, trunk lid spoiler and rear aero diffuser add some testosterone to the bulbous shape of the CL.

Beauty Goes Beyond Skin Deep

Without a shadow of a doubt, Carlsson has achieved something special beneath the skin. While the AMG-engineered twin-turbo 6.0-liter V8 has never been accused of being light on power, the Carlsson-tuned version leaves reason by the side of the road. Do you really need 700 hp? Probably not, but with a car like this, it's all about desire, not the price/value equation.

Carlsson fitted low-restriction air filters, larger intercoolers to increase the charge density while lowering boost pressure and a low-restriction exhaust before remapping the engine to liberate another 100 horses from the V8. But as Hartge explains, power comes secondary to torque in a car like this.

From just 2,000 rpm, some 737 pound-feet of torque kicks in, sending the car snaking down the road as Bosch's finest traction-control computer desperately bids to control the power. There are Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires wrapped around lightweight forged 21-inch wheels (which are 50 percent lighter than the CL65's stock items), with 265/30ZR21s tires in front and 295/25ZR21s in the rear. Yet even these massively wide tires slither helplessly on the wet road under the onslaught of power. Even so, the CK65 RS still flicks forward through its five-speed automatic transmission while the speedometer needle swings rapidly across the dial.

Give the Eau Rouge a dry road and this car will breach 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and sprint right on to 200 mph even as classical music wafts through the air-conditioned cabin. At the double-ton, the car hits an electronic limiter to preserve the tires. Hartge tells us that Carlsson might have calibrated the engine for even more torque if the transmission had been up to it.

Comfort Zone

The CK65 has more than enough power to hang its rear out with a hefty touch of throttle, but we're unwilling to turn off the stability control on this beast. Even if we had done so, the Carlsson retains a lower threshold of intervention as a safety net.

In these rainswept conditions, even a clumsy bootful of throttle in the middle of a corner simply makes the car waggle slowly. If you enter a corner too fast, the heavy front end drags the car ominously toward the barrier before the computers kick in, but if you drive smoothly the CK65 RS will leave AMG's CL trailing in its wake.

The secret lies in Carlsson's C-Tronic suspension system. It lowers the car by 30mm when the road is as smooth as marble countertop, and it works in concert with Mercedes' own active body control to deliver a rock-solid feel. The body-control sensors constantly monitor the suspension's movement, so when the ride gets choppy, the car lifts back to its standard settings without even being asked. Hartge puts great store in electronics, and Carlsson's software is so advanced that the engine will even shed the extra power if it steps outside its comfort zone.

But Who Will Know?

The subtleties of racetrack engineering might elude the kind of customers that will buy the 2008 Carlsson CK65 RS Eau Rouge. When all is said and done, this is a super-fast limousine with a sporting look. But Rolf Hartge believes those who purchase one of these limited-edition cars will relish the simple knowledge that almost nothing can stay with this ostentatious display of wealth at the traffic lights.

This is as close as Carlsson's new car will ever come to Eau Rouge in the real world, but given the chance, this Maybach for real drivers is a match for any luxury GT on the planet.


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I Love This Car Thank You Sooo Much Merc 1 I Really Appreciate It Man Im Gonna Save These Oics Wow!! Look At The Interrior