Doors on coupes are usually long, massive and unwieldy. To address this, Mercedes uses lightweight magnesium for the door frames, and mounts the doors on articulating hinges that slide them forward as they open. So ingress and egress is much easier than in comparable cars.Front seats slide up automatically when the seat back is folded forward, providing easier access to the back seat; that adds to the practicality of this coupe. Despite the rakish styling, the CL maintains adequate rear headroom, in part because of the low rear seat bottoms.
CL packs all of the features Mercedes buyers expect, such as multiple air bags, stability control, on-board navigation, and Tele-Aid emergency response. But it adds a list of new items. Among them:
Distronic adaptive cruise control uses radar to automatically maintain a safe distance from other cars.
Xenon lights are used for high beams as well as for the usual low beams.
Keyless Go lets drivers open locked doors and start the car when carrying the card key, without getting the card out of their pocket.
Crisply lighted electro-luminescent gauges anchor the sweeping instrument panel.