The Mercedes-Benz CLS is based on the E-Class platform, but only about 35 percent of the car's components are shared with other models. There's a little SL thrown in and the rest is pulled from the company's extensive parts bins, but this is no cobbled-together "special" conspired one late night by a desperate marketing department. The CLS is not only a prime example of the company's technical acumen, but it has the looks to elevate it onto any list of the most beguiling Mercedes-Benzes ever crafted.

Let's dispel, from the start, any dispute over the car's nomenclature: Sedan, coupe, who cares what a car is called as long as it's appealing and fulfills its promise? In those respects, the CLS allows no equivocation: This swoop-roofed four-door coupe might use its handsome face to draw the eye and inflame our passions, but don't imagine the good looks render moot the qualities that make the CLS a thoroughly modern motorcar. That's not the way Mercedes builds its vehicles, no matter how pretty the wrapping. The company uses every new model to widen the application of its technology, refining systems on the run so as to ensure that the element of "newness" reflects a better automotive experience.