The Mercedes-Benz CLS has been labeled both coupe and sedan. It's a four-door car with the ambience of a coupe, and a beautiful coupe at that. This is one of the most striking four-passenger cars anywhere.The sedan quality derives from one obvious characteristic. It has four large, conventionally hinged side doors that allow unfettered access to both the front and rear seats.
Its coupe-ness is harder to define, but it's this quality that makes the CLS so interesting and attractive. And it's not just its long, low-slung profile. It's the frameless side windows, the lack of a visible center roof pillar, and the descending slope of the rear pillar, which blends into muscled rear fenders. A pronounced shoulder line sweeps back from the front wheel arch, creating a wide, tall-waisted stance, as though the car has been stretched by the wind. It's hard to believe that a tilt/sliding glass sunroof will fit within the arching roofline, but it does.
The front of the car thrusts visually forward with prominent grille slats, a deeply wedged hood and fenders that dive steeply into the distinctive headlamp clusters. A deep bumper forms a coupe's characteristically muscular rear, braced by two chromed exhaust pipes.