Large luxury sedans are no longer restricted to the slow lane in 2018. Technology and competition have made even the most midrange of offerings pack performance. On paper, the Mercedes CLS450 sedan should be slow – at least by modern standards. It’s a massive, coupe-like sedan that shrouds its passengers in luxury. Under the hood is a modest turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six producing 362 horsepower and 368 pound-feet of (Newton-meters) of torque. There’s also a supplemental electric motor-generation delivering an extra 21 hp and 184 lb-ft (250Nm) of torque. The electric boost is only available for a short period. But it’s a decent amount of extra oomph that helps propel the CLS450 to 62 miles per hour (100 kilometers per hour) in under five seconds. That’s quick. 

The video, another great one from AutoTopNL, takes us inside the CLS450 for its top-speed run – after we’ve recently seen a driver's point-of-view from inside the sedan. You can hear the engine noise penetrate the cabin as the sedan accelerates to its top speed of 159 mph (256 kph). The car hits 100 mph (160 kph) in 11 seconds before hitting 124 mph (200 kph) less than seven seconds later. Here is where the CLS begins to slow. The last 35 mph (56 kph) takes the sedan and its straight-six engine another 16 seconds to reach its top speed. Remember, this isn’t­­­ designed for the race track.

Not every luxury car has to set a new lap record at the Nürburgring. The CLS450 and its electrically-assisted turbo 3.0-liter is plenty of power for a Friday night trip to the yacht club. It’s also plenty of power to accelerate onto the highway or pass a slow Sunday morning driver.

This isn’t the only new CLS coming from Mercedes. Mercedes-AMG is readying a performance version that actually won’t be that different from the 450. It will use the same inline-six engine and hybrid assistance but will pump out 429 horsepower and plenty of low-end torque. Until then, the CLS450 will have to do.

Source: AutoTopNL via YouTube