carimmohelp: Revealed: Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake

Mercedes-Benz CLS wagon

New Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake (wagon.

Mercedes-Benz used this year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed as the backdrop for the public premier of the production version of its stylish new CLS Shooting Brake (wagon in Sussex, England this weekend.

Set to go on sale in Australia in November, the new sporting wagon was granted a production go-ahead by Mercedes-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche following positive reaction to the earlier E-Class-based ConceptFascination concept car unveiled at the 2008 Paris motor show and subsequent CLS Shooting Brake show car wheeled out at the 2010 Beijing motor show.

To be produced with the same range of petrol and diesel engines as the second-generation CLS sedan and boasting more luggage space than key rivals such as the Audi A6 Avant and BMW 5-Series Touring, the CLS Shooting Brake is the first in at least two new style led wagons planned to be added to the Mercedes-Benz line-up by the middle of the decade.

A smaller and more affordable CLA Shooting Brake that is said to sport the same dramatic exterior styling cues as the CLS Shooting Brake is currently undergoing development at the company's headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

Based on the same front-wheel drive underpinnings as the new A-Class, it is expected to go on sale in Europe by the end of 2014 at a price that will see it compete with the Audi A4 Avant and BMW 3-series Touring, according to highly placed Mercedes-Benz insiders.

The modifications required to advance the CLS Shooting Brake show car to production readiness appear to have been slight, with only detailed features having undergone any obvious alteration. The new car sits on the same mechanical base and shares the same heavily sculptured front end styling as the CLS sedan – which itself shares underpinnings with the E-Class – through to its substantial B-pillar (between the front and rear doors, including its frameless doors.

From there on back it receives a unique roof that slopes back at a more acute angle than any existing Mercedes-Benz wagon model. The rear doors retain the same outer skin but receive reshaped glass. There is also an additional rear side window that serves to extend the glasshouse all the way back to the rear lights – a measure that extends the car visually. An angled rear window with rounded corners forms part of a shallow tailgate at the rear.

Dimensionally, there are only minor differences between the CLS sedan and CLS wagon bodystyles; length has been extended by 16mm at 4956mm, width remains the same at 1881mm and height drops by 2mm at 1413mm. Underneath, both share the same 2875mm wheelbase as well as 1595mm front and 1625mm rear track widths.

To keep weight in check, the bonnet, front side fenders, doors and tailgate are all made from aluminium.

Despite its distinctly sporting profile, the CLS Shooting Brake wagon manages to pack an impressive 590 litres beneath its luggage cover at the rear. This is nowhere near the amount of space provided by the E-Class wagon, which possess a nominal 695 litres. However, it is an impressive 25-litres more than Audi claims for the A6 Avant and 30 litres more than the BMW 5-Series Touring offers.

With the rear seats folded down, the new Mercedes-Benz's overall luggage capacity increases to a class competitive 1550 litres.

Inside, there is a high quality cabin largely shared with the CLS sedan. Along with five individual trim designs, three choices of leather upholstery and three different types of wood, the new car can also be ordered with exclusive porcelain appointments.

Among the changes made to accommodate the new wagon body style reworked layout is a new three-person rear seat (the CLS sedan accommodates only two with back rests that can be folded down from the rear.

An automatically opening tailgate provides access to the luggage compartment, whose otherwise carpeted floor that can be trimmed in a combination of cherry tree wood and brushed aluminium through Mercedes-Benz's Designo options program in a move that recalls the maritime inspired look of the original Fascination concept.

The CLS Shooting Brake will be sold with the same range of engines as the CLS sedan. In Europe it is the diesels that are expected to garner the majority of sales. They include a 150kW turbocharged 2.1-litre four-cylinder in the price leading CLS250 CDI Shooting Brake and 195kW turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 in the more comprehensively equipped CLS350 CDI Shooting Brake – both of which are being considered for inclusion in the Australian line-up.

They are joined by three petrol units: a 225kW naturally aspirated 3.5-litre V6 in the CLS350 Shooting Brake, 300kW twin-turbocharged 4. 6-litre V8 in the CLS500 Shooting Brake and a 386kW twin-turbocharged 5.5-litre V8 in a yet-to-be-officially-confirmed CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake performance flagship planned to make its world debut at the 2012 Paris motor show that kicks off in late September.

Mercedes-Benz's new sporting wagon, known internally as the X219, will come as standard with a seven-speed automatic gearbox with three mode operation: eco, sport and manual.

Also included are contemporary fuel saving functions such as automatic stop/start, brake energy recuperation (smart alternator and on-demand operation of the engine ancillaries.

The range topping AMG model uses a seven speed MCT (multi-clutch transmission – essentially a reworked version of the standard model's gearbox fitted with an automatically operating clutch in place of the traditional torque converter, for more rapid shifts.

Although Mercedes-Benz's 4Matic four-wheel drive system is available as an option on the CLS350 CDI Shooting Brake and CLS500 Shooting Brake in selected left-hand drive markets, it won't be offered in Australia owing to what one official described to Drive as "the prohibitively high cost of engineering the drive shaft to suit right-hand drive".

It is also rumoured that Mercdes-Benz will make the CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake available with 4Matic four-wheel drive as part of plans to extend the appeal of its performance car offerings in certain left-hand drive European markets, although this is yet to be confirmed.

The rear-wheel drive CLS250 CDI Shooting Brake and CLS350 CDI Shooting Brake are said to hit 100km/h from standstill in a respective 7.8 seconds and 6.6 seconds, reach top speeds of 235km/h and a limited 250km/h while returning fuel consumption figures of 5.3L/100km and 6. 0L/100km along with CO2 ratings of 139g/km and 159g/km on the European test cycle.

The CLS350 and CLS500 run 0-100km/h in 6.7 seconds and 5.3 seconds, hit top speeds limited in both cases to 250km/h and are rated at 9.2L/100km and 9.8L/100km as well as 169g/km and 214g/km respectively.

Performance and consumption figures for the headlining CLS63 AMG Shooting Brake, which will offer a power upgrade from a standard 386kW to 410kW as part of an optional Performance Package, are yet to be revealed. But with only a moderate weight gain over the 1795kg CLS63 AMG saloon, it should possess a 0-100km/h time around 4.5 seconds along with an electronically limited 250km/h top speed, combined consumption of 9.9L/100km and 231g/km CO2 rating.

The CLS Shooting Brake will be produced alongside the CLS sedan at Mercedes-Benz's main Sindelfingen-based manufacturing facilities near Stuttgart, Germany.

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