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.

Crisply lighted electro-luminescent gauges anchor the sweeping instrument panel. At the center of the dash is a wood-trimmed stack that includes the COMAND display, which manages the navigation system, stereo and cellular telephone systems. Steering wheel-mounted buttons control some COMAND functions. A small panel in the center of the speedometer displays some of the COMAND information.

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 offers even more: Distronic adaptive cruise control ($2,875) uses radar to automatically maintain a safe distance from other cars. Standard Xenon lights are used for high beams as well as for the usual low beams.

Keyless Go ($995) lets drivers open locked doors and start the car when carrying the card key, without getting the card out of their pocket. Parktronic ($1,015) warns of objects below the line of vision to ease parking maneuvers.