So I have been on a spirited drive...

Alok

The TomTom did it.
Joined
Apr 1, 2005
Messages
4,558
Location
Germany
Car(s)
Seat Leon Cupra 5F
My best friend's boyfriend works for mercedes benz, as a mechanical engineer and developer for transmission systems for the new models. He came to visit us yesterday in his work prototype, the new CL600 v12. He works on the 113th new CL, and the car was loaded with every single option available, as it was a benchmarking model. He also told me the car is not available for sale as it has a lot of parts apparently not intended for the market yet. So he invites me for a ride, and demonstrates the acceleration, 0-240 foot down, I believe while accelerating he said sth like the car's got 512bhp, and he told me how the esp kicks back in at 120(i think) even if it is turned off. He turned the esp completely off using a code which i cant reveal and did some major rubber burning on the B roads nearby. Sadly, winter tyres in the car made it unsafe to drive faster than 240, but it was mighty fun. It was kinad dark and my cellphone doesnt take good pics in the dark, so I took only one, but he told me that it wont be the first time he is gonna bring the car to campus.

He also told me, such prototype models cost on 5 euros or so(!) to rent if u are qualified enough and want to do some experiments on it. I wasnt listening carefully and he was explaining that bit in german pretty fast so I didnt get it completely and i may be incorrect that part.

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Interesting... he 'only' put 240 :lol: Germans...
Seriously: what a nice job he has. I thought something similar for my career, as I'm doing mechanical engineering. Do you know if he's happy with the job, if it pays well, etc? It really interests me.
 
Interesting... he 'only' put 240 :lol: Germans...
Seriously: what a nice job he has. I thought something similar for my career, as I'm doing mechanical engineering. Do you know if he's happy with the job, if it pays well, etc? It really interests me.

lol, we did 240, and I asked him to slow down, for two reasons, one, because the tyres were not deemed safe over 240, and two because the road we were going on had a 70 limit.

He loves his job and I am told he is paid very well. I am tryin to see if I can land an internship at porsche or merc. He said if I wanted he would do me some recommendations, and also, apparently programmers are so much more able to get good cars out.
 
dont know, but he told me that his programmer colleague is working on a new S, SL software. He was also explaining to my girlfriend about how his senior team is working on the seven speed auto box for the 6 liter v12, apparently this one has so much torque that the current 5 speed cannot handle it, so the cl600 is available only as a 5 speed auto.
 
Lucky him and lucky you for getting a ride!!


What was your impression of the overall car, Alok? Its one bloody torque monster thats for sure. In fact - its perfect for the autobahn given the comfort.
 
Holy horizontal scrolling, Batman! We don't need to see the headlamp at a 200X zoom! :p
 
Lucky him and lucky you for getting a ride!!


What was your impression of the overall car, Alok? Its one bloody torque monster thats for sure. In fact - its perfect for the autobahn given the comfort.

I loved the car, but looks wise, I am not so sure. I mean it still is much better than the old one, but standing next to it, it seemed much bigger than what I saw in the pictures. When my friend (who also happens to be the same girl who visited the Mercedes Benz museum with me) called to say her boyfriend is coming, I was expecting a CLS because that was the last car he worked on, I was a bit confused when I was walkin to the car park and saw the rear end.

I agree it is a torque monster, but I wish it came with a manual box, but I forgot to ask him if it was in the works. My girlfriend who came with us for a second ride later at night got a bit sick while in the back seat :)

I do have some negative opinions about the car though. I mean it has a 6 litre v12, but there is so much sound proofing, that you cannot, and I am not exaggerating but you just cant hear the engine, and that is a shame. And also, the lever to retract the front seats to provide access to the rear seats, works by pulling it direction front of the car and pulling the whole seat, but reverting the seats back means you still have to pull the level in the same direction and push the seat back. This gets really tricky if you have something in one hand, as I noticed.

Holy horizontal scrolling, Batman! We don't need to see the headlamp at a 200X zoom! :p

I thought the forum resizes the view automatically...sorry
 
Sounds like a great ride! And by the sounds of it Pagani could benefit from these new motors
 
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