I'm in love with sports cars and always have been but I really have no use for them in my lifestyle. I don't go to the track and the around town driving I do is mostly on straight, flat roads in Miami traffic so there's really little use of my 911's potential. I also have limited garage space so I'm planning on selling both the 911 and the Bentley GTC and buy one, all-purpose car. The car that fits the bill is the Mercedes CLS63 AMG S. For straight-line performance - which is about all I have the opportunity to do - there are few cars as fast. It has a more useful rear seat than either the Bentley or the 911 and a good-size trunk. The interior is very nice and the seats are extremely comfortable, even more so than the Bentley. It's not a sports car but as I said, I have no use for a sports car other than to go to car shows and events, and I have two collector cars for that, a '63 Austin-Healey and a '67 Sting Ray. It's also not as ostentatious as the Bentley so it is more of a daily driver than the Bentley.

And, it is a bargain: For around $120K you get 585HP delivered to the ground via a 7-speed speedshift transmission with launch control and 100-millisecond gear changes and AWD so the power moves the car instead of burning the rubber. The best test results so far are 0-60 in 3.2 seconds and 1/4-mile in 11.6 seconds, truly supercar territory. Best of all, it isn't a boy-racer car like the GTR, which would be unseemly for someone my age (not to mention they're butt-ugly) but is a luxury GT. And, it can actually handle should the opportunity present itself.

Finally, I've always liked the looks of the CLS ever since the day it debuted 10 years ago.

So, it's too soon to say farewell, but come this fall I may no longer own a Porsche. I'll always be a Porsche fan and a fan of this forum, regardless.

 

A Panamera GTS wouldn't work for you?

 

Not really. I drove one on the track and it was amazing but its looks don't appeal to me and it costs more and delivers less.

 

Wow. Owned for less than a year. I remember that you bought yours the same time I did. Good luck SanibelSpeed....

 

Nice looking car, I hope you enjoy it!

 

I thought you just posted that you can't use your 911's performance and you don't go to the track. Now you want 585 HP and launch control? I'm missing something. Sounds like you would be fine w/ a base Cayenne.

 

Drive what you like and what makes you happy. Few of us can use all of the power of a Ford Fusion, let alone a high performance car like the one you are going to sell, and the one you are going to buy! I have never been a Merc guy, but that is just my taste. Best of luck what ever you decide to do!

And if you find you made a mistake - who knows what Porsche will be offering in 2016!

 

Around town I can accelerate crisply as and when possible so a biturbo V8 with lots of low-end torque is more suited to that kind of driving than the normally aspirated 911. It's a muscle car and everyone knows they're fun to drive in a straight line. The 911 is a bit balky off the line and has that dreaded hesitation. The 911 also is most fun above 4500 RPMs whereas most of the time my car is upshifting by 4500, so low-end grunt should be a lot of fun in the CLS.

 

Thanks! Indeed, it is good-looking.

 

Good luck in which ever you decide, if you were able to drive a pana at the track, you should have taken the 911 and do some hot laps.

 

I did two days of hot laps in Carrera S's. I only drove the Panamera GTS for a couple of laps and was mightily impressed by it. The Carrera S is amazing on the track. Just not a daily driver for a fat, old guy like me.

 

, the merc is definitely more designed for us older more large in statue individuals, the cls has always been my favorite MB.

 

A very cool feature are the automatic side bolsters: You can open them up wide for comfort for those of us who are circumferentially challenged but leave it on automatic setting so that when you do any hard cornering, they'll close in and hold you in place. Pretty nifty.

 

Keep us posted! That MB is one fine looking and performing machine. A friend just picked up a '14 CLS55 and it is pretty damn nice! The front seats are crazy with the auto bolsters! Surprised me the first time he let me drive it and I went around a corner! LOL


Do what you want and what makes you happy...life is too short!

 

Shouldn't it be a Panamera Turbo S that is more of a fair comparison ? How about a Cayenne Turbo S or an Audi RS6 Avant. The build quality of a Mercedes is not the same as the cars in the VW group. This effect will be ever more apparent for you since both cars you are considering to dispose of are from VW.