Mercedes-Benz CLS 55 AMG

With apologies to Jessica Rabbit, Mercedes's new CLS isn't a coupe, it's just drawn that way. Sure, it has four doors, but the roofline of this sedan actually plunges lower than those of Mercedes's real coupes, the CL and CLK. And the nose and tail of the CLS taper downward dramatically, like a grand touring car. It's as if Mercedes took the square-shouldered, Teutonic E-Class sedan and sexed it up with some seductive Italian curves. 

If the exterior shape of the new CLS is more than a bit extroverted, the interior is markedly discreet. Peek through the slitlike side glass, and you'll see a well-coiffed four-place sitting room that's more Modena than Stuttgart.

The same supercharged and intercooled 5.4-liter V-8 that powers the E55 pumps iron in the CLS. Pop the hood, and there's some neat machinery to look at. Forget other luxury cars that bury the hardware under a stylized plastic cover; the CLS55's supercharger housing and cast-aluminum twin plenums are there for gearheads to see and appreciate. Compared with the none-too-pokey CLS500, the CLS55 enjoys a 55-percent boost in output from 302 to 469 horsepower. Torque also takes a sizeable 52-percent leap, from 339 to 516 pound-feet. No whirring supercharger vanes. No whistle as you tip into the throttle. Just a brassy jazz quartet broadcasting from the four-pipe chrome-tipped exhaust. By our estimates, the AMG motor trims about a second and a half off the CLS500's 0-to-60 time, blowing right past the Jaguar XJR and joining company with the likes of the Bentley Continental and Audi RS6.

Partly because the AMG V-8 has more than ample torque for any driving situation (without requiring seven ratios) and partly because the five-speed automatic has proven its durability behind the supercharged engine, the CLS55 AMG does without Mercedes's new 7Gtronic seven-speed automatic. In auto mode, the Speedshift box also will downshift actively if it senses high-g braking. Switch to full manual mode, and the transmission will neither upshift nor downshift without driver intervention, regardless of rpm.