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Mercedes-Benz CL550 a monster of tech

CNET Car Tech reviews the 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL550 4Matic Coupe.

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
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Wayne Cunningham
Mercedes-Benz CL550
Josh Miller/CNET

Mercedes-Benz does not shy away from tech for its top-tier cars; these vehicles have every new electronic feature the company can conceive. For the CL550, that means adaptive cruise control that can bring the car to a complete stop when traffic ahead halts, a split-view front LCD letting the passenger watch a movie while the driver views the navigation system, and night vision, which uses infrared projectors and a camera to show the driver the road on dark nights.

Although we've seen some of these features before in other Mercedes-Benz cars, the CL550 also debuts a new engine, a direct-injection turbocharged 4.6-liter V-8 replacing the 5.5-liter V-8. The new engine generates bucketfuls of power and slightly better fuel economy than the outgoing engine. But its sluggish low-speed behavior shows that Mercedes-Benz needs to do a little more tuning.

Check out our 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL550 4Matic review.