2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS Class Quality Review

Reviewers from around the Web praised the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS’s front-seat comfort, but found tighter seating in back and mediocre cargo space.

There’s plenty of room in the front pair of buckets. The optional massaging front seats, notes Cars.com, entitle driver and front passenger to "expect a comfortable ride in the true luxury sense." ForbesAutos is very impressed with the CLS’s genuine leather and wood appointments, and the "heated and ventilated multi-contour seats" are nothing short of decadent.

Car and Driver and Cars.com suggest that rear space in the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS may be a bit "tight" thanks to the sloping style. ConsumerGuide warns there is "little head space for those over 5-ft-9. Knee and leg room get tight for adults with front seats pushed well back." Automobile observes, “The back seats are set low to clear the sloping roofline, but deeply scooped-out front seatbacks leave sufficient leg-room for six-footers, and rear passengers can set their own temperatures via the four-zone climate control.” In addition, the “coupelike roof line and tighter door openings can make getting in and out of the rear seats more difficult.”

According to Kelley Blue Book, the Mercedes-Benz 2008 CLS has 15.9 cubic feet of cargo space, but ConsumerGuide points out that the space is not particularly efficient; the trunk of the 2008 Mercedes-Benz CLS is "long and wide, but not very tall," making it difficult to fit larger hard suitcases. However, there is "decent cabin storage [which] includes large, covered bins front and rear."

In terms of fit and finish, the 2008 Mercedes Benz lives up to expectations. Kelly Blue Book comments on the "impeccable dash stitching," and in a review of last year's model, which is much the same as the Mercedes-Benz 2008 CLS, ConsumerGuide said the cabin had "top-notch workmanship, elegant leather upholstery, numerous padded surfaces, and liberal use of soft-touch materials."

ConsumerGuide also reports that noise levels are "the usual Mercedes-Benz combination of little wind noise and classy, mechanical engine growl," while "coarse-surface tire thrum [is] noticed but is never intrusive." Car and Driver agrees, saying "even at wide-open throttle, your ears aren't exactly pummeled by sound" and that even though the V-8 produces "enough volume to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand at attention ... the sound remains refined by staying at some remove."