Driving the 2015 Mercedes-Benz CLS, the four-door coupe pioneer

Around 100 years ago, as automobile ownership democratized and the number of automakers proliferated, so did the range of be-wheeled product available to consumers. In this growing marketplace, an outrageously broad selection of body styles was offered, including such fanciful categories as Runabouts, Silhouette Broughams, Closed Coupled Sedans, Cabriolets, Town Cars, Speed Wagons, Limousines, Touring Cars, Semi-Touring Cars, Toursedans, and even something called an Extra Special.

All trends are cyclical. About a decade ago, Mercedes-Benz decided to revive this mania, unleashing upon the world the handsome, if slightly aardvark-shaped, CLS sedan, which it brazenly christened a “four-door coupe."

Other manufacturers followed suit, introducing the automotive counterparts to the combination Pizza Hut-Taco Bell. These included the five-door sport activity coupe (BMW X6), the two-door convertible crossover (Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet, RIP), the three-door hatchback sport tourer (Hyundai Veloster), and the three-door, four-seat luxury sport grand touring shooting brake (Ferrari FF).

Ten years into this cubist diffraction of the marketplace, we fully expected Mercedes to raise the bar with a crew-cab short-bed S-Class coupe-amino, or a hardtop convertible Sprinter van. Instead, they’ve given us a mid-cycle refresh of their second generation CLS.

Arguably the pinnacle of Benz’s unfortunate (and now happily excised) “Baroquecoco” experiment with overwrought styling—where every square foot of a vehicle’s body was mandated to contain a minimum of five bulges, strakes, swoops, and creasy character lines—the CLS 2.0 has always struck us as lacking the vision of version 1.0. This current revision does little to alter that opinion. Unless you consider the inclusion of the new bedazzled Benz family grille, larger front air intakes, and “slightly darkened” rear taillights to be radical improvements. It has…presence, but in the Benz family beauty pageant, we’d honestly rather a stunning, clean-lined new C-Class.

The interior remains a sensual delight, improved by new leather options, more real metal trim, and a larger iPad-sized COMAND touch screen. Sadly, Benz has upped its interior game so much in the models released (or forthcoming) in the three years since this car was unveiled, that the materials and array left us feeling less impressed than we should have been. Still, it’s a nicer place to be than 90% of the world’s automotive interiors, and many of the hotel rooms in which we’ve stayed.