Waking up from a nightmare to embrace the warmth of a safe, secure bed is one of life's great reminders that this old world may not be so bad after all.
Well, I've had that - only in reverse, if you can imagine - for the best part of a week. I'd get into the Mercedes CLS and make believe it was the good old days.
Then I would get out of this modern-day classic four-door coupe and wake to the nightmare. The car attracted more attention from recession dwellers than anything I've had for months. It hasn't changed that much. It still maintains its basic, low-slung crescent shape that I've always admired.
But it must be a rare piece of work because, despite the capacity of luxury cars these days to attract vitriol and envy, this evoked a warm mix of admiration and reflection on the way things used to be.
More than one person exhaled: "Ah! Holy (insert expletive), the good old days. Will we ever see anything like them again?" And then: "Who the hell would buy the likes of this now?"
Good question.
What I do know is that if some executive or well-heeled family has pencilled in a new-car purchase for this year or 2010, then this is the sort of vehicle that will not give rise to taunts of ostentation.
There were times in the CLS when the leather seats and that rippling three-litre diesel banished the gloom. I particularly enjoyed that engine and its exceptionally sharp acceleration.
For a long car - sensors made parking it a lot easier - it was nicely sharp in its handling too, though the suspension settings are set, I suspect, on the comfortable side of sporty. Being a low car, its one great drawback is the lack of rear headroom and the depths to which one has to stoop to get into it, but I consider such privations minor against the reward of securing a comfortable spot within.
I know of nobody who will admit having plans to buy a car of this price this year. I'm sure a few harbour intentions. Good luck to them. For this car, regardless of its recent fine tunings, to maintain its allure at a time like this says a lot about it. - Irish Independent