Ensconced in the driver's seat, you immediately register the raked-back windshield and low roofline pressing down from above; it's a narrow viewing port by sedan standards but outward visibility is superior to most Grand Tourers and 2+2s.   The CL is just 2.2 inches lower than an S-Class sedan, but it feels much lower than that.  

The surroundings are a sybarite's delight.   There's almost nowhere your hand falls that you're not touching either glove-soft leather, burled walnut, brushed aluminum or chrome.   The instrument panel cover is stitched in leather, as are the door panels and seats, buckets front and rear.   The steering wheel is silky leather or wood with leather grips at the nine and three o'clock positions.   It houses buttons in front for the phone and COMAND system, and switches behind the top spokes for manually shifting the transmission (aluminum on AMG models).  

The exterior's curvilinear theme is repeated in the interior.   The center console curves gently into the center stack, and the interior front door panels arc outward subtly at the elbow area, the shape accented by delicate chrome accent strips.   The door armrests are an artful combination of burled walnut stacked with leather covered padding.   At night, soft ambient, adjustable light glows from tiny hidden light strips in the doors' upper sections and across the middle of the dash.   The only plastic pieces of note are the speaker covers in the lower front corner of the doors, where you hardly notice them.  

The walnut trimmed center stack contains a thin row of easy-to-operate brushed aluminum climate control switches, a hidden compartment for the CD changer and a pair of vents flanking a square analog clock that looks like it could double as Patek Phillipe wristwatch; on AMG models it is an IWC Ingenieur timepiece.  

Living in this car is every bit as satisfying as looking at it.   The center console is home to a push-and-slide-and-turn mouse-type knob that is the main interface to the COMAND system and its thin-film transistor (TFT) display.   The screen is housed in a hooded binnacle to the right of the driver's gauges, which also are TFT technology.  

For cars equipped with the optional night vision system, the large speedometer in front of the driver transitions to a second viewing screen whenever the system is activated.   Several other buttons arrayed around the mouse control the suspension's sport and comfort modes, transmission operation modes, the sound system and a short-cut to the dynamic seat adjustments.  

Between the steering wheel buttons and mouse, you're afforded several paths of access to the multiple layers of the CL's navigation, seating, climate control and sound systems.   You can set your preferences for everything from radio stations to auxiliary lighting.   You can program the voice control to recognize your particular intonations.   You can input travel information and requests.   And you can access, activate or cancel dozens of other systems, including radar distance sensing, daytime running lamps, tire pressure monitoring, and much, much more.  

At times we wished it were easier to access some of the systems through COMAND; it took several steps where one touch of a conventional button would have worked more directly.   But for the sheer number of systems and adjustments, hundreds of different buttons and switches would be more difficult.   One has to allow for some acclimation period before judging the system, and that we never needed consult the owner's manual is a good sign.   We found using the COMAND system while underway mildly distracting, but once set it up your use will be limited because much of your requests can be done with steering wheel buttons (with the info appearing inside the speedometer directly ahead) or by voice.  

At least you'll never want for aural entertainment.   The harman/kardon system's 600-watt performance through its 11 speakers is purely angelic.   And the navigation works about as well as any we've encountered, with an easy-to-read rolling map and good graphics.   The screen is adjustable for angle and brightness separately from other instruments.  

The CL's front seat comfort is beyond reproach.   The front cabin offers all the legroom, width and headroom anyone but an NBA forward could need.   The power front seats are wonderful; the width and pocketing of the cushions provide just the right amount of support to the back and under the thighs, and, with the full range of adjustments available, almost anyone can get comfortable.   Even the length of the front-seat lower cushions is adjustable for just the right amount of thigh support.   Most CL are equipped with the optional active ventilated seats, which contain several small fans to circulate cool or warmed air through the perforated leather seat covering.   Pneumatic bladders built into the seats can be programmed to adjust the firmness of upper and lower side bolsters, back rest, and shoulder area, as well as lumbar support firmness and location.   The seats also offer a massage feature; it's quite nice, actually, and virtually eliminates fatigue.   We preferred the fast and vigorous setting; imagine a soft rolling pin making its way from your lumbar region to upper back.   The programming is controlled through the COMAND interface using clearly marked pictograms.  

The seats can be programmed to automatically inflate upper and lower bolsters to varying degrees when the car turns a corner to provide the driver and passenger with extra lateral support.   This brings the support of a sport seat for spirited driving without the big bolsters some find confining, to a luxurious armchair one slides in and out of.  

The CL interior's only real negative is rear seat room, and that only compared to sedans this size.   Though the rear buckets are as handsome and almost as comfortable as the front (they lack any adjustability), this is a not a place to spend much time for anyone over, say five-foot-six.   Despite its full-size 116.3-inch wheelbase (albeit 8.2 inches less than that of the commodious S-Class sedan), the CL's dramatic dimensions mean rear legroom in the small-car range.   Plant a six-foot driver behind the wheel and a six-foot rear-seat passenger's knees are jammed against the front seatbacks.   And most people will be able to handle the tight rear quarters for local trips to the mall.   But this is not the car to take on a cross-country jaunt with four average-sized adults.  

Oddly, that lack of four-adult room may be one of the CL's strongest luxury statements: It's a large car that can afford to ignore the everyday requirement of passenger-carrying practicality.   Need more space? Take another car.   This is apparently okay in this class: The Bentley Continental GT, BMW 6 Series, Aston Martin DB9 and Ferrari Scaglietti all have even less room in back.  

Cargo room is just the opposite.   The trunk is deep, commodious and finished in a handsome gray carpet.   Under the trunk floor is a shallow but still useful cargo tray, and under that a full-sized spare.   Liftover height is about average, and the electric powered opening-and-closing feature is always appreciated.