I own a 1998 c5 cammed, drag radials, a4 dynod 350 to wheels. I had the opportunity to drive a cl600 amg 5.5l v12 twin turbo, 500hp 600tq. the owner says it will slay the tires off the vette so i took it for a ride to see how it feels.

My first impressions:
interior is very comfortable
Looks great
Steering is slow and non-reactive
Brakes suck (amg, i checked pads and they were good)
Very heavy

As soon. As I got on it, is sounded like a tesla, very quiet, all the way till about 80mph. It didnt even squeak (rolling start) (my vette would light up tires rolling at 25mph, and that's with traction control on.)
I know the vette probably has a huge weight advantage.

I must say I'm pretty fortunate to own a c5
And have the piece of mind knowing my vette can tear the paint off that cl600. Lol

 

What year is the CL600?
I would say anything relatively new, well, you won't be tearing the paint off it anyway. Beat it maybe, feel faster for sure. Those AMG Bi-Turbo MB's are deceptively fast though.
My neighbors new AMG (SL63 I think?) will do around 3.6 and mid 11's out of the box. That's damn quick.

 

"Tear the paint off that CL"? Really? lol

You may want to watch out for the modded ones, especially since you're comparing what sounds like a stock car to your modded C5.

 

This one was a 08 I believe, it runs in the 12s, but it really didn't feel fast at all

 

Yea of course, but I know the car personally a day I knewe it's stock but still has 150 more hp and 250 more torque, its a cool car but it's not a vette, and plus it's just a cam on my c5

 

Your traction control doesn't work

 

Yes it does, ive checked lol tires break loose but traction control will stop it as soon as I step on it

 

So I guess when you mentioned lighting up your tires even with traction control on, you were mistaken?

 

My 04Z will allow some tire spin, but not to "light up the tires" (I think, I lay off a bit when it starts to spin).

 

Cars like that have no desire to be a vette, nor would their owners likely ever consider owning one

 

No it spins, it smokes tires, but traction control kicks in and grabs it. It smokes tires I'm not kidding

 

Haha yea, but the owner of this cl600 has a 01 c5 lol

 

Next time you run into the owner, arrange for the two of you to take your cars to the track and settle the issue and which is quicker.

 

Yea absolutly I would love to, Fayetteville drag park is an hour away and zmax is 3 hours away

 

I love my 2004, and it's a fast car- Tuned right and it's also squeak and rattle free, as the result of a whole lot of hunting and hidden moleskin. It's comfortable, too, with rebuilt and recovered seats, and rides quite nicely. I love it.


That said... My wife's old 2006 E55 (sold), with nothing but a tune, pulley mod, twin K&Ns and a bigger supercharger fluid pump, ran in the high 11s. On all-weather Michelins. Made a mockery of almost anything on freeway ramps due to a 40-100 that beats many supercars (look it up). And yes, it would slay ( ridiculous word...) many a Corvette, including newer ones.


That said... We drive Corvettes. Not for all-out straight line speed, or bragging rights. If you take the bait from every idiot in a souped-up C350 or G37 or whatever, Corvette is not the car for you. It's an American icon, and encompasses a lot more than "slaying" other cars.

 

Before I bought my first vette I was very close to buying an 03 Cl600 v12 Twin turbo, I test drove it twice and I can say with confidence the only way youd be tearing paint off of it is if you accidentally smashed into one in a parking lot.

The power from bottom to the top was enormous, the v12 with twin turbos is such a monster set up I fell in love with it immediately, even in stock form it would give my supercharged Z a go.

They all come standard with "Automatic body control" , a hydraulic system that literally eliminates all body roll.

Interior is ok, leather and wood all over, light years ahead of the C5's but nothing to write home about.

With a $699.00 tune to your ECU the car will be making 650 hp as opposed to the 500hp it is advertised as having.

The only downfall with those cars is they are money pits thanks to the suspensions and the coils. The coils fail a lot and are over $1000 each side.

The suspension is a night mare to maintain as well but some people got smart and learned how to gut it and replace with coilovers.

Overall a super cool car, but a money pit that I was not willing to take a gamble on.

On a side note a local CL55, the v8 supercharged version of the exact same car, (same advertised power) has came up locally and ive been itching to grab it as its dirt cheap.

With a little low and a set of wheels these cars are still nicer then many newer models.

 

There pretty cool cars, but I really didn't enjoy it, it did not feel even remotely quick, it had great top end but there was no low end grunt