SEVEN generations and almost 180,000 vehicles later, we have the Mercedes-Benz C216 CL-class – the company’s large two-door coupe that is meant to be its luxury, technological and style flagship. Derived from the W211 S-class sedan, the latest version certainly has an extremely strong base from which to mount a credible challenge to more expensive rivals from Bentley, Ferrari and Maserati. Does it succeed? We test the ‘entry level’ CL500 to find out.