Jonathan Hawley
A few tenths and $115K separates Australia's new performance king from one of Germany's fastest. Can the CLS63 justify its premium, or will the W427 be exposed as a pretender?
It's unlikely that David Hube and Donald L Henley have ever met, but I’d like to think they have a lot in common, apart from their initials. Both, I can safely assume, are working men, with dirt beneath their fingernails and can-do attitudes. I like to think Don enjoys hot dogs on the grill, and watching the Detroit Lions on cable over a Michelob or three. Herr Hube, I fancy, favours watching ‘his’ VfB Stuttgart boys on Eurosport, taking the kids for a weekend ride in the forests near Affalterbach, and sitting down to a big spread of pork knuckle and sauerkraut.
During the working week they live parallel lives, despite being separated by two continents and the Atlantic Ocean. You see, these guys are responsible for building two of the best damn V8s, ever. I know this because Don’s name appears on a plate fixed to the rocker cover of the LS7 in our HSV W427. Dave’s moniker, meanwhile, adorns the 6.2-litre beast that lurks beneath the swooping bonnet of our white Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG. Gents, even if you’re each unaware of the other’s existence, we salute you.
Combined, the fruits of their labour displace 13.2 litres and produce more than 1000 horsepower. The HSV’s roots are prosaically Australian with American input, while the AMG is upper-class German through and through. Their differences are many – including body shape, price, equipment levels and even transmission type – but their basic aim is the same: to provide big-bore V8 grunt at the press of a throttle pedal.
While we would have preferred to compare the W427 with its Germanic sedan equivalents, examples of the E63 AMG and BMW M5 were impossible to source. So here we are with the Benz CLS. Using E-Class underpinnings, the long and low body is more coupe-like in execution, and is up against Australia’s undisputed muscle car heavyweight. The W427 is more than a GTS with a heart transplant; yes, the 375kW LS7 dominates the car, but there’s also a stronger six-speed manual gearbox, lowered and stiffened suspension, bigger front brakes and a beefed-up clutch and diff in its arsenal.
The W427’s $155,500 price tag might seem excessive, but it is around $115,000 less than the $269,675 Mercedes. Much of that can be attributed to standard equipment – the list of good stuff in the AMG not found on the HSV is extremely long. Things like keyless ignition, radar-operated cruise control, ventilated seats, a paddle-shift auto gearbox, sat-nav and bi-xenon headlamps all grace the Benz. The HSV doesn’t even have rain-sensing wipers. Clearly, it’s a case of beefy Australian muscle versus luxurious German technocrat.
The W427 also looks significantly different from other HSV models. The front end has an almost Audi-like opening in the grille and front air dam, plus bulging alloys to accommodate the larger brake calipers. Seen together, the HSV looks solid, chunky and square, compared with the low and elongated elegance of the Mercedes.
What they have in common is big-hearted performance by the bucketful thanks to remarkably similar, and gratifyingly huge, engine outputs. The smaller capacity (in relative terms only) AMG V8 with its quad cams and 32 valves produces 378kW at 6800rpm and 630Nm at 5200rpm. The HSV’s 7.0-litre, with pushrods and overhead valves, is good for 375kW at 7000rpm and a smidge more torque with 640Nm at 5000rpm. In engine terms, then, it’s virtually a straight shootout.
In the ensuing gunfight it turns out that the CLS63 wins on the drag strip – but only just. With the traction control turned off the big Benz roars off the line with a wriggle of wheelspin and, with the seven-speed auto up-shifting accurately, hits 100km/h in 4.7 seconds and covers 400 metres in 12.8. Coincidentally, those figures are exactly what we achieved in the W427 at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground a month or so ago. On a different strip, and in different conditions, we couldn’t quite match the time. Struggling with traction on the get-up, the HSV nevertheless managed 0-100km/h in 4.9 seconds, and an impressive 13 second standing 400 metre time.
Bald figures can’t hope to convey the immense character of either of these engines. The AMG V8, for instance, has an epic exhaust note. It crackles into life on start-up, moves sonorously into a profoundly basic rumble as revs rise and ends with a bellow. Even with the transmission in auto mode, it blips the throttle on downshifts and generally lets anyone outside the car know there’s something huge happening under the bonnet. Subjectively, it doesn’t have the same bottom-end grunt of the old 5.4-litre supercharged unit, but the breadth of available revs and the sheer power liberated higher up more than compensates.
The W427 has a heady mixture of both low-down torque and high-end performance. On the first front, it will easily pull the TR6060 transmission’s high ratios at low speeds. If you want, it can trickle down to 60km/h and 1000rpm in sixth and still haul itself up to speed. From 80 to 120km/h in fifth takes just 6.1 seconds (but only 3.1 seconds in third) so grunt it has aplenty. But despite those big pistons, it will also happily and eagerly hit its 7000rpm limiter in the lower gears, producing power all the way. This is an addictive, beautifully flexible engine, and while the six-speed’s shift is a little slow at full noise, for the most part it makes good use of the big V8’s endowments.
Pleasingly, the HSV is not found wanting for refinement. Around town using minimal revs, the clutch is light, the drivetrain snatch-free, and the ride quality superb, given the low-profile, 20-inch rubber. It eases itself over sharper bumps rather than crashing through them and is actually more comfortable than the slightly jiggly CLS is on any of its air suspension’s three settings. Where the Mercedes wins out is in ease of operation – leave the tranny in auto and the only things left to play with are throttle, brakes and steering. Wind and road noise suppression are also far superior to the rowdier W427’s.
Up the pace on open roads and things change.
The HSV needs to be treated with respect, especially on slippery surfaces. With both lock and throttle applied in the lower gears, the rear end wriggles and slides. But that’s tempered by an extremely well-calibrated stability control system that allows some slip and then a gentle electronic save, and fabulously strong and secure brakes. The front end has a lovely amount of bite for razor-sharp turn-in, while stiffer rear-end bushes mean there’s no wobbling tail to contend with. Apply power mid-corner and the W427 will exit as quickly or with as much attitude as you choose.
That’s not to say the CLS63 driver is any worse off. The Mercedes’ V8 hangs a little further forward of the axle line, and steering is a little wooden, but it tracks faithfully and the rear end grips harder than the HSV’s. It can be pedalled vigorously, eating up short straights with a single gulp, and will power confidently through corners (albeit less entertainingly) with as much speed as its much cheaper rival.
On more prosaic matters, the CLS might have far more luxury equipment and nicer trimmings (like a leather-lined dashboard compared with the HSV’s unrelieved plastic expanses and boy-racer red), but it loses out big-time on packaging and practicality. That swooping low roofline means rear seat passengers – there’s seating for two, not three – have less head room than in the commodious Commodore body, and a less expansive view. The Mercedes is also lacking in leg room and has a smaller boot.
In some ways this is an easy comparison to call, and in other ways difficult. On price versus performance, it’s a no-brainer: the stopwatch may say the CLS63 is quicker, but in real-world applications there’s not much in it and the brutally fast, vastly exciting W427 at $115,000 cheaper is going to open wallets every time. Especially once you appreciate that it’s far more relaxing and refined than a seemingly uncompromising performance sedan has any right to be.
The CLS63 offers far more in the way of luxury and equipment yet its bellowing exhaust, sledgehammer acceleration and well-sorted chassis make it anything but soft. And, if the styling doesn’t do it for you, take a look at the $30,000 cheaper E63.
HSV’s finest also has a vast array of attributes apart from sheer grunt – ride quality, handling, excitement and looks among them.
The main thing is that each is a celebration of bounteous big-capacity performance, and for that, we owe both Donald and Dave a celebratory beer. But if it were our dollars being put down, we’d choose the HSV.
