If not for the brakes, the 2006 Mercedes-Benz CLS 500 would be nearly flawless, the perfect German luxury sport sedan. Just look at the thing. Representing sex and lust on wheels better than any four-door on Earth, the CLS is the most beautiful sedan in decades. That’s right – sedan. Mercedes wants me to call this a coupe, but that’s balderdash, marketing mumbo-jumbo, and I’m not caving.

The interior is just as nice as the exterior, with a dashboard that sits close to the base of the windshield, arcing elegantly into the door panels. I can’t even complain about the Comand navigation and entertainment interface, which is much easier to use than ever, except to note that a touch screen would be nice to have. Comfort up front is excellent, though I wish the dead pedal and accelerator were on equal planes and that the front seats had better side bolsters for aggressive driving.

A piece of advice: Don’t let other reviewers tell you the back seat is too small. I wear a 33-inch inseam, measuring six feet tall, and with the driver’s seat set comfortably for me, it’s no problem sitting in back with just enough clearance between the seatback and my legs. With someone shorter driving, I could cross my legs. The problem is getting in and out. The door openings are small, and that roofline significantly cuts space for entry and exit. Hey, if you care that much about the comfort of your passengers, get the comparatively dowdy E-Class.

Design, comfort, ergonomics – all close to perfect. But what about the performance and handling? The 302-horsepower, 5.0-liter V8 and seven-speed automatic are a terrific team, with manual shifting via buttons on the back of the steering wheel spokes or the gear selector. Adaptive software matches your driving style, and grade-logic control limits hunting on hills. Plus, there’s a Sport mode for more aggressive shifting. The Airmatic suspension is fantastic, too, though in Comfort mode there’s too much lateral body motion on undulating pavement, creating too much head toss. Using one of the Sport modes fixes that problem in a jiffy.

Complaints about the CLS 500’s driving character are limited to the tires, steering, and brakes. Our test car wore Michelin Pilot Sport tires, and normally I like this brand and type of rubber. But on the CLS, the tires announced clearly my rapid rate of travel in the twisties, which is something to be concealed rather than broadcasted. The steering was decent, but seemed too stiff off-center at speeds between 20 and 40 mph, and suffered kickback through the column in tighter turns.

But the CLS 500’s Sensotronic brakes were the worst aspect of the car. A brake-by-wire system, Sensotronic uses electronic sensors (thus the name) to measure brake pedal application and then transmit data to the calipers without using a “hard” connection as in a conventional hydraulic system. The end result is a brake pedal that proves hard to smoothly modulate, making the brakes feel grabby and inconsistent. Plus, when you let your foot up quickly, you can hear and feel the computers deciding what to do about it, and the brakes don’t release instantly.

But just as a positive test result for Hepatitis A wouldn’t necessarily keep me from a night on the town with Pamela Anderson, I could live with the Mercedes-Benz CLS 500’s Sensotronic brakes. Our test car ran $76,000. For that money, there’s no other luxury sport sedan I’d rather own. – Christian J. Wardlaw

Courtesy of the auto manufacturers