Mercedes CLS 350 CDI

Financing a luxury car can be a very expensive business. Often you will not only have to find a deposit so big it would be enough to buy a family model outright, but the rate of interest offered on such a large chunk of borrowing makes repayments rather painful. However, we’ve found an exception...

The CLS 350 CDI is a stunning four-door coupé with one of the smoothest and punchiest diesels in its class. This kind of prestige doesn’t come cheap – the list price is £48,400 – but with a deposit of only £4,999 and a low interest rate of 3.9 per cent APR, the Merc might not be as far out of reach as you think. To add to the appeal, there is an £8,237.20 discount, too. Monthly payments are £489 over three years, and there’s an optional final balloon payment of £20,500.

With 221bhp and 540Nm of torque on tap, the CLS 350 CDI offers sports coupé pace. The sprint from 0-60mph takes only seven seconds and the car has a top speed of 153mph in reserve. Perhaps even more impressive is that combined fuel economy is 37.2mpg and the CO2 emissions are only 200g/km.

The pillarless doors make the luxury four-seat cabin feel a genuinely special alternative to a conventional executive model’s. And while the platform on which the car is based isn’t the freshest in Merc’s line-up, with one of the best diesel engines in the business under the bonnet and some tempting figures on the finance sheet, the CLS has never made better sense.