An inspection of Jeremy’s £6,995 CL600

If you clicked on Hammond's 850CI gallery, you'll know that we've been scratching around the V12 GTs that Jeremy and Richard bought on the show.

The scheme was thus - find something massive and awesome and luxurious for the same price as a very dreary Nissan Pixo. First one to break down loses. Which Jeremy's promptly did - one of the coil packs expired, heralding the familiar glow of a CHECK ENGINE light.

Nevertheless, we thought we'd see what the rest of it was like. Against our better judgment, we twiddled, probed and pressed everything we could find to validate its operational worth. Mercifully, no vajazzles were encountered.

And it performed remarkably well. Apart from the whole CHECK ENGINE thing... Click on to see what we found.

Not even the faintest bubble of rust...

...though the wheel's suffered from a little kerb rash.

Balls-forward oval exhausts are in great shape, and unlike Richard's 8-Series, the underside's not covered in overspray.

In fact, the body's only impediment is a faded Benz badge.

Even the funky little lunge-n-squirt lamp washers work.

The rear three quarter's particularly cool - reminds us of this awesome old W111 coupe.

Pillarless niceness. All windows are working and the rubbers aren't covered in mould.

Inside, it's equally pleasant. And EVERYTHING works. Apart from the telly...

...and the engine. It does just about run, though, albeit in limp-home mode.

This is what's to blame - the coil pack on the left-hand cylinder bank. £800 for a new ‘un. Plus VAT. And labour...

Sadly, that means half of this is redundant. Shame.

After the forensic report, we weren't thrilled about going in here. But once we forgot about the mucus and vajazzles, it's actually very pleasant.

It's also hyper-specced. Look! You can make the seat pulse! 

The telly didn't work, though. But that could just be our inability to operate it. See what we mean about the spec? It's an orgy of buttons.

Snazzy Bose stereo sounded excellent.

Even the first aid kit's complete. Not sure we'd use it, though.

Electric rear headrests - nice touch. And they worked.

More overnourished woodgrain. This time it's flanked by ruffled leather. Nothing says luxury like ruffled leather. 

So, all told, it's actually very good. Or rather it will be once the engine's fixed. Now check out Hammond's.