2009 Car of the Year: Prestige Car Over $75,000

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The 2009 Mercedes Benz CL550 is the winner of the 2009 Car of the Year Prestige Car category.

John LeBlanc

SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The likelihood of any new car buyer – even a well-funded one – cross-shopping the three German vehicles entered in this year's Prestige Car Over $75,000 category is as likely as Ben Mulroney becoming our next prime minister.

Let's see – a mega-horsepower two-seat grand touring land missile; a full-size luxury coupe; and a vehicle that looks like an SUV, smells like an SUV, but its maker claims is definitely not an SUV.

Throwing any objective comparisons out the power-tinted window, the question remains: is the apple, the orange or the kumquat the most prestigious car for 2008?

BMW X6 xDrive50i

Officially, BMW says its new X6 is not an SUV, not a sports car, not a touring wagon, nor a luxury sedan. What it is, is an X5 with only four seats and swoopy fake-coupe style.

To be fair, the new xDrive50i model gets you an upgrade from the existing 300 hp six-cylinder model in the form of a new 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 pumping out 400 hp.

For an SUV, the V8 version is plenty fast: only 0.7 seconds behind the SL 63 AMG at 5.1 seconds from 0-to-100 km/h. And at 37.6 metres, it had the shortest stopping distance of this trio from 100-to-0 km/h.

It also sits tall – kind of like driving a barber's chair. But next to Infiniti's refreshed FX50 (entered appropriately enough in the SUVs over $60,000 category) the X6's exclusive new active rear differential, arguably makes it the best handling SUV out there.

But how prestigious can an SUV be, even as one as sporty as the X6?

Price as tested: $83,900

WINNER: Mercedes-Benz

CL 550 4MATIC

If you're looking for a commanding position in people's minds, what better way than Mercedes-Benz's biggest coupe.

Redesigned just two years ago, for 2009 the CL 550 comes only in all-wheel-drive 4MATIC trim and paddle shifters are now standard.

Essentially a two-door Benz S 550 sedan, the CL 550 is beautifully made with plenty of room for four large adults..

Unlike the more practical X6 or the pimped out SL 63 AMG, the full-size CL has real presence and oozes prestige.

While performance from the big Benz coupe's 382 hp 5.5-litre V8 can't match its über performing SL 63 AMG stable mate, no other car here whispers success so succinctly.

Plus, like any true luxury item, it's a bit of a rarity. Neither BMW nor Audi have comparable models.

Real world rivals are a step up in class, like the $250,000-plus Bentley Continental GT.

Price as tested: $148,000

WINNER: Mercedes-Benz

SL 63 AMG

The 63 AMG is only one in a quartet of retractable hardtop SLs receiving a mid-life refresh for 2009.

Although the $155,500 SL 63's 6.2-litre V8 with 518 hp is nothing to sneeze at, it pales compared to the top-rung $238,500 SL 65 AMG's twin-turbo V12 that makes an additional 85 more horsepower.

If your idea of a "prestige car," though, is half sophisticated Grand Tourer/half land missile, the SL 63 may suit the bill.

The two-seat SL 63 was the near equal to Nissan's GT-R as the fastest car around the Car of the Year test track – something the other two prestige entries can't even come close to claiming.

Equally interesting is the SL 63's new MCT (multi-clutch technology) transmission.

Based on Mercedes' seven-speed automatic, in full-on manual mode, it has five presets to play with.

Comprehensively, the AMG automated manual is right up there with Mitsubishi's TC-SST in regards to lightning quick shifts.

Price as tested: $155,500

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