• What: Carlsson Aigner CK65RS Blanchimont
• Where: Hockenheim
• Price: £400,000
• Available: Now
• Key rivals: Rolls-Royce Phantom, Brabus Maybach 62

• Likes: 200mph top speed, handbag-grade seats cosset the buttocks and you can watch films in a traffic jam with full surround sound.
• Dislikes: two-tone paint, price is insane for a bejeweled S-Class.

First impressions



If you're desperate to blow the value of a good-sized house in the Home Counties on a limousine, and there are folks out there with exactly that brief, then choices are surprisingly thin on the ground. Beyond the price tag that discounts Bentleys and S-Classes there were really just two options: Rolls-Royce or Maybach and both of them are cars you should never, ever, drive yourself.
Now Mercedes tuner Carlsson has joined the elite club with the Aigner CK65 RS Blanchimont, a 700bhp S65 AMG conversion that could make the man in the peaked cap redundant.

Hamann Black Miracle

The second collaboration between the Mercedes tuning legend and the leather designer specialising in high-end handbags might seem like a simple marketing ploy, but this is the start of a new era for the Mercedes tuner as a boutique manufacturer.
The S-Class is perhaps the most natural marriage for the Aigner brand and the limousine of the line-up will be limited to just 30. Each will be tailored to the individual, which goes some way to justifying the rare price tag that goes with it: £400,000 + tax for this example and £305,000 for the basic version.
It's opulent, outrageously flamboyant and as clear an indication of wealth as a solid gold house, so the rich never need worry about going unnoticed in this two-tone car that presents a younger, more aggressive image than either of its price bracket rivals.



Performance



Without a shadow of a doubt, Carlsson has achieved something special beneath the skin. While the AMG-engineered twin-turbo 6.0-litre V12 has never been accused of being light on power, the Carlsson-tuned version leaves reason by the side of the road. Do you really need 700 hp? Probably not, but with a car like this, it's all about desire, not the price/value equation.
Carlsson fitted low-restriction air filters, larger intercoolers to increase the charge density by reducing boost pressure loss and a low-restriction exhaust before remapping the engine to liberate another 100 horses from the V12. But power comes secondary to torque in a car like this.






From just 2,000 rpm, some 737lb/ft of torque kicks in, sending the car snaking down the road as the world's finest traction-control computer desperately bids to rein it in. There are Dunlop SP Sport Maxx tires wrapped around lightweight forged 21-inch wheels (which are 50% lighter than the CL65's stock items), with 265/30ZR21s tires in front and 295/25ZR21s in the rear. Yet even these massively wide tires slither helplessly under the onslaught of power.
Even so, the CK65 RS still flicks forward through its five-speed automatic transmission while the speedometer needle swings rapidly across the dial. Give the Blanchimont its head and this car will breach 60mph in 3.9 seconds and sprint right on to 200mph even as classical music wafts through the air-conditioned cabin. At the double-ton, the car hits an electronic limiter to preserve the tyres.



Ride and Handling



The CK65 has more than enough power to hang its rear out with a hefty touch of throttle, but then there are Mercedes' computers to contend with that simply won't let it happen.
Even if we had done so, the Carlsson retains a lower threshold of intervention as a safety net and even a clumsy bootful of throttle won't unsettle the car beyond a mild waggle. It's still a two-tonne car that will drag wide of the apex with too much speed on the way in: it's hardly a racer after all. But drive it smoothly and the CK65 RS will leave AMG's finest trailing in its wake.






The secret lies in Carlsson's C-Tronic suspension system. It lowers the car by 30mm when the road is as smooth as marble countertop, and it works in concert with Mercedes' own active body control to deliver a rock-solid feel.
The body-control sensors constantly monitor the suspension's movement, so when the ride gets choppy, the car lifts back to its standard settings without even being asked. And this gives the velvet-smooth ride with added performance. Carlsson has decades of race experience and even on a big barge like this is keen to implement handling improvements like alloys that weigh 50% less than AMG's and a full carbon-fibre bodykit.
Although you have to wonder how much difference the wings provide in a car this heavy. If you're expecting a rocketship feel and noise like the four horsemen of the Apocalypse charging down a hot tin roof, through machine gun fire, it would be a tad disappointing.
A Mercedes, especially a high-end one, is unique animal and while customers want performance there can be no sacrifice - so there isn't. The exhaust note is actually quieter than the AMG version, which is the way Carlsson likes it.




Interior



With a leather designer for company the inside was always going to be the highlight of the car. Aigner provided A-shaped front seats and decked out the rest of the car with handbag-grade leather, the same extravagant cuts that sell for exorbitant amounts in airport boutiques, treated to withstand the test of time.
Alcantara fills the rare gaps between the leather and then there's the Carlsson Office Hall Infotainment System. We settled down to watch Star Wars on one of four big screens, complete with surround sound, and had we bored of that we could have gone online with three wireless access points and sipped champagne from branded glasses.
Strip away the dressing, though, and this is an S-Class interior, which means it's not as comfortable, spacious or luxurious as the competition. But then again, it is very cool in its own ludicrous way and comes in any colour.



Economy and Safety



Carlsson is one of the few tuners to consider economy, even in this rarefied world. Their electronics systems are so advanced the engine will even dump the extra power if the V12 steps outside its comfort zone. Despite the major power increase the base S65 AMG's engine should return around 20mpg.
As for safety, under the baubles it's still a flagship Mercedes, which means you could crash it through the house it out-prices and emerge the other side - if it will let you.
With all the electronics in the world, including a rather snazzy crash avoidance system, warning signals every time a gnat brushes the paintwork and cameras everywhere, the S-Class is virtually uncrashable.
In the unlikely event of an impact, anything short of Fort Knox will come off second best.



The MSN Cars verdict: 4/5


This isn't necessarily a car for the British market as we have the last Bastions of luxury: Bentley and Rolls-Royce. Both can be had for less money, their conservative style is what we have come to expect from a limousine and on these shores are still as rare as rocking horse manure.
And when all said and done this is a £400,000 S-Class gone to Tiffany's, and Curry's. But not every market is like ours. Wealthy Russian and Middle Eastern customers need only hear the words 'limited edition', and maybe, 'massively expensive', to flock to the flame like moths.
For them the chance to stand out in a car park full of Maybachs and Rolls-Royces is enough and Carlsson will sell all 30 without breaking a sweat. And if the customers ever tire of watching Star Wars and relegate the driver to the back seat, they'll understand that they have one of the fastest, best handling luxury limousines in the world.
I'd rather have the performance mods on a standard S-Class, but Carlsson only need 30 moneyed gents to disagree. They will.

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nice car...equip with v12 engine...so fast..

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I hate people who act like a Mr. Perfect!!!