Good to meet you, Knucklehead, and thanks for the input. BTW, the CLS, whichever I get, is going to be sharing the driveway with my Ford Expedition and my wifes' Mercury Mountaineer, so we're a Ford family as well.
As far as "needing" the extra power, I've driven sporty cars for a bunch of years. I recently had to get rid of my Alfa 164S with 170,000 miles because parts were getting too hard to get.
So I'm pretty clear that it's more a matter of wanting the extra power than needing it. Now of course that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with wanting it. It also doesn't mean that I don't
WANT it.
I'm still finding it a tough decision however.