If your personal version of suburban bliss includes substantially more than the American average of 1.8 children then the 5-passenger Mercedes ML just isn’t going to cut it. You’ll need the 7-passenger capability of that German Suburban known as the GL. And if every fuel stop along the family vacation route turns into a 45-minute chicken nugget munching, souvenir buying, potty break free-for-all then Mercedes’ latest diesel engine and its 550-mile range is the choice most likely to maintain your sanity. Luckily, there is just such a combination, and the Mercedes GL350 BlueTEC offers the room and range needed to be the perfect family hauler. Read more…
Senior Editor Jason Muxlow seeks a vehicle that returns great fuel efficiency and yet will haul along all the trappings of life. He finds the 2011 Mercedes-Benz GL350 BlueTEC. Read more…
Down In Power, But Still A Contender For The Sports Sedan Crown
In case you haven’t noticed, horsepower numbers are ballooning like Al Gore after public office and the new threshold for contenders in the sports sedan race is something north of 300 horses. Competitors from Acura, BMW, Cadillac, Infiniti and Lexus all offer up power ratings starting with a three, and even though Audi’s standard A4 can’t play with the big boys you can step up to the supercharged S4, which is available for about a grand more than the C350 that is the subject of this review and could certainly be considered a competitor. The problem for Mercedes is that their class entrant only puts out 268 hp, so even before delivery we were preparing to treat it as an entry-level luxury car instead of a true sports sedan. But when our baby Benz showed up wearing bright red paint, AMG wheels and cross-drilled brakes we knew the boys in Stuttgart weren’t going to let a horsepower deficit keep them on the bench. Read more…
The 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, shown here at the 2010 NAIAS, may not be the polarizing supercar that the SLR McLaren was, but the SLR didn’t have gullwing doors! The SLS is the first car designed and developed by the AMG division of Mercedes-Benz. Fitting then that the engine under that long hood is none other than AMG’s own 6.2L V8, pumping out 563-hp and 479 lb-ft of torque. Each engine is hand assembled by one technician in Affalterbach, Germany. Everything from the routing of the wiring to the topping off of the oil is handled by the expert craftsman identified by the signature nameplate affixed to the enigne. Tipping the scales at 3,573-lbs the SLS is a lean machine capable (according to AMG) of hitting 60-mph in 3.7 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 197-mph. Try not to drool on the keyboard too much as you imagine yourself rocketing through all seven gears of the SLS’s dual-clutch transmission while being firmly planted in those red hand-stitched designo leather seats. Trust me, it gets messy!
Yeah that ML550 and its 382 hp V8 may be calling your name from across the showroom, but we urge you to resist. There’s a better ML tucked over in the corner that we think most people will fall for after a single test drive—even though it’s wearing badges that few consumers recognize. To tell you the truth, we wouldn’t have a clue what BlueTEC meant either if we didn’t spend our days reading press releases. But based on our experience with the new-for-2009 powertrain, all you really need to know is anything wearing BlueTEC badges is powered by Mercedes’ best diesel engine ever. And considering the praise we heaped on this engine’s predecessor in our 2006 review of the E320 CDI sedan, that’s saying something. Read more…
Mercedes-Benz took a traditional approach (sort of) with the 2011 E550 Cabriolet, shown here at the 2010 NAIAS, and equipped it with a classic soft top. Creature comfort, however, is still Mercedes’ top priority as the Cabriolet features the AIRCAP and AIRSCARF systems. The AIRCAP utilizes a pop-up net above the windscreen and a draft-stop deployed between the rear seats to cut down on turbulence. With AIRSCARF each seat is equipped with HVAC ducts that gently blow warm air around the occupants neck to compensate for otherwise less-than-ideal ambient conditions during top-down motoring.
The Mercedes-Benz Detroit Auto Show Design Sculpture elegantly hints at what is on the horizon for product. What was described to us at the 2010 NAIAS as a car emerging from a flat plane (or a silk sheet) is in reality a closely and cleverly sculpted rendition of the next generation CLS 4-door coupe concept. Now this is the kind of art that we can get on board with!
First Mercedes-Benz challenged our definition of a coupe by offering the CLS four door coupe. This car had conventionally hinged doors front and rear but featured a dramatically impractical roofline. Now Stuttgart is looking to challenge yet another body style definition. This time the ‘shooting brake’ is being redefined. Read more…
As if it wasn’t cold enough (outside) already for the 2007 NAIAS, Mercedes-Benz decided that they would setup an ice rink (inside) to showcase that nearly all of their models would be available with 4MATIC all-wheel drive.
