Mercedes-Benz
First Look: 2013 Mercedes-Benz E400 Hybrid
Mercedes-Benz offered up two hybrid versions of its popular E-Class luxury sedan for the Detroit show goers this year—one powered by a gasoline-fed V-6 engine, and the other by a diesel four. Both the gasoline and diesel versions are mated to a 20kW electric motor, and can claim to deliver superior fuel efficiency within their respective marketplaces.
First Look: 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL550
The 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL has arrived. The new SL’s shape borrows heavily from both the SLS AMG supercar, and the smaller SLK that debuted earlier this year. That new body is also 242 pounds lighter than the previous SL’s shell.
Quick Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz S550
The 550 is sort of in the sweet spot of the S-Class lineup. All the other ones are either smart on their fuel consumption, or are insanely powerful. If you’re a meat-and-potatoes kind of person, this is the model for you. It has plenty of power, but it feels perfectly relaxed and effortless under normal driving.
Driven: 2013 Lexus GS350
In the world of mid-size luxury sedans, the big players have been the BMW 5-Series, Audi A6 and Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The Lexus GS, meanwhile, skated under the proverbial radar, lacking the performance cred of the 5-Series, the luxury cachet of the E-Class, or the sumptuous interior of the A6. It wasn’t a bad car, but even Lexus admits the Germans had dominated the market. Lexus is hoping to reverse that trend with the 2013 GS, and after a long day flogging it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, we think Toyota’s luxury brand has got a pretty good shot of doing it.
Quick Drive: 2012 Mercedes-Benz CL550
The CL550 is almost as quick to 60, delivers a smoother ride, can be had with all of the same luxury touches, and with the Sport Package found on our tester, it looks enough like a CL63 AMG to fool all but the most hardened Mercedes aficionados.
Quick Drive: 2011 Mercedes-Benz S350 BlueTec
If I’m buying either the S400 or S350 over the S550, part of the focus is on fuel efficiency. The diesel S-Class achieves 21/31 miles per gallon, while the hybrid only gets 19/25. If I own this car along with others, this is going to be the one I take on longer drives, where highway mileage is more important.
Driven: 2012 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG
Mercedes-Benz has done an interesting balancing act with the CLS63 AMG. On the one hand, it’s a lavishly equipped, tech-laden luxmobile for four people, that looks like very few other cars on the road. On the other, it’s essentially a street-legal rocket, capable of sending your eyeballs towards the back of your skull with little in the way of provocation. It’ll then attempt to remove your eyeballs clear from the sockets when you stomp on the huge carbon-ceramic brakes. This is a bipolar car, stable one minute, and absolutely bonkers the next. Which is exactly the way we like it.
Model Evolution: Mercedes-Benz SL-Class
Janis Joplin sang about them, and they’ve been seen or mentioned in everything from Dallas, to Beverly Hills Cop, to I Love You Phillip Morris, to Family Guy. Yes, we are referring to the legendary Mercedes-Benz SL-Class. This grand tourer is an icon of the rich and famous, and quite a performance machine to boot. Join us as we recap its history.
Frankfurt 2011: Frankfurt Auto Show Wrap-Up
As quickly as it began, the first media day of the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show is over. This year’s show featured no shortage of concept cars, including one designed by a racecar driver. As for production metal, there seemed to be something for everyone: exotics, hybrids, station wagons, SUVs, GTs, and sports cars were all well represented at this years show.
Frankfurt 2011: Mercedes-Benz F125! Research Vehicle
Mercedes-Benz has revealed its newest research vehicle, this one with emissions-free driving as the main subject of study and innovation. Called F125! (M-B includes the exclamation point), it is an F-Cell (hydrogen) plug-in hybrid with a range of 621 miles.
One Cool Feature: Mercedes-Benz SLK’s Magic Sky Control
Last week, we had a chance to reacquaint ourselves with the 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350. Besides being a fun roadster with fetching looks, it has a feature unique to the SLK, called Magic Sky Control.
Driven: 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i
Those familiar with the BMW 3-Series, 5-Series, or even X5 will feel right at home in the X3. The materials are the sort of high-quality fare that we’ve come to expect from the premium German brand. Even though the X3 is less expensive and smaller than the X5, we felt like we had plenty of room in the cockpit, with all the standard instruments, touch points, and switchgear that we liked in its bigger brother.
Winding Road Issue 73 Is Now Available!
In the newest issue of Winding Road, we review cars with lift gate, from the stylish and compact Scion iQ, to the super sporty new Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8. Plus, there are lots of other fun, practical vehicles in The Functional Issue 2.0.
Winding Road Video: 2011 BMW X3 – Quick Drive
In this video we take you on a tour of the 2011 BMW X3 xDrive35i.
Driven: 2012 Mercedes-Benz ML350 BlueTec
Delivering an unrepentant 455 pound-feet of torque up for the asking, it’s easy to understand how we found ourselves just a little bit north of the posted 75-mile-per-hour limit, through Anaconda Deer-Lodge County on the back end of our test drive.
Winding Road Video: 2011 Mercedes-Benz GLK350 – Quick Drive
Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of wafting around in the 2011 Mercedes-Benz GLK350. Turn up your speakers or slip on your headphones, the GLK350’s throaty 3.5-liter V-6 sounds fantastic!
First Look: 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
While we already featured images of the new-for-2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class, the press release describing the improvements for the Tuscaloosa, Alabama-built SUV has just been released. The restyling looks to be fairly thorough, with the ML borrowing cues from several different Mercedes models. We can see SLS AMG in the grille, with CLS in the headlights, and E-class in the taillights.
Quick Drive: 2011 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid
The M-B has a very slight efficiency advantage over the Bimmer and the Lexus, and a very significant price advantage. MSRP (with destination) is just under $92K for the Benz, about $103K for the BMW, and a huge $113K for the Lexus. Both of the competitors have V-8 engines, meaning they absolutely destroy the S400, and its V-6, in terms of power.
Sneak Peek: 2012 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
It seems as though Mercedes-Benz has taken the wrapper off of its new 2012 M-Class SUV, showing a completely revised exterior design.
First Look: 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG Roadster
There isn’t much not to like about the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG. In fact, we think the only way of improving the gull-winged supercar is by chopping the roof off, which is exactly what Mercedes has done for 2012.
Facebook List: Your Top 10 Favorite Summer Cars
Yep, summer has officially started, which means that if you haven’t made some serious driving plans yet, you had better get a move on. We asked our Facebook fans to tell us which cars they thought were the very best for driving during the warm months. The answers were mostly convertible based, which is good, but a few, inspiring coupes snuck in for good measure, too.
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