TPAbnz

The R was reviewed in today's Wall Street Journal. Very positive impression and they liked the hinged v. sliding door. If you have an on-line subscription (I don't - just get the paper) you can pull up the story.

glojo

Here is a copy of a short review from the 'Times'

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THERE is nothing modest about calling your latest model a Grand Sports Tourer and adding that it is a “revolutionary new vehicle concept”. But that is Mercedes-Benz’s take on its four-wheel drive, six-seater R-Class, a car that is big enough to block out the light if it stops alongside you at traffic lights.
Longer than an S-Class, wide and high, the new Merc — built at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, — has a lounge-length interior with passengers sitting in pairs in three rows of adjustable armchairs, the rearmost needing big lungs to talk to those at the front because they are so far away; in fact they may prefer to write. In Mercspeak this is “dynamic space”.

If Mercedes has got its marketing right, the R-Class — all 2.2 tonnes of it and priced at up to £55,000 — represents a new path for car design, wrapping into one bulky package a luxury saloon, estate car, sports utility and people-carrier to create something “unprecedented”, as the company puts it.

So start with the meaning of the “R” designation: it stands for Rest and Recreation. All occupants get a window seat, and access to each seat is easy, while comfort is an absolute priority, even for those in the third row. Lowering the seats for extra luggage carriage is quick, easy and provides a flat, van-like load space 2.2 metres long. The car is almost 17 feet long, which makes for the sort of seat pitch that costs a lot of money in an airline’s business class. Headroom is lofty and shoulder space fine, even for wrestlers.

The R-Class has quality, masses of technology and it certainly gets noticed, but in European surroundings it looks neither elegant nor sporty and gave me one of the less exciting drives of the year. Part of this was because the very early production cars I tried — a 3.5-litre V6 and a 5-litre V8 — were to US specification with ultra-light steering, soft suspension and a long wheelbase of 10ft 7in, so allowances had to be made. Also, Mercedes took me to Switzerland to meet the car and sample it on a route that included miles of Zurich city traffic, a painfully slow drive around Lake Lucerne in convoy with rubbernecking tourists enjoying the spectacular scenery, and winding mountain roads with poor visibility that were almost as narrow as the car was wide.

There was a bit of motorway driving at all of 75mph but a Mercedes spokesman gave warning of the enthusiastic speed police and the dire financial consequences of exceeding limits by even 1km per hour. Oh dear, not exactly grand sports touring as advertised. The European version of the R-Class is said by Mercedes to have much sharper steering and firmer suspension than the US version with a choice of both short or long wheelbases, the short version reducing the car’s overall length to a little more than 16ft.

Allowing for the US specification of the cars I tried, handling and road holding were good for a big luxury car with little body roll. Ride is superb and the R-Class whispers along. Visibility is fair but this is a big car and often feels it, the bonnet is out of the driver’s line of sight and the screen pillars chunky.
The steering column gear selector for the standard seven-speed auto-gearbox is easy to use and there are push-buttons for manual shifting. Instruments are superbly clear and the central COMAND system for a variety of functions does not need a PhD to operate. For the UK, petrol-engine choice will be the 3.5-litre V6, which performs manfully to haul this big car along, and 5-litre V8, which will pull the beast to more than 150mph, although you pay the price with fuel consumption that slips to only about 20 miles to the gallon. Perhaps better to wait for the 3-litre V6 turbo-diesel if you are worried about the planet. An ultra high-performance AMG version, using a new 510bhp, 6.3-litre V8 is under development.

Although the R-Class has four-wheel drive and adjustable air suspension, it is not an off-roader but the company prides itself on its safety record and the R-Class all but wraps its passengers in cotton wool if it all goes wrong: electronic sensors anticipate a significant impact, ordering the car’s Pre-Safe system to prime airbags, tauten seat belts, adjust the front passenger’s back rest, close the side windows and the sunroof — all in a trice, and that is just in case.

So what will the R-Class do? Well, Mercedes has a remarkable reputation for producing cars that are used by heads of state and, equally, by taxi drivers. The R-Class is going to be one helluva taxi.


THE LOWDOWN
WHAT IS IT? Mercedes R-Class

WHAT’S THAT? Charabanc for a giant family that loves club-class travel

HOW MUCH? Between £42,000 and £55,000. On sale next spring
BIG CAR, BIG ENGINES? Basic 3.5-litre V6, followed by thirsty 21mpg, 5-litre V8 offering high-performance zero to 62mph time of seven seconds and a top speed of 153mph. Three-litre V6 turbo-diesel to follow with ultra high-performance AMG 510bhp, 6.3-litre V8 on its way

Allowing for the US specification of the cars I tried, handling and road holding were good for a big luxury car with little body roll. Ride is superb and the R-Class whispers along. Visibility is fair but this is a big car and often feels it, the WE LIKE? Vast interior open spaces
WE DON’T LIKE? Vast bulk

ALTERNATIVES? A Routemaster bus with leather seats and turbo-charged engine
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Regards,
John

joshg

Thanks for the review from the Times. Does anyone have access to the WSJ that can pull up that review and paste the contents here?

JackStraw

Looking for Crossover Success
By JONATHAN WELSH
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
September 30, 2005;*Page*W9C


Over the past few years several car companies have decided it takes more than sedans, station wagons, sports cars and sports-utility vehicles to cover all the bases in their lineups. Now, it seems that the time has come to add Mercedes-Benz to that list.
PERFORMANCE ANXIETY
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See how the Mercedes-Benz R350 compares with similar vehicles, and what we liked and didn't like about the R-Class.

Like other auto makers that are blending truck or van-style bodies with a smoother-riding car chassis, the German luxury unit of DaimlerChrysler has entered the "crossover" market with its 2006 R-Class, which went on sale earlier this month. And the trend seems to be a popular one: Sales in the crossover segment totaled 1.5 million vehicles through August, up 20% from a year earlier, according to WardsAuto.com.

A Style Challenge

Mercedes-Benz calls the R-Class a sport tourer, a term that's better-known among European drivers. We started our weeklong test-drive of the vehicle with a healthy dose of skepticism -- in part because we recalled that Mercedes had developed the R-Class in a project a few years ago that also yielded the Chrysler Pacifica. Heralded as a "segment buster," the Pacifica struck us as being more of a bust, since it seemed big outside, cramped inside and just plain clunky-looking. We wondered if yet another crossover could really offer anything better -- or at least something new.

It may be a bit tame for road warriors, but the Mercedes R-Class is fine for piloting passengers.

Well, it certainly looked different. Visually, the R-Class falls somewhere between a minivan and a stretched station wagon. As our black test vehicle rolled toward us out of the parking garage, we liked what we saw: a low, sleek front end with headlights and grille that formed a strong, attractive face. From the top of the windshield, the roof slopes gently upward before curving down toward the rear -- which is where we saw some problems. The roof's curvature made it look droopy and the rear roof pillars just seemed too big. The first impression prepared us well for a vehicle that would take some getting used to but also proved unique.

While some naysayers call the R-Class a minivan gone wrong, we found that it actually improved on most vans in a few ways. For one, it gets rid of those annoying sliding doors. Our Mercedes' rear passenger doors were conventionally hinged but wider than usual to allow easier access to the third row. And that accessibility is enhanced even further by a lever near the bottom of the second-row seat that springs it forward and out of the way of folks getting into the rear seats.

Comfort Zone

Another thing that set our R350 apart from nearly every big SUV we've driven -- and some minivans -- is that the third-row seat is a realistic, even pleasant place for adults to sit. It's not that there's that much room back there; there's less headroom and legroom than in the third row of a typical minivan. But the foldaway seats aren't board-flat like those found in minivans, and the cabin area around them, while snug, is pleasant -- and an optional glass roof makes it seem bigger and airier.

On the road, the 3.5-liter V6 in our tester moved the vehicle with authority -- and relative economy. In nearly 400 miles of driving, most of it while loaded with people and baggage and with the air conditioner churning, the R350 logged just more than 20 miles per gallon. We would've liked to have seen a number closer to the mid-20s, but for a vehicle this size, the results were still impressive.

We also drove the eight-cylinder R500, which has a 302-horsepower engine (compared with the R350's 268-horsepower V6) but found that the R350 had more than enough muscle. Plus, the V8 seemed hardly worth the $7,500 premium it fetches over the $48,000 R350. And besides, if burning up the road is your goal, a 4,800-pound vehicle that is, frankly, shaped a bit like a whale (albeit a graceful one) doesn't really seem to be the way to go. The R is clearly meant for cruising, and it does that well.

Now, if Mercedes could clear up the blind spots caused by the wide roof pillars and too-small rear window, maybe we wouldn't be so afraid of backing up.