All Entries Tagged With: "Benz"
Generational Contrast: W123 & W212 Benz
From this perspective, the W123 wagon seems like a die-cast model.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler AG
YOU can just catch a glimpse of the slight curve of the spare tyre cover from behind the rear cargo area’s glass pane.
Kind of seems silly, at first.
Why use up all the cargo space for a spare tyre when most station wagons now stow the extra wheel safely underneath the cargo floor? Then it dawns, if the back of your wagon is loaded with junk – and you blow a tyre – it’s easier to reach the spare from the side than have to unload the bay to lift the floor panels.
Those crafty Germans. Lean design was key in the 70s and 80s. Not so, for the noughts. That said, there are some stylistic ties to a simpler time in Benz history.
Consider the signature slatted seats of both the W123′s interior (top) and the W212′s cabin (bottom). These were a hallmark of the 70s and 80s. There’s also a similar symmetry in the dash’s neutral layout and a rectangular commonality between both generation’s instrument clusters.
Still, the old estate’s compartment seems uncluttered and focused while the new cabin seems the a overly earnest attempt to fuse too many elements into one space.
And then there’s the very similar shape of the cargo areas – the slanted rear windscreen, the abrupt rear departure angle below the bumper, the balanced ratio between glass height and sheetmetal. And on the surface of it all, the color schemes on these showcase Benzes seem to order from the same military supply catalog.
Simply put, the W123 and W212 are similar yet very different cars. As one would expect to find in three decades of design evolution.
More Wagon Talk: 2010 E-Class
2010 Benz E-Class Station wagon
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler AG
SEEMS fitting to discuss Mercedes-Benz station wagons on a Saturday.
For decades, the luxury Euro estate was the set of wheels for the weekend in the country. Indeed, for SUV-averse countries like the UK, the station wagon is still popular by virtue of its standard car platform with long cargo hold.
Still, the idea of hauling something the size of a trailer or a boat seems too daunting a prospect for a mere wagon. Surely only a Suburban or GL-Class would do. You know, a full size SUV.
Reading the laundry list of new features that Daimler’s listed on the new 2010 E-Class station wagon, two new features stuck out at me and make me think twice on this bit of common sense.
1) Standard Self leveling rear suspension. That’s key. Consider loading three kids in the back plus cargo plus a hitch to something the size of a minor U-Haul and you’ve got enough weight to compress any set of Bilsteins to let the muffler catch any hump in the road. If you think about it, Mercedes should’ve offered this on wagons back in the 70s when the W116 S-Class featured hydropneumatic vehicle height control. Better late…
2) Ten engine options, three of which are diesels. Bet that the E350 CDI wagon will find its way Stateside along with its de-stumping 368 lb-ft of torque available at 1900 rpm. That’s more power than a 911 GT4, incidentally (314 lb-ft).
Gotta love the Benz station wagon.
Surviving The Estate: 2010 E-Class
New horse. Old hitch.
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler AG
NUMBERED are the station wagon’s days.
Sadly, trends are showing that the world’s breadboxes are being sidelined for SUVs (Stateside), Crossovers (ibid), and hatchbacks (Fair Europa). I note this decline with some regret, for I credit generations of Volvo wagons for transporting yours safely.
Lords knows what the demise of the wagon will do to the I-roll company.
That said, thanks to Mercedes-Benz’s seat-for-every-ass product-line philosophy, the station wagon isn’t going anywhere soon – at least not in this product life cycle.
The 2010 E-Class wagon whose handsome images leaked earlier in the week is a testament to Stuttgart’s commitment to an older utilitarian form of vehicular transport.
What’s more, it seems that finally (and not since the W124 generation of the mid 80s to early 90s) Mercedes has produced an estate as thoughtfully executed and comprehensively engineered as the new W212 series.
Mercedes-Benz says the new station wagon’s stuffed with more safety goodies than you can [insert whitty safety-themed metaphor here]. There’s the mnemonically titled “NECK-PRO” whiplash protection system, a lane departure system, PRE-SAFE with Attention assist, and Night View Assist Plus (Plus = pedestrian detection system) all packed tightly into a five-door wedge.
It’s more commodious than the predecesor and the exterior features actual surface tension, high shoulder lines, and a lofty rear departure angle. So better of both fuction and form worlds, then.
Perhaps it’s my fondness for traditional modes of transport, but somehow, BMW’S 5er Gran Turismo SAV seems suddenly less appealing.
Benz ABC + Crosswind Stabilization
By Gunnar Heinrich | Video via YouTube
FEATURED as standard equipment on the S600, Mercedes-Benz has taken their decade old Active Body Control program (ABC) and redeveloped the system to counteract crosswinds – a great aid to a juggernaut as broad as the Sonderklasse and trickle-down technology that we can all look forward to… in the next decade or so.
That said, for a company with budgets and talents as outsized in comparison to most of the competition, you have to find this video a little lacking in demonstrating the effects of the crosswind stabilization in action.
Grant you, the comparo would be tricky to visualize in the best of circumstances, but surely there’s a better way of communicating the before and after effects with imagery. Certainly, the unique program would be worth the effort.
Just sayin’.
Japan’s German Candy Store (II)
By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG GarageCurrent.com
LET’S drool some more over GarageCurrent’s current stock inventory.
As I’ve posted before I have got to go visit this Japanese dealer. Their flawless selection of classic Benzes, Porsches, Bimmers and current stock of Ferraris and Lambos is any car nut’s dream.
Decisions, decisions…
1989 Mercedes-Benz 500SE in navy blue over blue with a healthy 110,000 km…
Sweet Sacco lines come standard.
Ferrari 360 is silver or red with 27,900 km (well traveled for a Ferrari)
Sonorous V8 music comes with the package.
1987 Mercedes-Benz 560SL in white over charcoal plaid with 45,700 km…
and fixed wing.
2007 911 Turbo in navy blue over saddle with 3,900 km…
replete with Porsche minimalist aesthetic.
We’ll take the whole lot. Cheers.
Four Teutonic Facelifts That Worked & One That Didn’t
The R129 generation (1989-2001) Mercedes SL – post-op
By Gunnar Heinrich
SUCH is the prolific lifespan of most of Stuttgart or Munich’s creations (typically 7-10 years) that mid-cycle “facelifts” are often called for to keep the Benzes and Bimmers appearing fresh against upstart competition.
Sound like the anxious existence of an aging Hollywood actress? Well, it is more or less.
Here are four cases in point where a trip to the plastic surgeon yielded a cleaner look that managed to eclipse the original plus one example that could’ve used a follow up…
BMW E34 5-Series (1988-1994)
Arguably the handsomest midsize sedan BMW has yet to build, the 5er was angular, lean, and cleanly drew the automaker into the 90s. But those facets that worked under the Bush Administration seemed dated mid-way through the Clinton years – particularly when most rivals were bulking up into heftier shapes.
Below, the easy fix.
The 90s refit added a lower apron to the front bumper – better channeling air to the front brakes – and minimized the horizontal plastic slats – a styling cue from the 70s – in favor of adding painted sheetmetal surrounding the chromed kidney grille. The effect, however subtle, was a modernizing step that segued nicely into the succeeding e39 generation (1995-2003).
Mercedes-Benz R129 SL-Class (1989-2001)
The automotive press was merciless in their spite of the sport light by the time it had reached its finale in 2001. They labeled the Benz a “dinosaur” with all the big, lumbering connotations for performance that the attribution meant.
Still, when the SL made its debut in the 80s alongside the W126 S-Class, it was a pioneer in German excellence in design that had replaced the truly ancient R107 (1971-1989). Still, the SL would receive not one but two facelift in its lifespan. The last (and best) occuring in 1998.
It’s amazing what tweaking the headlamps of a car can do to the overall appearance. With translucent lenses, we see a more dynamic face thanks the Xenon projectors. Visually, the “eyes” of the car appear wider, too. That along with bolder body-colored bumpers, slightly twisted side skirts (on Sport packaged models), and larger, fewer spoked rims – gave more credibility to the “sport” in “sport light”.
Mercedes-Benz W140 S-Class (1991-1999)
Hot on the heels of the W126 generation (1979-1991), many of the automotive press labeled this big Benz “too much of a good thing”. Indeed, its designer Bruno Sacco lamented that he thought the W140 “two inches too tall.” Whatever the case, Benz let pleats out of this suit and were quick to take it back in.
The 1996 refit turned the initial car’s frown upside down – yielding a smiling front air dam. The headlights were slightly tampered with too as were the side indicators which became translucent – replacing the bright signature Mercedes orange. There still wasn’t much Benz could do with the heavy appearance – but the second variation made subtle amends with added lines to regain a sense of surface tension that the original never had.
BMW E65/66 7-Series (2001-2008)
Portly and flamed to a crisp, the first of Chris Bangle’s new generation of flame surfaced BMWs left BMW’s former chief designer fearing for his life for the ire of incensed Bimmer traditionalists. Admittedly, the flagship Bimmer had a hard act to follow…but this was a bit much. Hence the hasty and comprehensive corrective surgery in 2005…
Once again, surface tension was introduced to a design that had none. Stronger lines cleaved into the hood and trunk cut through the original car’s bloat. That and taller wheels, more rectangular(ish) headlights, a smiling front air dam (the original glowered with two foglamps for clumsy fangs – think Sweetums from The Muppets ) and a cleaner boot line (less Bangle but) made for a sharper finish to this most controversial 7.
Mercedes-Benz W210 E-Class (1995-2003)
Now for the exception. The first generation of the handsome, oval-headlamped midsize Benzes enchanted the automotive press when it was first unveiled. But quality control problems marred the sedan’s production life and Mercedes’ otherwise sterling facade – including an unforgivable lack of structural rigidity in the crash tests. Sadly, the best looking midsize Benz Stuttgart has yet built is also takes the top prize in poorest build quality.
Unfortunately, the mid-cycle fix took away a large portion of the original W210′s charm. Strangely scalloped from air intakes replaced the first iteration’s form & function horizontal slats. The front bumper was reshaped giving the sedan less ground clearance and a more forward leaning stance.
Those signature oval headlamps lost the bright orange “eye lid” contrast to a milky, opaque disguise. The afterthought side mirror signal lights didn’t work either for their inclusion seemed clumsily executed. Slimmer tail lamps, a more slanted grille, the list of missteps goes on…
And there you have it: four facelifts that improved upon the original art work – and one that really didn’t.
Mercedes-Benz Classic Center Irvine
A replica. Yours For $65,000
By Gunnar Heinrich
MERCEDES’ Classic Center in Irvine, CA stands as an ongoing contract between Benz and the needs of clients with vintage models and aficionados who want to buy pristine examples of old Benzes they admire. That said, the Center’s customer service does come at price…
Stuttgart Can Present Best Luxury Case For Tough Times
By Gunnar Heinrich
WHEN economic times get tough, when gas is expensive and in short supply, and the chips, so to be speak, are down, how does a car company whose image Stateside revolves around luxury and prestige manage?
With difficulty, might be your knee-jerk response - jerk. But, as it happens, we’ve been here before.
And while Audi will present itself during Sunday’s Super Bowl as the low-key, progressive, fashionable choice for a new era of luxury sans ego, there’s another car company that can make a more compelling case for itself in these unsteady times for having been through this same kind of crisis decades earlier.
You’ve might’ve guessed, that company is Mercedes-Benz.
Why and how?
Stuttgart’s star re-engineered itself in the 1970s and early 1980s – a rough period for the automotive world whose socioeconomic problems are echoing today.
Back then, Uncle Sam was busy telling car makers how to run their business and as a result, early versions of the catalytic converter and five mph bumper plus the WWII era mandate requiring every car to have sealed beam headlamps (composites were still a no-no) wreaked havoc on automotive style, function, and performance. Worse still, the depressed economy put a damper on anything deemed “luxurious”.
Of all the European players during this period, Mercedes managed the best not by compensating with stunningly beautiful sheetmetal (with the exception of the R107 SL most 70s Benzes took the term “three-box” too literally) but by marketing and making over-engineered tanks par excellence.
W123
The old company tagline was “engineered like no other car in the world” and it translate to the following excerpt from a 1982 U.S. brochure showcasing the thrifty (W123) 240D sedan.
“The 240D radically differs from many other cars in its price class. It is meant to serve its owner not as a status symbol but as a model of functional efficiency- turning advanced automotive science and technology toward the single-minded goal of minimizing waste in all its forms.”
The pitch might register stiffly now, but it’s a direct shot at the wallets of the penny pincher (which everyone now seems to be). The 240D’s buyer is the same buyer who in a bolder time might’ve jumped for a BMW 3er but today opts for the leather package on his ’09 Honda Accord or Hyundai Azera.
That buyer wants to know that what he’s going to buy will be not only comfortable but headache free and cheap to run. It don’t matter what badge rides on the hood so long as it signals quality.
The W123 generation pre-cursor E-Class was probably Mercedes’ most successful model in terms of sheer sales volume. That so many are still in service as trusty diesel powered workhorses is a testament to that over-engineered cred all these years later.
THE OLD M.O. MADE NEW
Mercedes needs to draw more on their old M.O. of being the choice for people who want to own a car that will last…and last…and last. The idea is simple: if you lose your job tomorrow or the recession becomes a depression, you’ll have comfortable, safe, secure, reliable transport that will see you through.
Audi doesn’t have that old school made-of-iron halo. In fact, if people strain to recall, Audis were horribly temperamental cars straight through the 90s. Mercedes has the tough tried ‘n true reputation that should register with plenty of consumers in times as dour as these.
Drive An AMG Look-Alike Until The Real Thing Arrives
A subtle poseur, to be sure.
By Gunnar Heinrich
GIVEN that previous AMG packaged E-Classes have made the mild looking Mercedes-Benz sedans look as though they could fart fire through chrome ringed exhausts, it’s surprising that the AMG package offered for the 2010 E Class is so, um, restrained.
2010 Lincoln MKT Isn’t Quite Right
Lincoln’s 2010 MKT is falling short on the details.
By Gunnar Heinrich
LIKE you, I’ve been examining the latest pics coming out Motown with some interest.
Among the new releases, there’s Lincoln’s version of the Ford Flex SUV/Wagon called “MKT.”
To MKT with the MKT Ford goes ~
The beast is pleasant to look at in a slightly bizarre but ultimately banal kind of way. The Flex, which debuted last year, is a much more visually engaging auto, which is probably why no one dared to buy one.
The Lincoln smoothes and curves over all the Flex’s rectangular angles making it more suburban and less “edgy.” It’s boring. It’s just plain boring, there’s no cause in being nice. I’m sure it’ll do well on Long Island and I expect to see many trimmed in GE fridge white.
That said, I thumbed through the press release shots and paused on one image that inadvertently managed to encapsulate why Detroit is where it is now.
Our P.O.V. is from inside the MKT’s cabin looking through the window shade partially covering the driverside-rear window. And what see – and what the photographer didn’t pick up on in the shoot – was typical Motown half-assed design.
The shade, a partial see-through net that’s operated manually and latches onto two exposed hooks, covers perhaps 70% of the main window, while the rest of the fixed glass remains uncovered.
Any tot or adult needing shade from the sun, or the paparazzi, while sitting normally in the seat is sure to only partly benefit from this half-measure.
Now consider the power-operated sun shades that cover both the window and the fixed rectangular glass of the rear door in the current Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Total surface coverage must be 99.5% and I’m sure some German engineer was up nights stressing that last .5%.
So we’ve got good-enough-for-Gov’t-work standard and win-the-sale-precise standard. Judging from design merit alone, which car would you spend your thousands on – or better – which car company would be more worthy of your investment?
