All Entries Tagged With: "Mercedes e-class"

Oval Revolution: The W210 E-Class Headlamps

by Gunnar Heinrich ::: Mercedes-Benz W210 E-Class

WHEN Mercedes-Benz unveiled the W210 generation E-Class onto an unsuspecting public in 1995, it was clear Stuttgart had hit one out of the park. The Press was enamored. The Public, enthralled. And, importantly, BMW was forced onto the defensive.

Much of the new E-Class’ popularity boiled down to one simple aspect: the shape of the W210’s headlights. The twin sets of oval units marked a radical departure from the conservative, sealed-beam box lamps that faithfully carried the Mercedes-Benz lineup through the 1980s.

Adding to the distinctive new shape, for the first time Mercedes offered the option of blue Xenon discharge bulbs, a burgeoning technology in automotive lighting at the time.

The new headlamps did have their detractors, however. Some liken the units to “bug eyes” and missed the button-down conservatism of the 80s. Indeed, Mercedes’ design team now seems to be reverting back to a more rectangular lamp housing.

Nevertheless back in the 90s and early 00s, Mercedes’ oval headlamp style spread throughout the industry and was copied by rival marques Jaguar and Lexus, in particular.

The W210’s oval headlamps are now what the horsebit-buckles are to Gucci’s loafers and Burberry’s plaid is to, well, everything that Burberry sells; they’re so aped that even their own design houses seem resigned to producing knock-offs (the W212 E-Class headlamps seem to owe much to the current gen. Lexus GS).

Fifteen years on,  their effect on the lexicon of automotive design endures.

Mercedes-Benz A208 CLK-Class v. 2011 E-Class

• 2011 Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet seems terribly complicated
• Remembering the original CLK-Class by Bruno Sacco
• Simpler times meant prettier cars

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG Daimler, AG

LOOKING over the latest 2011 E-Class cabriolet photos,  I’m struck by the sheer complexity that the designers have imbued in a car that should really just project straight-forward fun-in-the-sun.

There are so many conflicting themes at work – it’s like the designers thought: alright we’ll start with a little 80s, then borrow from Bangle by torching it all with flame, add on every current design cliche that we can think of, and then throw on some phat rims!

To be sure, the new droptop’s got more presence than its softish A209 CLK predecessor, but Mercedes is still off its A-game.

Consider, if you will, the original, A208 CLK cabriolet, as a fine case in point. One of Bruno Sacco’s last hoorrahs, the CLK-Class was a buttoned down German following an hour in Margaritaville.

Those happy oval headlamps coupled with a front air dam that wrapped the front fascia with a smile, shook the starch out of the stodgy, but widely admired W124 E320 cabriolet.

For their part, the driving dynamics were strides ahead of its wooden predecessor – cowl shake, for instance, was drastically reduced thanks to increased torsional stiffness – plus Mercedes gave us an array of new engine options that extended to an AMG V8.

The CLK carried on tradition, however, in that Mercedes 2+2 drop tops previously featured the upright chrome  grille with tri star embem mounted on top. Would it have hurt Mercedes design to have offered this feature on the latest E-Class?

The CLK was a radical departure in its time, but now those soft corners, clean, purposeful lines and tight proportions seem just right.

First Take: 2011 BMW 5-Series

• 2011 BMW 5-Series appears sharp in some corners, generic in others
• 5er design takes some cues from the 80s and current rivals
• Face off with Mercedes-Benz E-Class looms large

By Gunnar Heinrich | IMG BMW, AG

IS it a Volvo? An Infiniti? No! It’s, it’s…

The next generation (F10), 2011 BMW 5-Series sedan.  Freshly unveiled after a week’s teasing, we knew that BMW would cast aside previous Bangle-ism to bring us an exec sedan more inline with the marque’s crisper past.

Now what to make of the effort?

From a profile P.O.V. and with the lighting cast as it has been to accentuate all those newly cut lines and softened edges, the sedan could well belong to other marques.

The 5 Series’ strongest familial tie lives in the space between the A and C pillars. There’s that familiar crisp arc with the strong Hoffmeister (or hockey puck) kink in the rear door frame that’s nicely silhouetted with a thin chrome lip. Following the kidney grille, this aspect stands as BMW’s best recognized design trademark and justly so.

The bonnet and boot, from this angle, appear relatively generic. You almost wonder whether Adrian Van Hooydonk’s team traced the Volvo S80′s outline in the front while considering the Infiniti M sedan’s proportions for the rear.

That having been said, we can see that a concerted effort was made to tie-in the 3-Series sedan’s sporty character in the trunk lines, particularly those classically themed tail lamps which recall back to the (E32) 7-series of the late 80s/early 90s with the new twist in the neon-tube-effect LED displays.

We can also give the 2011 5-Series credit for proportional management.

The sedan appears slightly elongated thanks to a flatter, longer bonnet, but maintains the popular and aerodynamically efficient wedge shape. Again, horizontal cut lines along the side help maintain a leaner appearance, though that’s thwarted somewhat by fat aero skirts that add visual heft below the door sills.

More than its milder new appearance, what makes this debut exciting is that for the first time in memory, BMW has unveiled a 5-Series right on the proverbial heels of a new Mercedes-Benz E-Class. The debut’s timing quickly translates into a popularity contest entre les deux in terms of styling approval along with recession-proof potency.

Benz is backing on 1980s design cues more than the slightly more avant-garde BMW. Both are conservative designs, to be sure, but it’ll be interesting nonetheless to see which wins wider favor in the marketplace.

The Trouble With Mercedes’ W210 E-Class

Legacy lost?

By Gunnar Heinrich

WHEN Mercedes unveiled the first oval-headlamped E-Class in 1996; it caught the competition off guard, rewrote the book on how a midlevel luxury sedan ought to look, and took the car buying public by storm.

The sedan (first, then frumpy wagon, and tight coupe/convertible re-dubbed CLK) was conservative enough to be faithful to years of Teutonic design language but avantgarde so as to stand in bold contrast with its siblings.

Aesthetically, it was a sensation. As feat of engineering the W210 was a round flop.

The cars didn’t age well. Online forums are rampant with complaints of body rust and poor reliability. Word of mouth confirmation from owners who happily traded to the W211 generation confirm this.

Worse, passive cell safety, while an improvement over the predecessor W124 generation, wasn’t up to par with BMW’s E39 5er or the solidity standards set by the W126 and W140 generation S-Class.

In short, the E-Class was the start of an oily slope that sent the brand down a compromised path for the better part of 10 years. It’s only now that Mercedes has begun to recover with the newly reworked C-Class that MB insists is a tried ‘n true, overqualified Benz.

That having been said, will this, the best looking yet least reliable generation of E-Class Benzes, be lost to the ambivalence of time and the wider public only to be registered by the scorn of unyielding MB conservatives?