R to recalibrate Mercedes image

[BMWDave]

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R is for Recalibrate: Mercedes-Benz expects its R-Class to change the way well-heeled consumers think
J.P. VETTRAINO
Published Date: 7/18/05
2006 MERCEDES-BENZ R-CLASS
ON SALE: October
BASE PRICE: $48,775
POWERTRAIN: 3.5-liter, 268-hp, 258-lb-ft V6; awd, seven-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT: 4766 lbs
0 TO 60 MPH: 7.8 seconds (mfr.)

They didn?t look like a late-forming affluent family. Affluent, probably, but not necessarily late-forming. The gentleman owned a Nissan dealership in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He was driving a brand-new Titan pickup towing a 26-foot boat, but his grown son looked barely 20 years his junior, with the swagger of a young man confident about his future. Perhaps dad was a socialite empty-nester. He had stopped at a way station near the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance, Alabama, to examine the Mercedes R500 parked there.

Not that this guy is the typical consumer, as far as M-B is concerned. His wife drives an M-Class SUV, he said, and Mercedes confirms what observation suggests: Greater Birmingham, Alabama, the world?s source of M- and soon R-Class production, buys more Ms than the typical medium-sized southern market. There is built-in brand loyalty here. Regardless, the Nissan dealer was impressed with the R500 as both a consumer and a salesman, even if he wasn?t sure what it was.

Socialite empty-nester, late-forming affluent family? Marketing speak for people Mercedes expects to buy the R-Class. These folks are purportedly accustomed to the driving dynamics of a luxury sedan, yet searching for more space and practicality. Mercedes calls the R-Class a grand sport tourer; in familiar terms you might think of it as a minivan, but a really expensive one.


Whatever it is, we like it. R-Class is a new kind of machine from the new Mercedes-Benz?the Mercedes that has adopted BMW-style driving dynamics and expanded its product line to 12 vehicles. The R comfortably seats six, with the acceleration of a BMW 530i or Acura RL, full-time all-wheel drive and impressive people and cargo-hauling flexibility. It also has the passenger-friendly accoutrement of a mainstream minivan. No one is suggesting you trade in your E55 for this one, but the R nonetheless offers a satisfying way to put a lot of miles under its low-profile tires.

?We think of it as style and luxury meeting safety and practicality,? says Ron Mueller, R- and M-Class product planner for North America. ?The class still isn?t defined, except that it?s new. People don?t know what to call it.?

The idea behind R-Class was not necessarily invented at Mercedes-Benz. If you seek its genesis, start with GM and the Cadillac SRX. Mercedes considers SRX the only direct R-Class competitor available, and the company believes it is at the leading edge of a fast-developing wave. Other competitors, including the Audi Q7, BMW V5 and a reworked Lincoln Navigator, are still in the pipeline. And Mercedes does not consider so-called crossovers like the Ford Freestyle or DaimlerChrysler?s own Pacifica> to be R-Class competitors. Both are more blatantly SUV-biased than the R. More importantly, both are priced considerably lower. Pacifica starts at roughly half the R-Class?s base price.


Minivan, crossover or grand sport tourer, the R-Class is big. Measuring 203 inches long on a 126.6-inch wheelbase, the R is 14 inches longer than the M-Class with which it shares its drivetrains and suspension design. It is five inches longer than Cadillac?s full-size Escalade SUV. Finally, the R-Class is longer and nearly as tall as Chrysler?s Town & Country extended-wheelbase minivan. Its front-hinged side doors could be the longest in autodom. With curb weight for the V8 exceeding 4800 pounds, the R-Class is as heavy as some full-size SUVs.

Like the second-generation M-Class, the R starts with a unitized body. While the two vehicles have much in common, they don?t share a single piece of exterior sheetmetal or plastic exterior trim. Mercedes is proud of the transition from the Vision GST and R concept vehicles to the production R-Class, according to Mueller. In his view the R-Class?s heft is camouflaged by sexy design, and apparent only when it?s viewed in full profile.

Indeed, M-B?s design staff has done as well as any in disguising the stodgy, utilitarian intent of what is essentially a box on wheels (65 percent of the R?s volume is interior space). In many respects the R-Class is striking and handsome. That said, you might see bits of other vehicles in its whole. From the front, its boldly stepped hood/fenders and oval headlights conjure up a New Beetle with grille. In three-quarter view the rising crease under the beltline recalls Pacifica. In profile the R-Class makes us wonder what GM?s original dustbuster minivans might have been. And in spite of its height, the R-Class has been nipped and tucked to a sedan-grade 0.31 coefficient of drag.

Engine choices are the familiar Mercedes ones. The R350 is powered by the new-generation 90-degree V6 introduced in the SLK. With dual cams, four valves per cylinder, fully variable valve timing and counter-rotating balance shafts, it generates 268 hp at 6000 rpm and 258 lb-ft of torque from just 2400 rpm. The R500 gets Mercedes? older twin-spark 5.0-liter, 302-hp V8, with single cams and three valves per cylinder.

Either choice links to a newfangled seven-speed automatic, engaged with a short 7 Series-style electronic stalk. It can be shifted manually with buttons on the back of the steering wheel.

The permanent all-wheel-drive system is identical to that in the M-Class, without an off-road control option: single speed, three open differentials and a 50/50 default torque split. Mercedes? four-wheel traction control brakes any slipping wheels and lets the differentials do the rest. Theoretically the system can deliver all engine torque to one wheel, and maintains mobility if only one tire has grip.


The R-Class has double wishbones and coilover struts in front and a sedan-style four-link suspension in the rear. Mercedes? air-spring-adaptive dampening suspension is optional, allowing a driver to manually increase ride height three inches for rough surfaces. The R350 comes standard with 17-inch wheels and 235/65 rubber rated to 130 mph. The R500 rides on 18-inch wheels (255/55); 19-inch wheels are optional.

The R seats six in three rows of two, as opposed to seven in the SRX and many minivans. Yet each seat adjusts individually, and any will comfortably accommodate an adult of medium height. Curtain-style head-protection airbags cover all three rows.

The second pair of seats slides fore or aft six inches, allowing up to 40 inches of space between the first two rows and 30 inches between the second and third. The second row has air vents in the rear of the console, the floor and the B-pillars, and its own fan.

The R?s four rear seats fold, individually and in fairly simple fashion, to create a flat load floor. Cargo capacity ranges from 15.2 cubic-feet behind the third row to an impressive 85 cubic-feet with all the rear seats folded. That?s less than a long-wheelbase Town & Country, with its slick stow-in-floor seats, but more than the SRX or full-size SUVs (Escalade has 64 cubic-feet).

R-Class is loaded with conveniences that would have been unimaginable in any Mercedes 10 years ago. Every seat has at least one cupholder, an armrest, air vent and light, and there?s a built-in bottle opener. An optional dual-screen DVD system provides LED screens behind the front headrests, and each can display a different input (a movie and video game, for example). An optional iPod connection displays the MP3 player?s menu on the dash.

Put your foot in the pedal and it goes, regardless of engine. The R500 has far more grunt than any family hauler needs, and gets itself around anything dawdling in its path without breaking a sweat. The R350 is better than adequate for no-pucker passing on two-lanes. Mercedes reports 0 to 60 mph in 6.5 seconds for the R500 and 7.8 for the R350, with top speed governed at 130 mph.


You will like the seven-speed automatic. In addition to extra gears, it gets a control program that doesn?t seem to nap when you need it most. It will kick down fast, three gears at once, if you give it that much pedal. The touch-shift manual mode works nicely, even if it won?t let you hold a gear at redline.

Put another way, the R-Class is much better to drive fast than any minivan in memory. It has new-age Mercedes chassis dynamics, as demonstrated by the E- and C-Class sedans, as opposed to the old-school, softer Mercedes convention. Empty Alabama back roads were candy, rarely under 80 mph, without a single short breath or a hint of perspiration. As a driving machine the R500 is not boring, or it doesn?t have to be. Only the truly hard-core with twisted expectations will think so.

The R does suffer a common malady circa 2005, as rims get bigger and sidewalls get shorter and stiffer. Particularly with the 19-inch wheel option, the tires feel hard and stiff when they slam pavement joints, and they crack loud!

With a base price of $48,775 for the R350, the R-Class might be the most expensive minivan ever. Standard equipment includes leather seat surfaces, power front seats, rain-sensing wipers, dual front temperature controls, maple trim, privacy glass from the B-pillars back, and an eight-speaker stereo/CD with two subwoofers.

The R500, with a base price of $56,275, adds a power-telescoping steering wheel, glovebox CD changer, walnut trim, heated front seats with memory, Mercedes? Tele Aid package and privacy glass all around. With nine primary option groups, including an AMG sport-look package, the typical R500?s price could stretch well into the $70,000 range. All indicators point to an AMG R55 hot rod somewhere in the future.

Now that?s a minivan. Or not.

[Raghavan]

Yup, with the R, Merc is showing me that it can build butt ugly vehicles.

[Secret Chimp]

Yup, with the R, Merc is showing me that it can build butt ugly vehicles.

Yup, with you, your mom is showing she can make butt ugly kids.

[BMWDave]

Yup, with the R, Merc is showing me that it can build butt ugly vehicles.

Yup, with you, your mom is showing she can make butt ugly kids.

No need to get personal here, folks.

[Raghavan]

Yup, with the R, Merc is showing me that it can build butt ugly vehicles.

Yup, with you, your mom is showing she can make butt ugly kids.

you don't even know what i look like, doofus.

[Raghavan]

Yup, with the R, Merc is showing me that it can build butt ugly vehicles.

Yup, with you, your mom is showing she can make butt ugly kids.

No need to get personal here, folks.

^what he said^

[thewizard16]

It looks odd, but nice, I think. Still, it's pretty expensive. I wouldn't expect this to be any sort of volume seller for Mercedes, even for the price segment.

[TBR]

I think it is very nice, a great family hauler. Yes, it is expensive, but so are its competitors. I really doubt that msrp to msrp the R350 is much more expensive than an Expedition Limited (actual purchase prices are a different story).

[Run Away]

4766 lbs!?

That thing is a tank.

[TBR]

Indeed, but that 7-spd auto still allows it move very well.  

[Raghavan]

I think it is very nice, a great family hauler. Yes, it is expensive, but so are its competitors. I really doubt that msrp to msrp the R350 is much more expensive than an Expedition Limited (actual purchase prices are a different story).

Expeditions are much bigger.

[TBR]

Not really, they might be externally bigger but at least from the photos the R-class looks to have more interior room.  

[Run Away]

Indeed, but that 7-spd auto still allows it move very well.

It can't be much bigger than our Sienna, and it's 766lbs heavier.

[TBR]

It has a RWD based AWD system and has a lot of luxury features, that is where the weight comes from.  

[thewizard16]

Indeed, but that 7-spd auto still allows it move very well.

It can't be much bigger than our Sienna, and it's 766lbs heavier.

I doubt it's as large as the Sienna.

[TBR]

I think they have a last gen Sienna, in which case it is probably about the same size.

[Run Away]

Yeah, ours is a '98.
Funny how they always call it a sport tourer in the article - yet it weights 4766lbs and has only 268hp (making it only slightly faster than our 194hp Sienna, probably as fast as the 210hp '01 Siennas).

[TBR]

7.8 seconds to 60 is faster than the current 230 hp Sienna, that 7 speed auto does wonders.  

[thewizard16]

7.8 seconds to 60 is faster than the current 230 hp Sienna, that 7 speed auto does wonders.

More gears can be a very good thing, when they do it right.