Automotive Reviews
Posts tagged Mercedes
North American International Auto Show 2012
Jan 16th
It’s practically a tradition that the North American International Auto Show in Detroit is accompanied by the worst weather of the season. The second week in January in Detroit is rarely a pleasant place, but this year’s show was preceded by unseasonably warm and sunny weather. All thoughts of global warming aside, it seemed to indicate a subtle change in the climate of the automotive industry as well. No-shows included Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Jaguar/Land Rover, but all of the major industry players were present.
Several years of economic hardship (and more than a few casualties) have left the auto industry cautious; the wild abandon that characterized auto shows past is long gone. In its place, there’s a pragmatic realism–but for 2012, that realistic outlook is also optimistic. In addition to the upcoming products that are useful refinements of existing vehicles, Detroit also saw the debut of some honest-to-goodness concept cars, showing that the industry may have scaled back on the wildest flights of fancy, but it hasn’t forgotten how to dream. More >
2011 Mercedes E550 Cabriolet
Aug 12th
The modern automobile is more than just a way to get from place to place. A car can be a statement of purpose and status, or it can be a simple work of art. It can be away to interact with one’s world, and an escape from that very same thing. The transcendent nature of the car is strong in convertibles, and the all-new Mercedes E550 cabriolet raises it to an art form.
Sharing underpinnings with the rest of the new-for-2010 E-Class, the new E550 cabriolet brings fresh styling, top-up and top-down comfort and radical new safety technology to the table, but that’s not all. This four-passenger droptop also exudes a confident and comfortable pleasure for life that rubs off all too easily on the driver. One does not step lightly into the E550. More >
2011 Mercedes SLS AMG
Feb 17th
It seems like an opportunity too good to be true: I am at a multi-vehicle drive event, and the Mercedes SLS AMG is sitting in the paddock unattended. Getting a moment alone with an exotic car when there are sixty-five other automotive journalists present is akin to getting an audience with the Pope on Easter Sunday. These things just don’t happen.
Without hesitating or breaking into a run, I approach the SLS AMG, whose driver’s door stands invitingly open. Nobody challenges me, or jumps into the driver’s seat before I can. I take the chance. I slip inside and pull the gullwing door shut behind me, blocking out the sounds from the track. I find myself wrapped instantly in taut red leather. I’ve sat in the Italian hypercars–Lamborghini Murcielago and Gallardo, Ferrari 599 GTB and Scaglietti—and they’ve never done all that much for me. The Mercedes SLS AMG feels different. It feels like a place that I want to be in. Where the Ferrari and Lamborghini seem to be trying to intimidate their passengers into leaving, the SLS AMG is a chamber of awesome secrets and adventures, just waiting to be activated. I feel instantly at home, in a car-guy-connecting-to-a-car way that doesn’t happen every day. This feels like the first time I sat in a Miata. This is fated. This car WANTS me to drive it, and if anybody tries to keep it from happening, they’re going to have a fight on their hands. More >