2008 Mercedes-benz Cl600, Nv, Nav, Hs, Cs on 2040-cars

Auto blog

2021 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 is business class without the jet lag

Mercedes-AMG demonstrated how sporty a mammoth SUV can be by unveiling the 2021 GLS 63 S at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show. Across the Pacific, at the Guangzhou auto show in China, Mercedes-Maybach revealed another GLS variant that puts an unabashed focus on comfort. The 2021 GLS 600 ends years of rumors by finally taking Maybach into the SUV segment. (If you don't count the limited-edition G 650 Landaulet). It's not a standalone model developed from the ground up, and it's in no way related to the electric Vision Mercedes-Maybach Ultimate Luxury concept introduced in 2018. It's a second-generation GLS dressed up in a Hugo Boss suit. Stylists spruced up the front end with Maybach's chromed waterfall grille and mesh inserts in the lower part of the bumper. An abundance of chrome trim (including big slabs of it in on the B-pillars) and Maybach emblems on the D-pillars further set the SUV apart from its non-Maybach-badged sibling. Buyers can order a two-tone paint job at an extra cost. 6.8-foot-long running boards automatically extend from under the body about a second after one of the passengers opens a door. Designers took advantage of the cavernous interior to replace the second- and third-row seats with a pair of business class-like chairs that offer heated, ventilated, massaging and reclining functions. Maybach developed the GLS with chauffeur-driven buyers in mind, so the passengers traveling in the back benefit from their own infotainment system with wireless headphones, folding tablets, wireless device chargers, plus heated and cooled cupholders. Alternatively, buyers can order the GLS as a five-seater with a three-person rear bench. The GLS 600 receives the twin-turbocharged, 4.0-liter V8 engine that's omnipresent in the Mercedes range. It delivers 550 horsepower from 6,000 to 6,500 rpm and 538 pound-feet of torque between 2,500 and 5,000 rpm in this application, and it spins the four wheels via a nine-speed automatic transmission and 4Matic all-wheel drive. Mercedes pegs its zero-to-60-mph time at 4.8 seconds. The standard 48-volt mild hybrid system briefly gives the GLS 600 an additional 21 horsepower and 184 pound-feet of torque. It also sends the kinetic energy it recuperates to the battery pack while braking or coasting, and powers a technology named E-Active Body Control which scans the road ahead and adjusts the suspension as needed if it detects a pothole, a bump or another obstacle.

Valtteri Bottas on pole for Formula One's 1,000th race

Valtteri Bottas will start Formula One's 1,000th world championship race from pole position after leading Mercedes team mate Lewis Hamilton in a front row lockout at the Chinese Grand Prix on Saturday. Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel qualified third, ahead of 21-year-old Monegasque team mate Charles Leclerc who was unable to repeat his Bahrain Grand Prix pole of two weeks ago. Bottas, who won the season opener in Australia and leads defending champion Hamilton by one point in the standings, was the third different driver to take pole this season in three races. "The lap was OK, not completely how I wanted. Luckily it was good enough for pole," smiled the Finn, who pipped Hamilton by 0.023 seconds after setting a best time of one minute 31.547. "Lewis also managed to improve a lot during the qualifying and it was super-close." The pole was a first for Bottas since Russia last September and the seventh of his career. It was also his first in China where Mercedes have won five of the last seven races. Hamilton sounded happy just to be on the front row, despite six previous poles in Shanghai, after looking out of sorts in practice. "I didn't give up, I kept pushing right to the end. Big congratulations to Valtteri, he's been stellar all weekend and I've been struggling and fighting the car," said the Briton. "To be as close as we are at the end is fantastic. An incredible result for the team. There was a little bit more time left on the table there but that's cool, I'll try and get it tomorrow," added Hamilton. UNHAPPY VERSTAPPEN Ferrari had arrived in China as favorites after showing their speed in Bahrain, particularly on the straights, with Leclerc on pole and leading until a loss of engine power in the closing laps. While unable to match the quick-cornering Mercedes cars for overall pace in Shanghai, Vettel hoped to be closer on Sunday thanks to the track's main straight being more than a kilometer long. "I think there was maybe a little bit more but overall not enough to beat these guys today," said the 31-year-old German, a four times world champion. "If we get close we could have an advantage in a straight line." The top 10 positions went two-by-two in team order, with Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly fifth and sixth and ahead of the Renault pair of Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg – the Australian just 0.004 ahead of the German.

2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe First Drive

Remember 2008? The government said companies could make food from cloned animals. Derrick Rose became a Bull, Michael Phelps killed it at the Beijing Olympics, the Giants killed gamblers everywhere by beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The money that banks had been dousing in lighter fluid for years finally caught fire courtesy of Lehman Brothers. General Motors admitted it got torched for a $38.7-billion loss in 2007. Oil hit $147 a barrel. Tata introduced the Nano. And Mercedes-Benz gave us the W204 C63 AMG, a sedan we didn't know we'd been waiting for until we drove it. It was hammer in front and hell in back, that naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 with 451 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque swearing in Beelzebub's childhood tongue through four oval pipes jutting from a heart of black diffuser darkness. It was everything AMG had always been, howling mad in a straight line. And everything AMG hadn't been, sharp and fast through a turn. AMG booked a lot of goodwill for that endeavor, a substantial success that bred huge expectations. Not only would we not be surprised by the 2017 AMG C63 S, we would expect it to be outstanding. And it is. But not in the way we expected. What we love about the W205 C-Class sedan is the same thing that gives us pause about the AMG C63 S: they both grew up. The coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the sedan. The C63 Coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the standard production car. The hood is 60 millimeters longer, and there's a front splitter ready to make nasty crunching noises around town. The trunk gets a trim blade of a spoiler, strengthening the design connection to the S-Class Coupe. Blistered wheels broaden the C63 S Coupe by 2.5 inches in front and 2.6 inches millimeters in back, putting needed muscle on that otherwise svelte rear end and visually bolting the car to the road. Track is wider, too, and standard 19-inchers fill the wheel wells. It's a beautiful machine, and when draped in one of the 80 bazillion shades of matte silver AMG is known for, it's devastating. Our subjective take is that it's swapped personas with the BMW M4. Now it's the C63 S that channels muscular grace, while the M4 takes Bluto as its spirit animal. What's left to be said about Mercedes interiors, other than to give way for the heckling about the COMAND touchscreen placement? This interior does it like all the rest, with the exception of a small steering wheel with an absurdly fat rim.