1982 Mercedes-benz Sl-class on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Range Rover versus Mercedes-Benz: Which makes a more appealing SUV?

From time to time — truth be told, all the time — the Autoblog staff enjoys a good debate on the merits and demerits of the cars and trucks we drive each week. This week, we spent some time in a brand-new Land Rover Range Rover Supercharged SUV, a model some of us think sits at the pinnacle of the luxury utility vehicle segment. Others disagree. The following is a real-life online debate that took place over the course of a few hours. Have a read, and feel free to take sides. There's a poll at the end so you can make your voice heard. Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski: Strange as it may sound, Jeremy Clarkson and I have a few things in common, most obvious of which is that we share a given name. But we also both love cars so much that we decided to turn our automotive passion into a career — with varying degrees of success, of course — and we both have come to realize over time that there's no point in trying to topple the Land Rover Range Rover as the world's best luxury off-road utility vehicle. Thing is, this universal truth isn't quite as universally shared as I think it should be. In fact, my esteemed colleague Alex Kierstein believes that Mercedes-Benz makes the most desirable four-wheel-drive off-road vehicles. He's clearly wrong, but I feel obligated to let him explain his choice, though it won't go without a rebuttal. Senior Editor Alex Kierstein: That's correct, and so am I in this regard. I'm sorry, Jeremy, but it's an irrefutable fact that Mercedes-Benz is doing the best interiors in the business now. And the interior is where you're going to spend most of your time, at least when the thing's running. The Range Rover's interior simply isn't as special, and frankly it'll be in the shop enough that you won't enjoy it. Now, stepping into pretty much any contemporary Mercedes sedan interior is a "wow" moment. They seem special — posh, exclusive, luxurious. The SUVs, all older vehicles coming due for total redesigns at some point in the future, are lagging a bit, but it's still a premium and upscale experience. Especially since performance is almost academic at this point. Anything in this class is going to be powerful, almost absurdly so. So why not go for the one that makes you feel like royalty, rather than your mechanic? JK: I just want to point out that it was you who brought reliability into this discussion.

Mercedes moves R-Class production to AM General in Indiana

Go back a decade or two and you'd have seen the SUV market polarizing in opposite directions: hard-core off-roaders like the Hummer on the one hand, and passenger-focused crossovers like the Mercedes R-Class on the other. Now their fates are set to intertwine, at least as far as manufacturing is concerned. No longer producing Hummers, AM General (which designed and originally produced the Hummer) has been assigned the task of manufacturing the R-Class at its underused, 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, IN – part of metropolitan South Bend. The decision was undertaken to allow Mercedes to free up production capacity at its plant in Tuscaloosa, AL, where it also produces the M-Class, GL-Class and C-Class, and where it will soon begin manufacturing the GLE Coupe. The vacation of the R-Class assembly line could be earmarked to make room for that new slant-roofed crossover (which was originally thought to be joining the Tuscaloosa plant as a fifth model) or could pave the way for another model to reach Alabama altogether. The multi-year arrangement to manufacture the R-Class makes AM General the first manufacturer contracted to build Mercedes-Benz vehicles in the US, but hardly the only one in the world. The G-Class – which could, incidentally, be characterized as the German equivalent of the Hummer – is built on Mercedes' behalf by Magna Steyr in Austria, and the company builds many of its passenger and commercial vehicles for local consumption under joint ventures in the Far East especially. The R-Class was first introduced in 2005, and though it's still built in America, it was removed from the company's US lineup back in 2012. However Mercedes confirms that, since 2013, it has been and remains available exclusively in China. That puts the R-Class in the rare position of being manufactured in the United States by (or now for) a foreign automaker but unavailable for sale here. AM General Selected As Mercedes-Benz First and Only Contract Manufacturer of Vehicles in the United States SOUTH BEND, Ind., Jan. 27, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- AM General LLC and Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Inc., today announced that Mercedes-Benz has selected AM General to manufacture the Mercedes-Benz R-Class luxury vehicle at AM General's world-class 675,000 square-foot Commercial Assembly Plant.

Consumer Reports selling its road-tested roadsters [w/video]

Here's a chance to acquire a celebrity-owned vehicles, and this time at a discount instead of a premium. So the celebrity in this case is Consumer Reports, that magazine that could be equally adored and abhored by car enthusiasts. CR buys all of its test vehicles and usually finds willing second owners within its own ranks, but its opening its small used-car lot to the public. On the forecourt are four roadsters: an automatic 2012 Audi TT 2.0 TFSI Quattro S-Tronic with 6,600 miles for $36,500, a manual 2012 BMW Z4 sDrive28i with 8,400 miles for $45,000, a manual 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK250 for $39,500 and a manual 2013 Porsche Boxster with 7,000 miles for $48,000.
Those numbers mean a savings of $9,000 to $10,000 before haggling - each car is listed with an "Asking price" so there could be some wiggle room if you show up with pockets full of dough and eyes full of serious intent. Since the money CR earns from the sales go back into the magazine's budget to buy more test cars, however, it probably won't take any oddball trades, so you can forget about getting any purchasing help from that track-day AMC Javelin project on blocks in the back yard.
The vehicles have been taken care of and spiffed up for sale; buyers will take delivery at the CR test track in East Haddam, Connecticut and get a tour of the facilities. While you're there they'll even take you on a lap around the track so you can feel how your car handles when driven by one of its testers. They will probably not help you with advice on which toaster and dehumidifier to buy - you'll still need to get a subscription for that. Have a look at the video below to see a day in the life of a CR test car.