Revolution begins with rest and recreation
THERE is nothing modest about calling your latest model a Grand Sports Tourer and adding that it is a “revolutionary new vehicle concept”. But that is Mercedes-Benz’s take on its four-wheel drive, six-seater R-Class, a car that is big enough to block out the light if it stops alongside you at traffic lights.
Longer than an S-Class, wide and high, the new Merc — built at Tuscaloosa, Alabama, — has a lounge-length interior with passengers sitting in pairs in three rows of adjustable armchairs, the rearmost needing big lungs to talk to those at the front because they are so far away; in fact they may prefer to write. In Mercspeak this is “dynamic space”.
If Mercedes has got its marketing right, the R-Class — all 2.2 tonnes of it and priced at up to £55,000 — represents a new path for car design, wrapping into one bulky package a luxury saloon, estate car, sports utility and people-carrier to create something “unprecedented”, as the company puts it.
So start with the meaning of the “R” designation: it stands for Rest and Recreation. All occupants get a window seat, and access to each seat is easy, while comfort is an absolute priority, even for those in the third row. Lowering the seats for extra luggage carriage is quick, easy and provides a flat, van-like load space 2.2 metres long. The car is almost 17 feet long, which makes for the sort of seat pitch that costs a lot of money in an airline’s business class. Headroom is lofty and shoulder space fine, even for wrestlers.
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