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Automobile Magazine (www.automobilemag.com) has great Mercedes-Benz news, photos, videos and more
Tuesday, Nov 10
First Drive: 2011 Mercedes Benz SLS AMG
The combination of gullwing doors and a Mercedes badge makes the SLS AMG an instant entry in automotive history."Ugly don't mean nuthin' when you're sleeping on Ralph Lauren sheets." Such was the dating mantra of an old friend who evaluated the attractiveness of potential mates solely by...
Tuesday, Nov 3
Vile Gossip: Rockies Five-Car-Hill-Climb
It was a big, fat "what if." The Lincoln engineers wanted to pit the MKS EcoBoost against a BMW 550i with a 360-hp, 4.8-liter V-8; a 385-hp, 5.0-liter Jaguar XF; a 396-hp, 4.2-liter Maserati Quattroporte; and a 382-hp, 5.5-liter Mercedes-Benz E550. The MKS, at 4300 pounds, was the second heavie...
Monday, Nov 2
2010 Mercedes Benz E350
The E-class cruises at 80-85 mph in comfort and near silence.I'm having a bit of difficulty finding the right context for the E-class coupe. Its name says I should be looking at the BMW 6-series, while its price tag and its C-class underpinnings say I should seek out comparisons with the Audi...
Monday, Oct 26
Overview: 2009 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG Video
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Sunday, Oct 25
2009 Porsche Cayenne S
I'm finishing up a week with a 2009 Cayenne S and as delightful as it's been, I must concede: the Beast from (former) East Germany is starting to show its age. The dashboard isn't quite the height of fashion it once was and the cabin's general space efficiency now seems a good deal less than opt...
Wednesday, Oct 21
2009 Tokyo Show: Subaru Hybrid Tourer Concept
With that in mind, most of the journalists in Tokyo seemed ready to write off Fuji Heavy’s latest concept as a derivative piece of pie-in-the-sky thinking. We weren’t so convinced. The Hybrid Tourer’s turbocharged boxer powertrain and hybrid system -- one electric motor front and...
Friday, Sep 18
New Cars for 2010: Europe
Judging by the new-model intros from European carmakers, you'd think the bubble economy was still going strong.Judging by the new-model intros from European carmakers, you'd think the bubble economy was still going strong. At Mercedes-Benz, AMG has been developing a new supercar and a...
Wednesday, Sep 16
2009 FRANKFURT AUTO SHOW: This time retro design has really gone too far
The high-wheeled, open two-seater is a reinterpretation of Karl Benz’s Patent-Motorwagen. Powered by a fuel cell rather than a single-cylinder combustion engine, and steered by wire rather than with a tiller bar, the 21st-century update was actually a special one-off project done...
Friday, Sep 11
First Look: 2010 Mercedes-Benz Vision S500 Plug-In Hybrid
Like most other plug-in hybrids or "extended-range electric vehicles," the Vision S500 can actually propel itself on electric power alone.Along with its high performance SLS AMG, Mercedes-Benz will introduce a more environmentally friendly car in the form of another hybrid S-class....
Wednesday, Sep 9
First Look: 2010 Mercedes-Benz BlueZero E-Cell Plus
Photo Gallery: 2010 Mercedes-Benz BlueZero E-Cell Plus - 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show Coverage, New Car Reviews, Concept Cars - Automobile Magazine Photo Gallery: 2010 Mercedes-Benz BlueZero E-Cell Plus - 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show Coverage, New Car Reviews, Concept Cars - Automobile Ma...
Friday, Aug 28
Great Rivalries: Automatic vs Manual
It used to be so easy: Manuals were for real drivers, automatics were for lame-os.It used to be so easy: Manuals were for real drivers, automatics were for lame-os. Now we've got dual-clutch gearboxes that drive like automatics (scads), wet-clutch automatics that can tach up from a standi...
Thursday, Aug 27
Great Rivalries: Auto Union vs Mercedes Benz
The heroic Germans fought equally hard in mountain-climb and speed-record venues.In 1933, German chancellor Adolf Hitler promised Mercedes-Benz the 500,000-reichsmark (approximately $3 million today) incentive offered to any German racing team willing to campaign a car in the ne...
Monday, Aug 24
Great Rivalries: Mercedes Benz vs BMW
The rivalry between BMW and Mercedes-Benz dates back to 1959.The rivalry between BMW and Mercedes-Benz dates back to 1959. On December 9, Daimler-Benz tried, via the Deutsche Bank, to take over BMW, which was on the brink of bankruptcy. But the minor shareholders, the dealers, and the unio...
Wednesday, Aug 19
Sneak Preview: 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLK
In early 2011, we'll see the third generation of the roadster, which wants to be more aggressive in appearance and character.The SLK has been a solid success since its launch in 1996. In early 2011, we'll see the third generation of the roadster, which wants to be more aggressive in appearan...
Friday, Aug 14
Is diesel finally ready to take off in America? Bosch says so …
lean NOx traps (a.k.a. LNT, as found in the Jetta TDI) urea injections (as found in the Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec) clean it in the engine, not the exhaust (as being developed by Navistar, whose diesel-building deal with Ford will soon expire)
Thursday, Aug 13
2009 Volkswagen CC Sport
This CC is an extremely distinctive car for $28,000, without being too flashy or impractical.What a difference those curves make! Volkswagen's decision to dress up the dowdy-looking Passat was an excellent way to entice admirers of the Mercedes-Benz CLS who can't quite afford one. I cer...
Tuesday, Jul 21
Great Drives: 2010 Mercedes Benz E550 Coupe
Like everything in Vegas, the Mercedes-Benz E550 coupe is all about the façade.Here's a dirty little secret that isn't staying in Las Vegas: although it's similar in looks and pricing to the new E-class sedan, the 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-class coupe isn't a two-door version of the E-class. L...
Thursday, Jul 16
First Drive: 2011 Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG
We take Mercedes-Benz's latest gullwing for a flight around Germany's Sachsenring track.We're flat-out on Germany's Sachsenring race track in the new Mercedes SLS AMG, chassis number 00045, a mildly camouflaged pre-production model. Ahead is an SL65 AMG Black Series--twin-turbo V-...
Thursday, Jul 9
2009 Mercedes Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss
So, what does Sir Stirling think of his namesake?Since its 2004 introduction, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren has attempted to trade off the glory of the legendary W196S 300SLR racing cars of the 1950s. For the SLR's final run of seventy-five cars, Mercedes has crafted a whole new body for i...
Monday, Jul 6
Review: 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid and Lexus LS600hL
High-luxe hybrids: It's so easy being green.For 2010, the Mercedes-Benz S-class gains its first-ever hybrid powertrain, a clear indication that its maker is shifting from a strict diesel approach to efficiency and finally acknowledging the worth of hybrids as an essential step on the...
Wednesday, Jul 1
AMG Driving Academy: The Nurburgring
We came to conquer the Green Hell - a racetrack so dangerous, only precious few races are run there.The AMG Driving Academy at the Nürburgring is a trifecta of automotive scholarly brilliance: there are cars and then there are AMGs; there are tracks and then there's the Nürburgring, and th...
First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG
War is hell, unless it's a horsepower war, in which case it's kind of fun. For more than a decade, the cars from AMG have been on the front lines of the horsepower wars, which have seen the top autobahn rockets - most, naturally, from Germany - zoom past 300, then 400, and now 500 horsepower. But a...
Tuesday, Jun 30
2009 Mercedes Benz GL550 4Matic
Photo Gallery: 2009 Mercedes Benz GL550 4Matic - Mercedes Benz Luxury SUV Review - Automobile Magazine Photo Gallery: 2009 Mercedes Benz GL550 4Matic - Mercedes Benz Luxury SUV Review - Automobile Magazine
2010 Lexus LS600hL and 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 Blue Hybrid
The sumo wrestlers of the auto world, Lexus and Mercedes-Benz, flex their engineering muscles and flaunt their advanced technology every chance they get. Each wages battle in the hybrid luxury sedan category in a distinctive manner.The sumo wrestlers of the auto world, Lexus and Merced...
Monday, Jun 29
Our Golden Age
Acura TSXAudi A3Audi A4BMW 128iBMW 328iChevrolet Cobalt SSChevrolet Camaro Chrysler Crossfire (OK, it starts for a little more than $35,000, but that’s MSRP, and we’re talking about Chrysler. And seriously, did you even know you could still buy a new Crossfire? No you didn’t, do...
Wednesday, Jun 17
2009 Mercedes-Benz S550
Fast, surefooted, smooth, luxurious, and roomy, it's everything you'd ever want in a big luxury sedan, and more.If I ever come into a huge pile of cash, I'll go straight to a Benz dealer and pick up an S-class. I've been in love with this generation of S-class ever since I first had the chance to...
Tuesday, Jun 16
Diesel vs Hybrid
Mercedes' first-ever hybrid is about to drop, in the form of a luxury sedan. But if you look at the S-class roster, there's a big problem: the diesel. Something occurred to me as I was reading through last week's test of the Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid in the German magazine Auto Motor und Spor...
Monday, Jun 15
Mercedes-Benz and BMW Need Mass Market Partners - Time to Start Sniffing Around
Why Mercedes-Benz and BMW both need to find a mass-market partner.As to potential partners, both Daimler and BMW have sniffed at and then rejected Fiat, checked out Hyundai/Kia, and looked at Opel before deciding that its 1.5 million units aren't enough. BMW has had an engine project with P...
Friday, Jun 5
Opinion: 2009 Mercedes-Benz S550 4Matic
The chassis tuning is near perfect, power delivery is silky smooth, and acceleration is so undramatic that the speedo reads jailbait long before you even merge onto the highway.Much like the BMW 7-series, the S550 is not a car one can digest in one night. There's just so much going on, so much...
Monday, Apr 13
First Look: 2010 Mercedes Benz S-Class
Mercedes Benz has revealed the slightly tweaked styling of its flagship model. However, the real improvements are in the bits you cannot see.Mercedes Benz has revealed the slightly tweaked styling of its flagship model. However, the real improvements are in the bits you cannot see.
Wednesday, Apr 8
2009 New York: First Drive 2010 Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid
We took a half-hour drive in Manhattan’s traffic-choked streets in the new Mercedes-Benz ML450 Hybrid, which goes on sale this fall in the and Canada. Our tour guide was Volker Scheinhuette, a Mercedes-Benz engineer who has been living in the Detroit area for the past three years worki...
Monday, Mar 9
First Drive: 2010 Mercedes-Benz E550 Sedan
The E-class may no longer be the biggest-selling Mercedes in the USA, but this model, which traces its lineage back to the Pontoon sedans of the 1950s, remains the heart of the brand's now greatly expanded lineup. This year sees the rollout of an all-new model (the W212 chassis, for student...
Opinion: First Drive: 2010 Mercedes Benz E550 Sedan
2010 Mercedes-Benz E-Class TV Commercial BenzInsider 2010 Mercedes-Benz E-class / E550 - First Drive Review Car and Driver The Campaign for the Mercedes-Benz E-Class: "Welcome home. The new ... Autochannel (press release) eMercedesBenz - Economic Times
Sunday, Jan 11
Detroit 2009: Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Stirling Moss and Concept Blue Zero
At the other end of the spectrum was the Concept Blue Zero, Mercedes’ take on the electric car. Powered by lithium-ion batteries, the car has an estimated range of 125 miles, can go 0-62 in less than 11 seconds and tops out at 93 mph. Most interesting is the packaging. Much like GM’s e-Flex a...
Wednesday, Nov 12
We Drive the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid
Feeling guilty about the fuel consumption of your Mercedes-Benz S-class, but unwilling to give up the luxury touches and craftsmanship that you've become accustomed to? The 2010 Mercedes-Benz S400 BlueHybrid could be just what you need.
Tuesday, Nov 11
2010 Mercedes-Benz GLKs at the SEMA Show
But if I were discussing the differences between Germans and Americans to a car guy, I'd need to do no more than show pictures of two cars that Mercedes-Benz brought to this year's SEMA show. In the company's first-ever "tuner challenge," Mercedes enlisted the help of four tuning companie...
Tuesday, Nov 4
Opinion: 2008 Volkswagen Touareg
The whole car has an overall sense of refinement, it coming out of VW's We're-just-as-good-as-Mercedes era, a period which also produced the Phaeton luxury car.For me, the Touareg has always been something of a disappointment - a car without a purpose. It's neither as sporty as its Europe...
Monday, Oct 6
Opinion: 2009 Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG
The CLS is a much better match for the 6.2-liter AMG V-8 than the S-class. I was expecting the CLS to feel a bit awkward with this engine since it seems to be nearly as large as an S-class, but I was pleasantly surprised. The CLS is even better suited to this particular engine than the CL coupe, whic...
Friday, Sep 12
2009 Mercedes-Benz SLK350
To me, the SLK's recent revisions have helped it become less of a "hairdresser's car," as it's sometimes derogatively called in the UK. Sure, the subtle tweaks to the interior and exterior styling play a part in this, but a bigger improvement lies in Mercedes-Benz's new "direct-steer" ra...
Tuesday, Aug 19
2008 BMW M6 Coupe
This V-10 powertrain is certainly more tractable and enjoyable to drive with the six-speed manual than with the SMG transmission that originally was the sole offering in the M5 sedan. A car with 500 horsepower and ten cylinders under the hood has an undeniable allure, but there's still so...
Monday, May 21
Sporty SUVs: Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG, Range Rover Sport Supercharged, and BMW X5 4.8i
We were stopped in the middle of nowhere by a river rushing across the road, so we left our cars idling on the wet, patched pavement and stood in the rain to watch it. We were on the back roads of Texas Hill Country, and spring rains had turned many dry creek beds into fast-moving streams and rive...
Sunday, Apr 1
2007 Land Rover LR2 - Ignition By Design
The Range Rover has been the class act in 4x4 vehicles since its inception in 1970, although the original concept of a luxuriously trimmed four-wheel-drive station wagon must be credited to Kaiser-Jeep's Wagoneer back in the '60s, with honorable mention to International Harvester fo...
Wednesday, Feb 14
2008 BMW 335i Convertible
With its fourth-generation 3-series convertible, BMW joins the trend toward retractable hard tops--following the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SL, the Volvo C70, and the Volkswagen Eos. The switch is a curious one for BMW, as it adds weight and loses what even BMW's U.S. chiefTom Purves admi...
Friday, Oct 20
2007 Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec
Mercedes-Benz has been building diesel automobiles since the 260D of the 1930s, so it's no surprise that Mercedes is the first and only manufacturer to make a diesel passenger car that meets newly tightened U.S. emissions regulations for 2007. With its new V-6 turbo-diesel, the E320 drops...
Wednesday, Oct 4
2007 Lexus LS460
Until now, there have been only three big dogs in the practical, daily driver, luxury four-door world: the V-8 versions of the BMW 7-series, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, and the Audi A8. Sure, the latest Jaguar XJ8, the Maserati Quattroporte, and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur are al...
Thursday, Jun 15
2007 Mercedes-Benz ML63 AMG
The development engineers at Mercedes-AMG are all dedicated to automotive excellence, yet the vehicle they can't stop talking about is the ML63. They'll tell you that it laps the old, long Nrburgring Nordschleife in eight minutes, thirty seconds-if you're brave enough, of course.
Monday, May 1
2007 Lexus LS460
Seventeen years after Lexus introduced the first LS luxury sedan at the 1989 Detroit auto show, the company unveiled its fourth-generation flagship sedan, the LS460, in Motown. As successful as the LS400 and the LS430 have been, they have never quite measured up to the big, long-wheelba...
Monday, Aug 15
Review: 2005 Dodge Magnum
Striking to behold and--thanks to its Mercedes-Benz-cribbed chassis design and available Hemi V-8 engines--great to drive, the Magnum is a truly compelling alternative to the ubiquitous midsize sport/utility vehicle. This makes the Dodge Magnum a surprise hit, resurrecting a once...
