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Mercedes-Benz R-Class

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Comments

  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    Loop: as in a jewelers loop. It is a magnifying glass. If a customer has a crack, I will inspect the crack for a rock chip or impact point.
  • nomorebenznomorebenz Member Posts: 109
    Has anyone had a problem with the power liftgate not closing fully. This is not to be confused with the height limiter.
    The problem is intermittent. I just want to know before I take it in for service.
  • templeton3templeton3 Member Posts: 69
    Here are some service bulletins for the rear power liftgate.

    Title: Body - Tailgate Cannot Be Opened
    http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Mercedes-Benz/1131350400000_1136361600000_T-72-20-53/- index.html

    Title: Body - Power Tailgate Closer Intermittently Inoperative
    http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Mercedes-Benz/1140768000000_1141977600000_T-72-20-43B- /index.html

    Title: Body - Power Liftgate Reverses When Closing
    http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Mercedes-Benz/1144047600000_1144738800000_T-72-20-58/- index.html

    Title: Body - 'Tailgate Open' Message on Instrument Cluster
    http://www.alldata.com/tsb/Mercedes-Benz/1144047600000_1144738800000_T-72-20-59/- index.html
  • nomorebenznomorebenz Member Posts: 109
    Thanks for the info. I guess it's not just me.
  • cyberbrocyberbro Member Posts: 8
    Do all of the new R350's start with 40 or more miles?

    I noticed when I got mine it had 60 miles on it from the dealer and I have spoke to a few people and they got theres with 40 and 50 mile on them.

    It this everyone's maybe they track test them first?
  • qkslvrqkslvr Member Posts: 34
    Mine had 25 miles, but they had to get it from a nearby dealership. I think most of them have less than 50 miles, unless someone test drives it. As long as it doesn't have a few hundred miles, I think you are OK.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    If they are tested at the factory, there will be a sticker in the lower corner of the w/shield on the drivers side. It will state the miles. Most MB's will have 20 or so miles unless tested.
  • irishrogue1irishrogue1 Member Posts: 127
    merc 1 hits the nail on the head. there is no market for an executive hauler. this crossover is a stylish substitute for upper middle class soccer moms who want out of their boring middle class odyssey/sienna or their luxo-SUV that lacks useable space, handling and safety. why MB was afraid to concede that the R is probably best described as a luxury minivan makes one wonder. minivan is no longer a bad word (more on this later) even among families with $250k+ and higher annual incomes. Before the R, we pined for a $45-50k minivan - ACURA take the odyssey upscale? Lexus take the Sienna? Unless I am missing something, major metro markets in particular have alot of dual income (or substantial single income) professional families in their 30s/40s who are swallowing up $35k odysseys/sienna's without even blinking and/or $30-50k SUVs every 2 to 3 years. These folks are ripe for an R class that makes more sense than a typical minivan or a full size luxo SUV - and yes they are willing to pay a reasonable premium for it.

    Now, I have looked at and driven the MB on several occasions. and yes i will buy an R500 as soon as it makes "sense." First observation - not getting rear seat DVD in the R from day one was the biggest blunder I have seen from a major automaker in recent history. Drive down I95 on the east coast and one out of four vehicles has DVD for the kids -forget income demographics. If a 4 yr old chrysler town and country minivan can have it, dont tell me my $60k MB cant. Doors. Find me a family with a late model odyssey/siena that doesnt treat remote opening doors and tailgate as a given. MB compounds the problem with some of the biggest doors i have even seen. I agree that staying away from sliding was the right thing to do to avoid stlying miscues, but couldnt they figure a way to open and maybe even shut them remotely??? certainly they could open by remote....Next up: space/storage. they dropped the ball more than a bit by not coming up with as much space behind the 3rd row as an odyssey. the space is almost nonexistent. and folding the 3rd row really doesnt create alot of space since the whole "deck" is high with the seats folded. really crappy MB. biggest disappointment in my mind and one that cant be fixed. oh well, we'll add our thule to the top for long trips with the family...Finally, the whole perceived value issue. MB has some cool options. no doubt. but they are expensive. and so not everyone wants them. sure i love self leveling xenons, and dropped $1200 for them in my porsche but i dont know that i 'd spring for them in the R.... and besides if they truly marketed this as an executive hauler or what was that one marketing campaign i saw - oh yeah, something like showing a vineyard owner hauling around migrant labor by day and then heading out with their 4 rich friends for dinner in napa at night. who in god's name came up with that one! - then they should have loaded on the options and tacked on a higher price as people with $250k incomes would accept and expect. But they didnt....it must be because they secretly didnt want to scare away some "entry level" minivan type buyers looking at the 350....so now they please noone! they arent really luring the core minivan buyers b/c it lacks practicality. execs and vineyard owners dont want to own what amounts to a minivan. so who is left??? the people who are willing to give up all that is great about the odyssey/sienna for style, cache, performance, handling, safety so as to be outside the ever growing minivan set. I ll be honest, and you can call me a snob, but i dont like my wife driving the same minivan that typical middle class moms are driving. i want a better vehicle. and there are alot of people who feel the same way. it is the reason i have many friends in their 30s/40s who suffer the impractical nature of ALL luxo SUVs when it comes to small children and the way they drive so they can avoid driving a pedestrian minivan. brand it by lexus or acura and they would buy it....it is only a dirty word because it screams middle class....why is it that ford sold the crap out of the explorer and Jeep with cherokee and so everybody jumped on board and started marketing SUVs. seeing a growing market that kept getting more competitive the foreign automakers took them upscale and guess what? people kept buying them. sienna/odyssey sales are flat. they are dropping the ball by not reinventing themselves in the luxo segment. seriously what would it cost to rebadge/repower/makeover an ody for acura?? or a sienna for lexus? well they havent done it and MB is 90% and did it from scratch. now they just need to perfect it and market it to the right group. and just stop trying to define a new category.....crossover luxo-people mover is not a freakin' category!!
  • irishrogue1irishrogue1 Member Posts: 127
    ok, so i rant for several long paragraphs and i forget to circle back around and conclude that YES i will buy an R500 within 9-18mos. will it be as practical as our odyssey? no. but my kids will be old enough to open their own doors and will be walking 100% of the time and not carried. will it have enough space/storage to haul 2 adults, 2 toddlers and 2 golden retrievers to the shore or mountains every weekend? no, so we'll have to kill the lines and throw the thule on and live with wind noise. will we be happier with the styling, performance, handling? you bet. so yes we will compromise. and i will bash MB for making us compromise. if only automakers would be smart enough to ask ME what i want in a car.....certainly i know best. as a lawyer, i m nearly certain that i know everything....
  • templeton3templeton3 Member Posts: 69
    If I were buying a R class again, I would defintely get the R500 over the R350. The R350 is very underpowered. I have to admit that I'm a lead foot, but the R350 is not a fun car to drive. The other item that I feel is a must is the parktronics. Because the car is long and hard to see out of the back, I think its worth every penny.

    If Mercedes would advertise on TV as much as they advertise for the new GL, maybe they might sell more.
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    I'm sure the GL is moving off the lots. It appears to be selling at my neighborhood dealer mainly due to it's being a purpose-built vehicle with a strong and targeted market. I don't think there is anyone left in the R-class marketing group to advertise the vehicle and from the post above it appears that the ads they are producing are just plain silly.
  • mbowersmbowers Member Posts: 3
    Someone called up our dealer saying they believe the R class saved his family from a terrible accident. They were at an intersection driving 50 mph, their light was green. They were heading under the light and saw a tractor trailer barreling through the red light. The R class stopped on a dime. Seatbelts held everyone in. Other than needing to get off the road to decompress, they were all fine.

    Sold us. :)
  • mbowersmbowers Member Posts: 3
    Can you go to IKEA with 5 kids and bring back 2 file cabinets and a desk home? A freind of mine just did that yesterday with a Sienna.
    _____________________________________

    No, I can't do that, but I'll go to Ethan allen and have them deliver. ;)
  • irishrogue1irishrogue1 Member Posts: 127
    Exactly. although we are probably more likely to find ourselves at pottery barn or crate and barrel......ethan almost offends with their prices....
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    R320 CDI: This vehicle produces 221 horsepower, but more importantly 376 lb-ft. of torque
    giving it fuel economy better than a gasoline V6 but with V8 torque for greater performance.

    I really am a diesel geek. The torque and mileage may cause a swap to the CDI from the 350 this fall.

    note:

    HYBRIDS
    DaimlerChrysler has invested billions of dollars in alternative powerplant research over the past
    decades, on virtually every type of alternative to conventional gasoline engines, including
    hybrids. DaimlerChrysler believes that the fuel cell is the most promising over the long term but,
    since this technology is still a ways off; the company is focusing on diesel as part of its overall
    strategy to increase fuel economy and address environmental concerns. But, rather than simply
    wait for these vehicles to be viable, we have taken the interim step which will allow us to take
    advantage of the diesel’s ability to produce 30 percent lower carbon dioxide emissions and
    roughly 30 percent better fuel economy than gasoline engines. (See BLUETEC above)
    In the 4th quarter of 2006, MBUSA will expand its diesel offering to include the E320
    BLUETEC, the ML320 CDI and the R320 CDI.
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Nice story.
    It takes at least 175 feet to stop this thing going at 50 mph(50 feet to think about stopping and at least 125 feet to actually stop). Even if this intersection was a 4 lane divided highway the R would finally come to a stop 80 past the intersection and would have driven right through the semi on the way there.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    I'm with you, but there is no need for math. If they were under the light and the tractor was approaching....gun it!

    Of course if it were a divided intersection, well....wait a minute. Is this an African or European R Class? R Class' are not migratory. So if this were a tropical intersection........ :P
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Oh, Benzster, you're such a goof!! I was trying to make the intersection as wide as possible, so we get 2-4 lane highways coming to a big-a** intersection. The R would still overshoot the intersection traveling at 50. You crack me up, and I agree that the only way out would be to mash the go pedal and pray. Certainly, if I were going to get t-boned by a semi I can think of a lot worse vehicles to be in than the R-Class. :)

    If you guys are working on a vehicle that can stop in 50-60 feet while traveling at 50mph give me a holler and put me on that list. It has to have wheels, tho, no tank treads please. They give me a headache. :D
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    We've got that! But it is at Silverstone this weekend. ;)
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Got me, Benzster. We need a race car forum on Edmunds. :)
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    We could hijack this one ;) As long as it's involving cars that can turn right. I don't mean off pitwall either. I wonder if SCCA considers the R Class a van or wagon. If so, no autocross this weekend. I may take the CLK350 for giggles. :P
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Hijack it is. I raced with SCCA and IMSA for about 8 years. I raced PRO for 2 of those years in IMSA in a World Sports Racer until I had a complete tear of my ACL while skiing. I tried to come back in 1999 at Sebring, but I could no longer heel-toe effectively and without endangering myself and other drivers so I hung up my racing shoes. :( My wife was happy the bank account got back to normal after a few years also.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    I have very little "racing" experience. I converted an 82 VW cab by using a 944 throttle body, big valve head, new cam gears, 2 3/4" exhaust with an ansa setup, added upper strut bars, and dropped the car with a Bilstein spring and strut kit. On BF Goodrich 205/60/13 comp TA's it was fun to autocross, but that was all I did. As you can see it was back before the +1,2,3,4 tire setups, so you know it has been a while. I did switch to the GTI 14's later :blush: So now I am into supporting the MB marque in F1. An ACL? Like rolling up a window shade huh? Ouch. What does that do for the golf game? And just to stay on topic....Is everyone ready to see an R65? I can't wait for the my engine is very loud, the ride is rough, I have trouble with this yellow triangle beeping in my cluster issues ;)
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Comp TA's...now there's a tire name I haven't heard in a long while. Those were the "original super-sticky tires". I had a set on an old 911 and I think I got about 8k on them! :D
    YES YES YES, bring on that R65!! It got to the point in my C32 that I didn't even notice the ESP flashing constantly. As you know turning it off didn't do a whole lot, but you could light up the tires real good for a little stretch! I hope the ESP is less intrusive on the R65 because it got downright scary at times in the C32 when it cut in; especially when you would be turning in front of traffic and gun-it just to have it stop you dead in your tracks. :surprise:
  • rclassfanrclassfan Member Posts: 5
    So we finally scheduled the replacement windscreen with the local MB dealer in Boston only to be called the day before the appointment to say they dont do replacement glass and to go to a local glass company they recommend.

    This seems strange, no?
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    Yes and No. Our glass installer is an independent that has been doing our glass for decades. If it is not an insurance claim we do all the paperwork but he installs the glass. If it is an insurance claim then we turn the issue over to his office to file and send in deductible check. Either way the glass is ours and is installed here on site. We control the appointment and the glass order. I can see how they might just send it out but we don't. Our technicians only install glass that rolls up and down (bottom line). The same gentleman installs all our glass and has forever all the way back to the 220 Chassis'.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    correction: I stated back to the 220 chassis I meant back to the 111 chassis which was a 220 model. A 220 chassis is the S Class from MY00-06. Which would not be nearly as impressive.
    :blush:
  • chintchint Member Posts: 30
    I dont agree with you. I got my R350 last week and it had 16 miles in it .
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    Yes, mine had 46 miles on it when I got it. :(
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    I can't see the front end of my R350, and I'm not a little old lady. I'm six foot tall. And how do you park it? By ear? :confuse:
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    Have any of you managed to successfully get a trailer hitch to fit your R350 or R500? I've tried several places and finally found one that they said would fit, but when I went there to get it, they said that it would not fit. :(
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    I thought the R-Class did not have a tow rating. Maybe I'm mistaken. Know anything about this Benzster and what modifications may need to be made to tow?
  • albellalbell Member Posts: 185
    The R is not rated to tow. My salesman, who is usually quite candid about going against the MB company line, strongly advised against an after-market hitch, saying the frame wouldnt support. Like the E-Class wagon in that regard.
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    My feeling is that if you plan on towing something like a wave runner or 2 that would be ok. The suspension components and rear end are not beefy enough to handle a boat even though the tongue weights are low. There is not a transmission cooler or anything that resembles a towing "package" on the vehicle. Once you put a hitch on one you throw up a red flag. I have seen issues with the 7 speed tranny on sedans. If that should happen to you and you have slapped a hitch on it....... well they are not cheap. In my best judgment, I would say it isn't worth it. Sorry, I know that is not what you wanted to hear. :(
  • ctsangctsang Member Posts: 237
    Even a monkey can do that!
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    snappy comeback....... are we now resorting to flaming?
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    Let's not make things personal here please
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Benzster, I think that was a reply to the "ordering furniture at Ethan Allan" post and not meant as a response to your post if I followed the response/reply correctly. Your explanation of the towing capabilities of the R-Class and what can be expected if you test fate was dead on in my opinion. The towing crowd should look at the GL Class since their commercials show it towing a House!! among other things. The GL might be pricey, but I like the look of it alot and it sure seems to fit the Haul-everything-in-style niche.
  • albellalbell Member Posts: 185
    I saw a GL in the flesh (so to speak) today in NYC. Didnt look as big as I expected. Nice design job by MB. Felt sorry for the owner...had a major gash (torn metal) at the back of the rear passenger side wheel well, expending to the bumper. Bummer for a vehicle that probably wasnt more than a few weeks old. :sick:
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    I concur. To me the GL looks longer and narrower from about 100 feet and looks very muscular as you get close to it. I think it's a winner and if you have seen the commercials all metal flying debris is supposed to just bounce off of it! :) Man, I wish that were the case with all vehicles. My wife already has a big Doink on the front bumper of her new van by trying to run down my daughter's bike IN THE GARAGE! Even parking assist didn't help.... :sick: Oh well...
  • benzsterbenzster Member Posts: 152
    His reply was to your response about how his friend has a van that will hold a bunch of office stuff. Your response was along the lines that the R won't but why should you have to do it. My response was, for that one day you must drive that vehicle all year. He said I know and his friend is happy. Good for his friend. I am like you. Deliver it and I will hang in th R all year. He likes his friend's car and I like mine. LET THE MONKEY DELIVER THE FILE CABINETS, and Bob's you uncle!
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    Chirp, was just looking at the ML350 which has the same motor, transmission, (and frame?), but is a foot shorter and 1 inch taller. Can't imagine that M-B would make a different frame for the ML. M-B makes a hitch for the ML350 with a 5,000 lb towing capacity. What do you think?
  • chirpchirp Member Posts: 194
    Look again! The GL450 uses the 4.6L motor and is the only one available at this point. These are unibody SUV's and not body-on-frame type so they are different. The GL has 3 rows of seating and therein lies the main difference to most buyers. It depends on how much hauling(people and toys) you are likely to do. I think the ML350 and ML500 are both terrific vehicles and when MB gets that diesel in those and the Hybrid assist in the GL look out. Mileage will go up and sales will follow without losing any of the practicality and versatility.
  • a6_to_m35a6_to_m35 Member Posts: 43
    Anyone know about this special edition vehicle. Any availability or are they all sold out?
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    I've never heard of it and the dealer didn't mention it to me. I did not even see any brochures for it. I bought the 'regular' R350 and really like it. Have any of y'all had any problems of any kind with your R350 or R500? I'd like to hear about them so I can avoid those situations that cause those problems. :)
  • nomorebenznomorebenz Member Posts: 109
    They're probably sold out. From what I know, the made 750 of these Signature editions for the benefit of cancer research via Saks Fifth Avenue.
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    For those interested in a trailer hitch, there is hope. I have just had my hitch installed and it works fine. First I went to Hidden Hitch, but it did not fit and needs to be re-engineered. Then I went to a Curt trailer hitch, had it installed, and it fits fine. It is rated at 2,500 pound towing capacity which is sufficient for my needs.

    Just wanted to let you guys know so that you can tow your small boats, jet skis and other stuff when you go on vacation in your Sports Tourer.
  • nomorebenznomorebenz Member Posts: 109
    I just noticed a little red light on the key transponder. Anyone know what it is for?
  • albellalbell Member Posts: 185
    It will self-destruct in 5 minutes... ;)

    You should check the battery...
  • vicsvics Member Posts: 10
    It's probably Scotty, letting you know that he is ready to beam you up. :shades:
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