the new R class and 126 4 wheel drive.

[kolin]

heard the R class has arrived in RSA , not real south australia, and read the road test, and shot off to the new merc dealership , and lo and behold, none in stock, they dont have one.what i like about it is that it is 4 wheel drive.
Now if i remember,merc made some special 126's with 4 wheel drive.read the road tests and wanted one.
i remember reading and watching on TV how they tested these cars on snow and mud and how good they where.
what has happened to those cars now?
but then again dont we all want the latest, even if we cant have it.

[116Benz]

There was a 4 wheel drive W124, but that was 6 cylinder petrol and 5/6 cylinder diesel, badged as 4Matic, the other 2 options were ASR and ASD (acceleration skid control and automatic locking differential). Havent heard of a 4wd S Class though...

[WGB]

The R Class is a stretched M Class with initially 6 seats and now 7.

My wife thinks it looks like a people mover which to her is as close to the category of absolute hatred as a paedophile.

She loves ML's and when I tell her it is just a longer ML she looks at me in absolute disgust and says "It's a people mover".

THe R-class has been in Oz for some time and have been very slow to sell.

Bill

[116Benz]

I thought the GL was the stretched ML, wouldnt surprise me if the R was from the same platform, I can kinda see why it's not quick out of the showroom's, it's not the prettiest looking thing on the road.

[macatron]

The R class has been available over here for a while.  I see a LOT of new Mercedes around here (Fletcher Jones' dealership is in the top 5 in the US, I think, and M-B of Laguna Niguel is also a big-volume retailer) but I have maybe seen one of these.  I don't like the styling.

In a time of jelly-bean shapped cars, this one is certainly not a standout.  It may achieve a purpose functionally but in my eyes, there's nothing about it that's redeeming stylistically.  The GL hits the mark much more accurately in my opinion.

Price-wise, the R class is virtually identical as the ML so I have to agree with Michel and agree that they're stretching to fill a niche that doesn't need filling by Mercedes.  Let Subaru have it with their Forrester.