Dodge Magnum. No thanks.

ZDX, Crosstour, 5 series GT, now this. How many buyers are there for pricey, wagon-like vehicles?

At least Toyota's on the right track with the 4 cylinder Sienna...

 

the front reminds me of a maserati kinda

 

funky exterior, amazing interior.

cue mmarshall complaining you can't get to anything under the hood:

 

I agree. I love the interior, styling is worth buying a future CLS on that alone, and the rear end and a few other points leave me interested, but as a whole, the baby R class, MB GT is not my style. I am anxiously awaiting the finished CLS product, as the first gen is one of favorite cars of all time. See how this new "design" translates to production.

 

whether ya'll like it or not, this is the new design trend.

the shape of taillight reminds me of gen coupe's tail.

 

They've got to be kidding.

Well, at least it's got a hood, which puts it one step ahead of a Porsche Boxster.

 

Didn't even need to get to your reference, Paul..........the image at the start of the thread just blew me away.

 

Wait, this has a 3.5L V6 turbo, yet only achieves 306 HP and 273 lb-ft torque? This is a failure IMHO. Much of the competition achieves as much or more power from naturally aspirated V6 engines.

If this an upcoming Benz engine, it will already be a step behind the competition by the time it comes out.

As for the styling, the front is decent, the side profile is decent, and I like the rims. The rear however is hideous .

Overall the exterior lacks cohesiveness and does not look classy at all.

If this is the new styling direction for Benz, it's very disappointing.

Benz was starting to impress with some of their designs in the past few years, and now they go backwards again in design.

The C-Class, E-Class, GLK all look very German and have unique styling that gives each vehicle tons of presence and a strong, classy look.

This just looks like a Hyundai .

I hope the production exterior looks better than that.

The interior is pretty nice, interested to see what the production interior will look like.

 

I can't decisively comment without first actually sitting inside this car, but, at first glance, even the notoriously Peek-a-Boo Magnum rear windows look they would have better rear-vision. I HAVE driven a Magnum.

 

the new version of the 3.5 is already in the SLK 350 for 2010. It is just a direct injected version of the more mainstream 3.5 and puts out 300 hp.

 

So 306-horsepower are "underwhelming" these days? I don't see how the horsepower output of an engine means "it is behind the competition". Horsepower output of any particular engine has to be optimized for performance, fuel economy and emissions. We know nothing about how this thing performs, but it's safe to say that it is a fast car, relatively fuel efficient and also has a low emissions rating.

How much more power does one need anyway? Even with this much power any normal car will be plenty fast. Also, keep in mind that this might be just one power setting of the new motor. The same engine might be offered in say three different power variants beginning with perhaps under 300-hp, 306-hp and maybe 350-hp. This is speculation on my part, though.

Turbocharging increases the overall efficiency of a motor. With the current market situation fuel economy is becoming far more important than raw performance. I'll say it again: 306-horsepower are more than sufficient for any car.

 

I think Honda might have fired the idiot(s) who designed the Crossturd, and they went to work for MB.

Well the point is that other manufacturers achiever more output without turbo, and significantly more with turbos. However, I think this 306/273 rating is just incorrect, or maybe it's the molested European version of the engine. I'm sure the output for US version of the engine will be much greater.


Thats just not true. Turbocharging increases performance, but hurts efficiency and emissions, and also drives up the costs of maintenance, reduces reliability, and makes repairs that much more complex and expensive.

 

From all appearances the "Shooting Break" is an intentional misuse of the term. The original "Shooting Brake" was designed by David Brown of Aston-Martin fame. He reconfigured one of his DB5's to include a small load space in the rear, made to measure for his favorite Labrador, which accounts for the relatively small space. A short run of a dozen of these vehicles was produced by A-M, primarily for Mr. Brown's shooting friends.

One question I've always had about these vehicles - They may get you to the field quickly and in supreme comfort, but once there you will probably need AWD and a bit of torque . . . . not to mention some pretty nice protective mats in the wayback for slobber, muddy paws, and a brace of bleeding fowl.

. . . oh, right . . . it's like an SUV, a fashion statement with a sporting image, not a real hunting vehicle.

Why did they bother with a hood at all? A coupla screw caps on th hood (with proper iconography) would have done the job.

 

why should owners care about how much is covered under that hood?

it's the tech at mb or the tech at jiffy lube (if leased) who are going to about b$tch about taking that off

 

Most dealers/repair shop charge hourly for labor. MB/Lex/BMW hourly labor rate is usually between 120-150 per hour, so if it takes an hour to remove all the plastic to do any repair, the owner will pick up the cost.

Also, many of us like to work on our own cars, and all that plastic just make it much more difficult to get to anything.