02/28/2006
By Mike Blake
Carlisle Events

Many of us still think of station wagons as an Ozzie and Harriet car that tooled around town full of groceries and transporting kids on the way to Little League. It was a vehicle of the ‘50s, and the woodie versions were synonymous with surfing in the ‘60s. They nearly disappeared from the auto landscape, but have returned with a sporty vengeance. We remember those cars as having little style, limited appeal to the “cool” crowd and few touches of high class. Those times have changed, as today’s sportwagons are stylish, cool, hip and now, with the Mercedes-Benz R-Class Sports Tourer, luxurious.

Considered by some to be a mid-size SUV, the R-Class blends attributes from four different auto genres: sportwagon; SUV, minivan and sport sedan. The R-Class is a sportwagon first, but with four-wheel-drive, it can double as a stylish sports-ute. However, I wouldn’t take it off road.

One would expect any Mercedes-Benz product to incorporate luxury into every pore, and to that end, the M-B R-Class does not disappoint. This is no traditional soccer-mom minivan … this hatchback epitomizes the trendy automotive term, “crossover,” as an SUV with more car-like driving characteristics.

This Teutonic feat of engineering is built in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and it combines German technology with U.S. driving needs, wants and desires.

The seven-speed, four-wheel drive system is powered by an R500 5.0-liter V-8 SOHC engine that pumps out 302 horsepower and 339 lbs./ft. of torque. As with all M-B seven-speeds, the engine will hesitate and stutter at shift points and upon initial acceleration, but once under way, there is solid velocity increase at all speeds and in all ranges. Not a gas-guzzler, but hardly an eco-car, I averaged about 16mpg in city driving and 19.6mpg on the highway, 18mpg overall.

With a curb weight of 4917 pounds, the surprisingly sleek vehicle has a length of 203 inches, a width of 77.5 inches and a height of 65.2 inches, while perched upon a 126-inch wheelbase.

Its ground clearance is only 5.8 inches, and the center of gravity is fairly low. Still, with the long flat sides, the R-Class does have some problems on the highway if the wind is whipping and you are driving at high speeds. During a recent rain and snow event on Central Pennsylvania highways, I found the R-Class to be buffeted a bit, and constant steering wheel corrections were a must.


Performance is proudly confident, thanks to permanent 4-wheel drive, 4-wheel traction control, rack-and-pinion power steering, independent front and rear suspension, unit body construction, and 255/60 R18 all-season performance rated tires. In an attempt to add SUV characteristics to the R-Class, it has hill start assist that allows you to remain stable even on steep inclines, and proceed firmly onward.

Comfort and convenience is the credo of the R-Class interior, with a wood-and-leather multi-function steering wheel, roomy seating for six passengers, multi-contour heated 8-way power front bucket seats with memory, second-row heated seats, dual climate control with rear air conditioning vents and controls, seven cupholders of various sizes, AM/FM/WB/CD player with DVD navigation system and 6-disc CD changer. A large, panorama sunroof, entertainment system with dual screens in the back of the front headrests, power liftgate and individual reading lights for every seat, make traveling in the R-Class, treks of opulence. And with second- and third-row seats folded down, you can stow nearly anything imaginable, with 85 cubic feet of cargo space.

The navigational system is not the most user friendly nor the most accurate in terms of obtaining street locations, and the toggle switch is tedious to use, but it is very good when it comes to the actual navigating routes.

My test vehicle came with Sirius radio and three months of service. I have found that in a year of testing both Sirius and XM satellite radio services, Sirius has some serious problems with bandwidth and reception in and around Central Pennsylvania, with multiple dead areas, while XM’s signal comes in virtually seamless during rides through PA valleys and communities. XM’s programming also seems to be more diverse.

Mercedes-Benz pays great attention to safety, and the R-Class is a study in safety features. It begins with a reinforced body cage, front and rear crumple zones and front knee bolsters. It progresses with front dual airbags, curtain airbags and front side airbags. The R-Class also features rear childseat anchors, 4-channel anti-lock brake system with an off-road mode, night security illumination, anti-theft system and rain sensor wipers. The standard air suspension lowers ride height by one-half inch at speeds above 77 mph, or, at low speeds, can raise the ride height by three inches for additional ground clearance

The sticker price for my test R-500 (R-Class with an R-500 powerplant) was a hefty $66,650. That is $20,000 more than many cars in the sportwagon niche, and as much as $50,000 over some lower-end imports. But then, none of those is a luxury sportwagon, and none are from Mercedes-Benz, made with exemplary M-B engineering and richness.

Visit www.carsatcarlisle.com for more on the automotive hobby.

MIKE BLAKE, former editor of KIT CAR magazine, joined Carlisle Events as senior automotive journalist in 2004. He's been a "car guy" since the 1960s and has been writing professionally for about 30 years.
 

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