My experiences at the LoveMercedes Tour (w/ pix) - LONG!
SO Friday afternoon at 4:30pm, Tony and I arrive at the parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium and see a large white tent and several road courses with various iterations of the Mercedes-Benz products zipping around. I realized I didn't have a digicam, and neither did Tony, so I had to rely on my handy-dandy LG camera phone, so don't expect fabulous pics, but just be glad that there are pics period, hehe. Anyway, on our way to the check-in area, we spot THIS beauty in the parking lot:
we both stared and oogled for a bit and then went on to check-in.
SO we get inside the tent and they've got various areas with all kinds of fabulously bourgeois areas of interest and such. It was rather impressive, but we weren't there for blingbling drinking water or such, we were there for gasoline, motoroil, and RWD. After doing a quick lap of the interior of the tent, we went straight outside.
Outside, they had a line of all Mercedes-Benz products, from the Emperor-class CL to the relatively common C-class. Additionally, they had the upcoming SLK on display AND the new CLS-class, which to me appeared to be a super-luxury liner, perhaps somewhere between the Mercedes-owned Maybach and the current S-class. The model they had was a "prototype" model, but I've heard that the CLS will enter production for the 2006 model year. This particular CLS was a beautiful dark green color with a beige-ish interior. The interior was very simple yet still very elegant and luxurious. The car was clearly a European model as the speedo was in km/h only, had the space for EU plates, and duh, it's a prototype Benz, of course it'll be a Euro-spec car, heh. So here's the CLS -
front-
rear three-quarter -
aaaaand the new SLK, featuring a very SLR-esque face -
They had 3 courses - 1 called "fun in the sun", featuring the SL500, the CLK320 and CLK500 (in coupé and convertible forms) and the new SLK350. Naturally, I went straight for the SL500 line. They had two there, one that was pewter silver with black interior (*swoon*) and one that was white with beige interior. As we stood in line, the white/beige one came up for my turn. I was a little bummed at being stuck in the Palm Springs color scheme SL500, but hey, I wasn't about to complain -
you can see the other models in the background, like the SLK350 and the CLK500
Anyway, the course started with a nice straight-away through which the officials urged you to "test the acceleration", which I did heartily. Wow do those things move. It was crazy. I'm a little scared to see how the supercharged AMG version moves, much less the SL600, with the twinturbo V12. Handling was impressive, too. The car's a roadster, right, but it was great. I think I scared Tony a little as he urged me to slow down (several times) and was convinced we'd hit a cone (which we never did) as I screamed through the curves, sharp turns and slalom they had setup. Ultimately, I caught up to the guy who was running before us so I had to slow down at the very end. But it's like crack, so as soon as we finished we got in line again. This time, Tony drove and I rode shotgun in a CLK500 coupé (which you can see behind the white SL500 in the pic above). He drove a little more...conservatively...than I did, but still, the car wasn't too impressive. Lots of body roll and pitch and yaw and such, but a pretty interior. Definitley a boulevardier.
The OTHER road course was the luxury cruiser test run. They had S430's, S500's, and E320's (why no E500's is beyond me). So Tony took us out in an S430. Impressive cars considering their size. Nimble, responsive, and quick, and this is all in a BOAT of a car with the smaller V8. Then I took us out in an S500. That things handles really well considering it's a behemoth of a sedan. Excellent brakes, too, heh. I didn't take any pics of those since I figured most everyone knows what the S-class looks like. Then we went back to the roadsters...
We ran into a couple of my friends from work there and they told us to go in the new SLK, saying it's a really great ride. So we got in line for the new SLK (pics above) and took it out. That was great, too. The interior's a leeeettle more cramped than I'd like and the seating position's very rub-a-dub, but it's not bad overall. I would still think the TT's ultra-stylish interior is more preferable and this SLK did show hints of trying to imitate it to some degree, but the interior's not bad...definitely better than the ridiculous Z4 interior. That car, though, is pretty quick. The data sheets they had posted up said it does 0-60 in 5.6 sec, which is alright. I can't wait to see what the AMG model's like. This car had a nice engine note, too, and pretty good handlign characteristics. Overall, it's a pretty good ride, I thought. Pretty zippy, heh. And no turbos made for a smooth acceleration curve. I still preferred the SL, though, perhaps solely based on style, and I did get a chance to take that same white SL for one last spin...good times, heh.
Anyway, time was running out, so they started to shoo everyone out, but my friends and I managed to score a ride in one of the other road courses - the off-road one. They had ML-class and G-class SUV's going over various extreme-terrain-imitating obstacles to show off their handling characteristics and such. The G500 is IMPRESSIVE. Hill climb and descent were nothing, it cleared 7-inch "logs" no problem, behaved itself fine at a 45-degree angle (the guy stopped it on this ramp and showed us how stable it is and how you don't need to power through sharp angles...it was a little creepy being THAT crooked in a car, but the car wasn't disconcerting at all, which was rather impressive). The last part was a staggered climb in which at one point, the front right and back left tires were completely suspended in the air. Pulled forward no problem and all 4 wheels were on the ground like nothign happened. Overall, I was HIGHLY impressed by the G-class, which figures as it was originally developed as a military vehicle for the German and Swiss militaries (and called the Geländewagen, btw
)So finally, they directed us toward the exit tent, where they had us take a little survey about our experiences and gave us neat gift bags (Saks Fifth Avenue bags, may I add) with all kinds of wonderfully appropriate goodies, like tennis balls and day-spa and home improvement catalogues.
Gettin back in my B5 S4, I felt a little like I was slummin it for a bit, but that'll happen after riding around in $90,000+ cars for a few hours, heh. All in all, though, I was HIGHLY impressed by Mercedes-Benz models...but I'm still a fan of the Audi
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