2005 Mercedes-benz 5.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Buy a V8 Mercedes-Maybach, or splurge for a V12? Oh to have such problems

There's a certain air that surrounds the Maybach badge, and it's not just the scent being pumped out by the ionizer in the car's glovebox. It's the cream of the crop when it comes to German luxury. These cars are filled with an acre's worth of wood and a herd's worth of cows, ensuring your fingers rarely touch materials as pedestrian as plastic. It's as quiet, as smooth, and as imposing as you think it would be. Though the latest model from Mercedes-Maybach, the S550, might have swapped in a V8 and all-wheel drive in place of the V12 at the heart of the S600, no other amenities have been lost in translation. The car's size gives it a certain presence. Staring at the profile shows a wheelbase that spans two counties, necessitating a microphone and speaker setup simply so that the driver can converse with the passenger – and a Maybach will almost always have a passenger. No one buys a Maybach to drive. You buy a Maybach to be driven. No means of transport short of business-class airline seating offers this much space. Sit back, recline the seat, roll up the shades and enjoy your $167,125 cocoon. But you know all of that already. What you really want to know is if $25,000 - the V12-powered S600 starts at $192,225 - is worth it to gain an extra four cylinders, 74 horsepower, and 96 lb-ft of torque. On paper, no, it's not. The two cars have identical performance numbers, and the S550 benefits from Mercedes' 4Matic all-wheel-drive system. Even with all-wheel drive, the S550 weighs less than the nose-heavy S600. Fuel economy is, as expected, superior in the S550. It's rated at 16 city, 24 highway and 19 combined as opposed to 13 city, 21 highway, and 16 combined. Visually, the two cars are identical save for a few badges. The V12 badge on the S600 is replaced with a 4Matic badge on the S550, and that's where things start to get murky. When you're spending six figures on a car, decisions become more emotional than practical. $25,000 is a lot of money, but there's a bigger difference between $25,000 and $50,000 than there is between $167,000 and $192,000. As stated, you don't buy these cars to drive. Performance needs to be merely adequate. A smooth, torquey V12 is likely preferable to a hairy-chested V8, refined as it may be. These cars will never touch redline, lest the passengers spill their champagne. Plus, that V12 badge is worth its weight in country club memberships. Driving an S550 is fine until an owner shows up at an event behind an S600.

2016 Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupe 4Matic brings big power to go with massive name

Mercedes-Benz hopped into the luxury crossover coupe market with both feet with the recently debuted GLE-Class Coupe. While the existence of beauty in this segment is still up for debate, the Merc really gives the BMW X6 a direct competitor. With the newly unveiled 2016 Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupe 4Matic, the engineers from Affalterbach are now also turning their sights on their rivals from BMW's M division. Don't let the name fool you. The GLE63 AMG Coupe eschews the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 from the C63 AMG in favor of an even bigger power source. This crossover uses the company's thundering 5.5-liter twin-turbocharged V8 with stop/start that pumps out 577 horsepower and 561 pound-feet of torque – 10 hp and 8 lb-ft more than the X6 M. The deep well of muscle means the sprint to 62 miles per hour takes just 4.2 seconds; faster than you can say the coupe's mile-long official name. The AMG Speedshift Plus 7G-Tronic seven-speed automatic gearbox routes all of that grunt to all four wheels with a 40:60 front/rear split. The styling of this beast gets a special nod from AMG by being the first CUV from the company to get its A-wing grille. Even if the rest of the design can be polarizing, this portion looks fantastic. The airfoil in the bumper is supposed to look like a stylized A, and from some angles, the wing almost appears like its just floating there. Each side of the GLE63 features black wheel arch flares, and around back there's a small lip spoiler on the tailgate. It's complimented by a new rear apron that has air outlets at each corner, integrated tailpipes and a diffuser in the center. Being a Mercedes-AMG, buyers sit in the lap of luxury inside. The seats are covered in Nappa leather with AMG crests on the headrests. The performance brand's moniker can also be found on the three-spoke steering wheel, and the instrument panel even gets covered in black Nappa. Obviously, if this isn't enough for potential buyers, Mercedes has a ton of options on hand. They include performance-oriented items like a sport exhaust system, 22-inch wheels and carbon fiber engine cover, but there're also more opulent choices like the fragrance mister and a high-end Bang & Olufson sound system. Scroll down for all the details on the much more powerful GLE Coupe. The new Mercedes-AMG GLE63 S Coupe 4MATIC Driving performance reinterpreted Affalterbach/Detroit.

Mercedes and VW battling Uber and Apple to spend billions on Nokia mapping division

Whether for autonomous driving or simply better navigation, digital mapping is closely linked with the future of motoring. The sale of a major player in that industry is spurring a showdown between automotive behemoths and tech giants, and it's a fascinating battle to watch unfold. Nokia is selling its Here mapping division, and while the company might not have the name recognition of Google, it controls about 70 percent of the auto market. The business is valued at $785 million, according to Reuters, but is likely to sell for significantly more. Case in point: Uber reportedly submitted a $3 billion bid. Apple has also been rumored to be among those interested in purchasing Here. A trio of German automotive heavyweights is mounting a challenge to Silicon Valley, though. According to Reuters speaking to two unnamed insiders, Daimler, BMW, and Audi are teaming up to submit a joint bid for an undisclosed sum. They're worried that if Here falls under the control of tech companies, then automakers might have limited availability to these vital maps in the future. Nokia bought Here for $8.1 billion in 2007, according to Reuters. The company operates a fleet of vehicles with cameras and LIDAR that drive around the world to create high-definition maps. It also generates even more information by using the GPS data from shipping and trucking companies.