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2017 Infiniti QX30 First Drive

If you've heard anything before about this car, the 2017 Infiniti QX30, it probably has to do with its corporate parents, an odd couple if there ever was one. Renault-Nissan, Infiniti's corporate overlords, inked a deal with Mercedes-Benz to share some mechanical components and platforms. That deal put a new, very modern 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-four under the hood of the Q50 and was the genesis of what you're looking at here. What are you looking at here? We drove this car in 2015, when it was called a Q30 – originally it was going to be the lower-riding counterpart to the slightly jacked-up QX30. Then Infiniti decided it'd make more sense to sell all variants of this vehicle as CUVs in the US, so we have three slightly different flavors of the QX30 instead. There's the normal version; the Sport, which is 0.6 inches lower; and the AWD, which is 1.2 inches higher. Infiniti brought us to Seattle to sample the Sport and AWD flavors on a semi-circumnavigation of the Puget Sound. It didn't rain a drop, thanks for asking, and instead was sunny and mild the whole time. It's easy to make the QX30 sound more confusing than it actually is. This is essentially a Mercedes-Benz GLA250 with full exterior styling and partial interior design by Infiniti, built in the UK alongside several other Nissans. The powertrain and chassis, including the optional AWD system, were all "co-developed" with partner Daimler, with final calibration and tuning by Infiniti engineers. Here's another way of explaining it: Infiniti needs an entry-level car to appeal to new premium car shoppers, and the QX30 is the prescription. It's a hatchback that's been given the mildest of CUV treatments and a lot of marketing descriptors. That's because hatchbacks are sales death in America. In Europe, they'll see right through the CUV posturing and realize it's just a hatchback offered in three different suspension heights. Whatever you call it to make it palatable to Americans, it's a useful little vehicle. This car is mechanically identical to the Q30, so there are some things we can gloss over. Both are powered by a transverse-mounted 2.0-liter Mercedes inline-four. It's a turbocharged, direct-injection gasoline engine, and it sure feels like one. It sounds like a rock tumbler full of nickels and runs out of breath at about 5,000 rpm. All versions make 208 hp at 5,500 rpm and 258 lb-ft of torque between 1,200 and 4,400 rpm – more than adequate but less than thrilling.

2017 Mercedes E-Class spied nearly camo-free [w/video]

With these spy shots of the 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class we can see the circle is nearly complete: once it arrives, Mercedes will sell the same car in three different lengths. To quote our spy photographers, "The new E-Class is a smaller S-Class. Of if you rather like it the other way around, a bigger C-Class." The E-Class makes its debut at the 2016 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in a couple of months. Being the latest reveal it will also bringing a thick folio of Daimler's technology with it, such as Vehicle-to-X communication, remote control parking via a smartphone app, adaptive cruise control that sets the speed based on road signs, an air bladder that pushes front-seat occupants towards the center of the car before a side impact, an audio system that triggers your eardrum's reflexes to prevent hearing damage in a crash, and NFC-based unlock and vehicle start using your smartphone. For starters. Good luck picking it out from its stablemates, though. The video below captures the car in motion. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG

Make way for the 2013 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG, the most wonderfully preposterous car I have ever driven.
There is absolutely no reason why any two-seat roadster should be fitted with a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V12 developing 621 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque, but I sure am glad that Mercedes-Benz doesn't see things that way.
Drop into the leather-lined cockpit of this $213,145 provocateur, floor the accelerator pedal as I did over and over again, and 60 miles per hour falls in a traction-limited 3.9 seconds. Top speed has been electronically held to 186 mph (this apparently saves Gulfstream jet owners from embarrassment). Forget the SL550 and SL63 AMG, the valets will trip over themselves attending to the tycoon driving this thoroughbred - it's the real deal.