1992 Mercedes-benz 400e Base Sedan 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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2015 Mercedes-Benz ML400 Quick Spin

Mercedes-Benz has taken a risk in its quest to downsize its engine range. For 2015, the brand's popular M-Class five-passenger CUV did away with its trusty 4.4-liter, twin-turbocharged V8, and has replaced it with a 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6. It's no surprise that power is down thanks to this move. Outputs of 402 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque are replaced by 329 hp and 354 lb-ft, but weight is down significantly as well. The new ML400 is nearly 300 pounds lighter than the 4,982-pound ML550. Will that tradeoff be enough to satisfy a buying public that's embraced falling fuel prices by buying bigger and thirstier vehicles? To find out if the blown V6 is a suitable replacement for the twin-turbo V8, we spent a week at the helm of the all-new ML400. Driving Notes This 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 is the same engine being offered in the C400 and E400 sedans. Typical of today's turbocharged engines, peak torque is spread lavishly across the rev range, from 1,600 to 4,000 rpm. That's not as generous a spread as the ML550, which offers all its torque between 1,600 and 4,750, but the power on offer is easy to access. Importantly, the new V6 never feels flat-footed or unable to answer our commands. In fact, the ML400 feels even quicker than its six-second sprint to 60 would indicate, although it's not so fast as to challenge the 5.3-second time of the ML550. After a slight and expected bout of turbo lag, the power arrives suddenly and proceeds linearly until just south of the engine's 6,500-rpm redline. The throttle response is soft in Eco mode, as expected, but sharpens up slightly when the fuel-sipping mode is off, where the gas pedal is still easy to modulate. It's a quiet engine, too. Compared to the brawnier exhaust note of the old ML550 or the howling six-cylinder in the BMW X5 xDrive35i, the ML400's note is smooth and refined, befitting of a V6. Its turbocharged nature is instantly noticed, though. Get on the throttle and the 3.0-liter happily hisses its way up the tachometer. But, it's only when you get on the throttle hard that the engine really weighs in. In day-to-day driving and traffic its soundtrack is unobtrusive and relaxed. The EPA rates the ML400's fuel economy at 18-miles-per-gallon city and a 22-mpg on the highway. That's better than the 14 city and 19 highway of the old V8 ML, but it still seems a bit low, especially for the highway figure.

Daimler, BMW partnering up on wireless charging

Plug-in vehicle advocates can get all warm and fuzzy about two Germany heavyweight automakers getting together for the sake of wireless charging. That's because Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler and BMW will work together to speed up development of a wireless charging system. While not a ton of details were divulged, we can still rejoice. Daimler says the system will consist of an on-board coil and another coil that can be placed within the garage floor or someplace similarly stationary. The system will charge at 3.6 kilowatts and with 90 percent efficiency. No details were released about the system's price or when it would be available, but Daimler shouldn't wait too long, since other OEMs are already talking about their own wireless charging systems. Daimler obviously has some skin in the game here, since Mercedes-Benz will start sales of its S500 plug-in hybrid in September. That model, which was first shown off last August at the Frankfurt Auto Show, can go as far as 20 miles on electric power alone and will get fuel economy of about 84 miles per gallon equivalent. And it's easy to imagine an i3 or i8 driver getting a kick out of never needing to touch a cord. This spring, reports sprung up that fellow German automaker Volkswagen was preparing a wireless charging option for its electric vehicles as soon as 2017. You can check out Daimler's press release below. Wireless charging of electric drive and plug-in hybrid vehicles: PLUG IN HYBRID - unplugged One of the next steps on the way to perfect electric drive and plug-in hybrid vehicles is wireless charging. Daimler and BMW have now agreed on jointly developing and implementing one common technology. Wireless charging of the battery will make the handling of electric drive and plug-in hybrid vehicles even easier. Mercedes-Benz will commence fleet testing of this "unplugged" technology with the S 500 Plug in HYBRID soon, in order to develop a real S-Class solution in recharging the high voltage battery in terms of comfort and ease of operating in the near future. The system consists of two components: a secondary coil integrated into the under tray of the car and a primary coil integrated into a floor plate that can be placed on a garage floor for instance. Electrical energy is transmitted contact-free without the need for a cable, at a power rate of 3.6 kW and with a degree of efficiency of 90%.

2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class vs big luxury off-roaders: How they compare on paper

During our first drive of the 2019 Mercedes-Benz G-Class, the all-new SUV's product manager was asked to identify competitors that might have been benchmarked in its development. The look on his face was about the same as if someone had asked him to recite King Lear in Klingon. As far as Andreas Hoeppel was concerned, the G 550 and AMG G 63 doesn't actually have a rival, or at least something the engineers and designers thought to compare it against. The G-Class is a G-Class, who cares what the other guys are doing? Well, in case you care, we figured we'd plug the new G-Class' specs into the old Autoblog Comparo Generator 3000 (TM) to see how the G 550 and AMG G 63 compare to the Range Rover and its mightiest SVAutobiography Dynamic model, plus the Lexus LX 570 and Bentley Bentayga V8. Frankly, Heir Hoeppel was onto something as each of these is wildly different. But, they do share some common elements: giant size and weight, ultra-lux interiors, and far more off-roading capability than other luxury SUVs offer and any of its owners are likely to ever utilize. Sad. So enjoy this trip down specification lane, and if you're still left hungry, you can always check out our Range Rover comparison or create your very own comparo. Off-Road Clearances and Capability All the fancy off-roading software and special cameras in the world won't do you a lick of good if your SUV is too close to the ground or has low-hanging body work that'll get easily ripped off. As such, check out each of these uber-SUV's ground clearance, approach and departure angles, and wading/fording depths. In this case, the Range Rover has an advantage due to its air suspension that can raise itself into an Off-Roading height that's a whopping 2 inches higher than the new G-Wagen. Sadly for itself, Lexus only provides figures for its air suspension when in normal height. It could match or surpass the Range Rover for all we know (but doubt it). As Land Rover does provide figures for the Range Rover's approach and departure angles in normal and Off-Road height, you can get an idea of just how much clearance the new G-Wagen has without any fancy (and expensive to fix) raising and lowering air suspension hardware. In fact, its departure angle is better than even the Range Rover's Off-Road height. Bentley doesn't provide any such information despite touting the Bentayga's surprising off-roading talents.