2004 Mercedes Ml350 Low Miles on 2040-cars

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2017 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Coupe First Drive

Remember 2008? The government said companies could make food from cloned animals. Derrick Rose became a Bull, Michael Phelps killed it at the Beijing Olympics, the Giants killed gamblers everywhere by beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The money that banks had been dousing in lighter fluid for years finally caught fire courtesy of Lehman Brothers. General Motors admitted it got torched for a $38.7-billion loss in 2007. Oil hit $147 a barrel. Tata introduced the Nano. And Mercedes-Benz gave us the W204 C63 AMG, a sedan we didn't know we'd been waiting for until we drove it. It was hammer in front and hell in back, that naturally aspirated 6.2-liter V8 with 451 horsepower and 443 pound-feet of torque swearing in Beelzebub's childhood tongue through four oval pipes jutting from a heart of black diffuser darkness. It was everything AMG had always been, howling mad in a straight line. And everything AMG hadn't been, sharp and fast through a turn. AMG booked a lot of goodwill for that endeavor, a substantial success that bred huge expectations. Not only would we not be surprised by the 2017 AMG C63 S, we would expect it to be outstanding. And it is. But not in the way we expected. What we love about the W205 C-Class sedan is the same thing that gives us pause about the AMG C63 S: they both grew up. The coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the sedan. The C63 Coupe shares only the doors, roof, and decklid with the standard production car. The hood is 60 millimeters longer, and there's a front splitter ready to make nasty crunching noises around town. The trunk gets a trim blade of a spoiler, strengthening the design connection to the S-Class Coupe. Blistered wheels broaden the C63 S Coupe by 2.5 inches in front and 2.6 inches millimeters in back, putting needed muscle on that otherwise svelte rear end and visually bolting the car to the road. Track is wider, too, and standard 19-inchers fill the wheel wells. It's a beautiful machine, and when draped in one of the 80 bazillion shades of matte silver AMG is known for, it's devastating. Our subjective take is that it's swapped personas with the BMW M4. Now it's the C63 S that channels muscular grace, while the M4 takes Bluto as its spirit animal. What's left to be said about Mercedes interiors, other than to give way for the heckling about the COMAND touchscreen placement? This interior does it like all the rest, with the exception of a small steering wheel with an absurdly fat rim.

Four-leaf clovers, hybrid Hondas and the next automotive downturn | Autoblog Podcast #561

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor Alex Kierstein and Associate Editor Reese Counts. The group discuss the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio, the Mercedes-Benz CLS 450 and the Honda Clarity PHEV Alex has been driving in Seattle. They also discuss the future of the auto industry, how customer tastes and needs are changing and what might happen if the world faces another economic downturn. Finally, we spend your money.Autoblog Podcast #561 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio Mercedes-Benz CLS 450 Honda Clarity PHEV The next automotive downturn Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series gives the rich and famous what they want

TOPANGA, Calif. – Give the people what they want, right? Especially if they're extremely wealthy. And possibly famous.  Apparently, the requests for a convertible Maybach from existing owners and/or celebrities were so frequent and insistent that the uber-luxury offshoot of Mercedes-Benz finally decided to give them just that. The 2025 Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series answers the call. While all other Maybachs are based on a Mercedes-Benz, this is the first Maybach to be based on a car developed by AMG: the current-generation SL 55 and SL 63. This presented a greater challenge to engineers than past efforts. Although a sportier Maybach was intended (as opposed to modern Maybach's first drop-top effort, the Maybach S 650 Cabriolet), the SL 680 is, not surprisingly, seeking a much different dynamic end goal than its AMG-only cousins. According to Maybach product manager Hannes Meyer, the far shorter wheelbase than the Maybach norm was a particular challenge in making sure that its convertible offering maintained "the same ease and nearly floating driving experience" expected of the brand. To that end, the Maybach SL shares the SL 63's air suspension and trick AMG Active Control interconnected hydraulically controlled dampers, but the tuning is changed, especially with the rear air springs as the driver sits closer to those. Meyer says the damper valves in particular have a greater range between sportiness and comfort than the SL 63. The steering system is totally Maybach-specific, including a different ratio and more upright front camber, resulting in what Meyer described as a more stable and less aggressive setup than what you'd find in the SL 63.  Before you start looking for a 6.8-liter engine in the Mercedes arsenal, remember that those numbers don't really mean anything anymore. The Maybach SL 680 has exactly the same 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 as the SL 63 good for 577 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. The nine-speed AMG transmission is the same in terms of hardware, but it has totally different software. In particular, the 2-3 and 3-4 shifts are most different in order to provide a smoother, more Maybach acceleration experience. The 4Matic+ all-wheel-drive system is also shared, but is programmed to have a more balanced front-to-rear power split than the rear-biased AMG. Finally, the exhaust has been retuned. Meyer said that up to 2,800 rpm, the exhaust isn't quieter than what you'd experience in the AMGs, it just has a different tone.