Mercedes

The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 team combines the strong driver pairing of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton for the third year running in 2012, along with a substantially revised car to meet the FIA's rule changes. The most noticeable change between last year and the new MP4-27 is at the rear, where tighter rear carbon-fiber composite body shaping has been designed to meet the new-for-2012 exhaust rules, whilst smoothing airflow to and from the coolant and oil radiators. Read More

When the likes of Jaguar, Porsche, Ford, GM, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Renault and Chrysler introduce a new model series, it is equally or more reliable than the model it replaces. Right? Wrong! New information has been released this week which indicates all of the above companies have replaced major models with less reliable models in the last decade - the worst three examples were 60%, 54% and 40% more likely to break down than their predecessor. Read More

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Mercedes-Benz SL and to celebrate the occasion, Mercedes has completely restored the oldest surviving example to its original condition. Introduced to the press on 12 March 1952 on the autobahn between Stuttgart and Heilbronn, the prototype 300 SL (Super Lightweight) was powered by a 3-liter, six-cylinder in-line engine canted at 50 degrees with an overhead camshaft, three Solex twin carburetors and dry sump lubrication, which put out 170 bhp for a maximum speed of 143 mph (230 kph). Not bad for 1952. Read More

Being in Belgium in November for a truck show may or may not be your cup of tea/mug of Java, but Mercedes is at least doing its best to make the "Trailer 2011" exhibition interesting. The truck design world moves at a glacial pace compared to the consumer automobile business, and new models have to provide serious and significant commercial improvements if they are to be accepted by the trucking fraternity. Coming off the back of the well-received launch of its new Actros heavyweight tractor unit, Mercedes brought along a trailer concept design that aims to match and extend the significant commercial and environmental advantages of that unit. It looks cool, too. Read More

It's a well known fact that simply driving a new car away from the dealership is one of the most horrifically expensive things you'll ever do. ALG measures automotive residual values in the American marketplace - that is, the value of a car when you sell it, three years after purchase. Depreciation of the value of a car is often the largest part of the cost of ownership, and hence a good performance in ALG's Annual Residual Value Awards is a strong indication of how much that brand will cost to drive, and for the average man in the street, the current retained-value king is Subaru. Fuji Heavy Industries Subaru brand has now won the award three years running, with Lexus regaining top spot amongst luxury brands. The report suggests that German and American manufacturers are a long way behind Japanese (11 of the 21 awards) manufacturers in this critical but often overlooked aspect of real car ownership costs. Read More

The FIA, governing body of internal-combustion-engined motorsport, appears to have finally recognized the bleeding obvious (that electric vehicles will become mainstream) and is planning a high profile electric racing championship series beginning in 2013. The FIA Formula E Championship series has not been publicly framed as yet so it is not known if the series will be run at the same venues as the Formula One series but it can be expected to be held at a range of international venues and will logically serve as the first official championship for electric vehicles. Whether the series will have world championship status ... Read More

Brabus specialises in building fast cars - very fast cars. Indeed, it already holds the record for building the world's fastest production sedan and the world's fastest production coupe, so in claiming the title of the world's fastest cabriolet, it's not that much of a surprise. The car begins life as a Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet before the engine is transplanted with a 788 bhp, 6.3 liter, Biturbo V12 (a derivative of the three-valve Mercedes S 600 V12), giving it a top speed of 370 km/h (231 mph) and a price tag of EUR 478,000 (US$682,000). Read More

More power. Less fuel. That's the bare bones of the latest V8 equipped Mercedes AMG performance model – the E 63 AMG. The car's 5.5 liter biturbo V8 gives it a peak output of 386 kW (525 hp) and torque 
of 700 Nm – add on the optional AMG Performance package and it jumps to 410 kW (557 hp) and 800 Nm. Acceleration is specced at zero to 62 mph (0-100 km/h) in 4.2 seconds, top speed 
is 155 mph (250 km/h - electronically limited) and fuel consumption is down almost a quarter on its naturally aspirated predecessor at 24 mpg (9.8 liters per 100 kilometers). Needless to say, there's some impressive tech underlying these figures. Read More

With Apple recently updating its iPad, German aftermarket tuning company Brabus has taken the opportunity to update its iBusiness multimedia system for Mercedes’ S-Class vehicles to version 2.0. The iBusiness 2.0 system integrates one or two iPad 2 tablets into the rear compartment of the Mercedes S-Class that are connected via Wi-Fi to an Internet-connected Mac mini housed in the trunk. Through an app, the iPad 2 can be used to control not only the on-board entertainment system, but all the functions of the S-Class COMAND system, such as radio, navigation and phone, from the rear seat. Read More