Tag: Mercedes

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Cars

Again VW Passat CC :)

I don’t like to promote specific cars in my blog by saying their power and how they accelerate because you can find all these things on internet. However, this time I am making an exception! As you guessed from my previous blog I really love the Passat CC. They managed to vanish the boringness of family Passat and they created something totally different. And I checked the VW’s Germany website for more details and I found that they made some revisions on engine range. Now we can order Passat CC with 2.0 turbo diesel engine producing 170 horsepower and coupled with 6 speed double clutch quick automatic gearbox. And when you add other things, car ends up close to 50,000€ in Germany. This price unfortunately includes the stupid boring Passat interior but the rest of the car is very nicely made, you won’t stuck on that! For this price tag, you can buy BMW 3 Series with similar boring interior, also Mercedes C Class and more boring Audi A4. However, if you wish to order you BMW, Mercedes or Audi with this engine power and many options price will love to rocket to very high level without any hesitation.
I can hear from Audi lovers, buy A5 Sportback with its drawback! Sorry but A5 Sportback can be awarded as the most boring car of 2009! I like the Audi A6 but I could not like either A4 or A5 Sportback (normal A5 looks very good). One more thing, I don’t like to pay extra money to car which tend to understeer. An expensive car should oversteer (losing its back on corners). Since Audi A6 2.8 Quattro, I stopped loving Audi. Audi makes great cars with very high technology and offers the excellent Quattro but I cannot love Audi. For me it is just Audi! Audi does not recall something very specific like its competitors. That is the thing which makes Audi different. People who find BMW too sporty and Mercedes to grandpa style directly head onto Audi. But I like BMW and Mercedes :)
Anyway, if you want to have a four door coupe with five seat which is economical and also offer DSG gearbox and four wheel drive; then order a Passat CC ! For this price tag, you cannot buy something better ;)
The next car which will make me exciting be Alfa Romeo MiTo automatic!
Categories
Cars

Clubbing while travelling

During last five years car manufacturers found a new obsession after horsepower race. Actually this race did not catch every ones attention, as we focus horsepower, torque, safety. But below those lists there are some numbers which are getting bigger and bigger without any reason. When you tick the box next those numbers, you accept to turn your car into a mobile Ministry of Sound Club! Unfortunately, you won’t see any drunk celebrities’ under wear or drinking tequila shots like mineral water :)
Yes, those numbers are sound systems watt values! And they are getting bigger every year. Sound engineers are saying car’s interior is not very acoustics place for very powerful sound system, instead of huge watt powers we suppose to have more clear sound. I think car manufacturers skipped this small detail and started to race like they race for horsepower. Actually I love horsepower race, it makes me feel good. Mercedes offers 612 horsepowers in a sedan, Bentley unleashed 660 horsepower from British stables, Bugatti trained 1001 special horse for Veyron. When you have so much horse in a car, why should I need so many watts in my sound system? Naturally, as I also accept automotive is not just horsepower. All those extreme cars are consumed by rich people and they are looking for the same luxury level as they have it in their houses. I appreciate Bentley to offer Naim, Mercedes offers Harman/Kardon. The interesting point is who is going to rise to volume up to those thousand of watt levels? Car’s interior is not as big as your living room, okay Maybach is bigger than most of the usual houses, but in general that those very high sound powers will just help to lost concentration while driving and help to lose your hearing ability as fast as the accelerates to 100 km/h.
Aston Martin DBS: 517 horsepower, 1000 watts Bang&Olufsen
Bentley Mulsanne: 505 horsepower, 2200 watts Naim
Bentley Continental GT Speed: 610 horsepower, 1100 watts Naim
Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport: 1001 horsepower, 300 watts Puccini (The most reasonable one!)
Picture are from;
Ministry of Sound Website
Bentley Website
Aston Martin Website
Categories
Fashion

Louis Vuitton and Mercedes G Class

Mercedes G Class is one of my favourite cars on earth. Most of you may have never heard of Mercedes G or you did not notice it on street. This vehicle can be considered as the grandfather of SUVs! It is still on production since 1979 and exterior design of this vehicle did not change significantly. You can buy 1979 G Class and replace some parts and it will look 2010! For me, G Class is a really cool car. It never changed its character and did not change its face. I know, Range Rover have similar characteristics but Range Rover changed its face many times and it is on everywhere! I do love Range Rover but I don’t find it cool like a G Class.
Despite these exquisite advantages of G Class, it is a nerve breaking car to drive. This car is equipped with three differential locks, which you cannot find in any other competitor. Front, centre and rear; when you use them all, you don’t need any ESP or ASR. Actually, system disengages all these things when you engage differential locks. As the steering is not light, doors are not easy to close, there is no sign of aerodynamics, handling is designed for off road, there is not front parking sensors (actually with those bumpers you don’t one!) and many more things are not available which can be found in any normal Mercedes. However, if you only have a compass and you don’t want to follow the road, this is the very few vehicles which could go straight to your destination by avoiding any natural obstacle. The main differentiating point of G Class is; its production. It is still made by hand in Austria. Yes, Mercedes does not mention this but it is one of the very rare vehicles which are built by hand.
However, this vehicle is very popular in US, especially in celebrities. I don’t know why but they love to drive G 55 AMG and bear the difficulties of G Class! Because, it is cool ;)
Now I want to talk about the Louis Vuitton. I don’t need to give information about LV, we all know it. If you have lots of money, you will buy one whatever they sell! Their marketing strategies which are targeting every living organism on earth. This helps us to see LV more than Toyota pickups in anywhere! For many people, LV is a luxury or snob hand bag manufacturer and this is kind of true. But LV did not start business with hand bags, they started with luggage. Luggage which did not change much for many years like Mercedes G Class. They are still made by hand, cornered, may be heavier than Samsonite. Those cornered hard luggage are keeping LV brand exclusive, if I had money to buy a luxury luggage I would not buy modern LV, I would go for the classic one. Because, that luggage reflects the LV’s character. Like, Mercedes G Class is reflecting pure off roader and also success of Mercedes in automotive.
If you could afford to buy Mercedes G Class, please try to buy old style LV luggage. Like G Class, you cannot see both of them very often and nobody really know them very well. But they are the best one ;)
Here is a video about G Class production;

Categories
Cars

Family trip with reasonable car

Let’s imagine, you are living in Switzerland with two kids and your spouse. Actually this is something very usual to see in every country. And father of this family wants to drive a very fast car as he could effort without any problem. Also he wants to buy a sedan which could accommodate five people and a proper boots space. With these limitations, he cannot buy a Porsche 911 or Lamborghini! Also S63 AMG or Audi S8 is too big. So, the alternatives are becoming few and fewer.
The ideal family car with proper boot and accommodate five people and fast is Mercedes E63 AMG, BMW M5 and Audi RS6. All these cars are clinically insane! Despite their minor performance differences, you will lost your mind in any of these cars. However, they are speed is limited to 250 km/h. Up to that speed, your body can be squeezed due to high speed G shocks! But, this family wants more boots space and same lunatic power!
All these cars had a tiny problem, which was a big obstacle, catastrophic problem. They were not available in estate version for long and long year. People had depressions, they didn’t know what to do. Of course, Mercedes E500 Estate, BMW 550 Touring or Audi A6 4.2 Avant was very slow for their family. I really don’t know what their problem with speed is :) So, all these German companies had meeting and they said, we will solve this huge problem. (Actually this stupid design first came from Audi RS6, Audi has obsession with estate cars.) And solution to this problem is to offer lunatic cars with estate option!
Let’s imagine again; you have a family with two or three kids. And you want to travel to Nice for summer holiday. Sure you need huge boots for everything and you don’t want to buy SUV. Also you are suffering time problem, because you need to catch with Schumacher! And you will be in a lunatic family estate car which could speed up so quickly and stop so quickly. Actually these cars huge amount of horse power will not give you any pleasure while travelling for holiday. It will cause a huge problem!
Why? Firstly, all these lunatic cars extremely stiff suspension. You little kid can throw out everything. Also you wife will not be happy with the enormous exhaust sound which you love it very much and also annoying suspension. Of course, when you have a huge amount of torque which can move the earth, you will try to overtake every car and your trip will turn into family war. In addition, the huge tyres will make more noise, will be very uncomfortable, also these cars love to eat petrol.
So, I really wonder who is their target group! I discussed this problem with my friend Abidin and we came to a solution, nobody. No, may be a very small amount people. Like 10!

Pictures (in order);
Mercedes E63 AMG Estate
BMW M5 Touring
Audi RS6 Avant
Pictures are from;
Mercedes Website
BMW Website
Audi Website
Categories
Cars

Mercedes cars love their drivers !

Whether you like Mercedes or not, Mercedes offers the latest technology on their cars. Especially in S and CL Classes. If I start writing their optional and standard features, it will take couple of hours. However, some of the technologies are not helping driver, it is just driving the car instead of driver! I am not against these kinds of technologies, but their adverse affect is making us lazy :)
I don’t need to focus too much on traffic, if something goes wrong car will stop :)
(The picture in the right hand side is showing what happens when you approach to a car.)
This last sentence is totally possibly with BAS Plus technology. Yes, we are not in Star Trek movie and car can identify what is going in front of the car. It can understand, in 100 meters cars are not going anywhere we need to stop. As usual, it alerts the driver and driver might be sleeping and when the car approaches to fail safe point, it makes full braking! Probably, all the passengers will understand that BAS Plus did the braking, as their stomach and livers changes their places. For a relaxing travel, BAS Plus is not something ideal unless you want to change your places of your organs.
This technology is only offered in Mercedes as I know, however Honda and Lexus are offering similar systems to prevent accident. The important point, accident! These systems are not for making you lazy and play with your phone or watch DVD while driving. It is for saving you, of course if you don’t save your money ;) BAS Plus is an optional extra.
And you could see from the picture, Mercedes S Class has radars every where!
Categories
Fashion

Burberry is like a F1 Safety Car !

Burberry is one of the very well known British fashion brand and admired by many people. Burberry became a reflection of social status, reflection of life style. Some people cannot live without Burberry, it became a part of their body. However there are some people annoyed by seeing too much Burberry in every where. They say, Burberry lost its exclusivity by appearing too much. This is one of the Achilles’ heels in luxury; limit the production and keep it exclusive or satisfy the demand and lost the spirit. Burberry is like a light which signals in every condition and in everywhere; actually this is my idea, you may not agree with me.
Mercedes SL 63 AMG Formula1 Safety car is one of the coolest car for car enthusiast, it has everything we are looking for. It’s very powerful, upgraded suspension and brakes, it is bridling the F1 cars on circuit and it has amazing flashing lights all over the car. Of course, you cannot drive this car in daily condition with all these lights flashing. Even if you don’t open those flashing lights, you will catch all the attention, if you open those flashing lights, you will grab any kind of attention. So, it looks better on circuit.
Burberry is like safety car; it look very elegant and exquisite in fashion shows and on Mayfair, London. But when you see the store, all that spirit is disappearing! Burberry store in Istanbul, there are more than six Burberry is written all over the store, even on the side of stairs outside of the store. It is flashing like a safety car, I am here! May be for that reason, I could not like this brand ever. However; Paul Smith, Armani, Boss, Farhi, Kenzo or Bottega Veneta is not that flashing and catching my attention more. Of course, all these marketing strategies are targeting different target groups and have different goals. But will I ever drive SL63 AMG F1 Safety Car on street? I don’t think so!
Burberry’s store in Istanbul is one the magnificent looking building!
Picture are from;
Mercedes Website
Skyscrapercity.com
Categories
Cars

Rejected take off to Saab, Again!

Saab’s condition turned into chaos. For one year, nobody wanted to buy and last minute Spyker felt in love with Saab. From the press releases, Spyker wants to buy but there are some obstacles! Something like this; can we sell Saab cars? Or can we survive after we finance Saab? They are making business and these kind of expectations are very normal.
Buying Saab is quite risky and you should lots of money to spend and supported by huge income. Hmm; I think Ecclestone is a good choice or Kuwait Invesment. Kuwait Investment bought Aston Martin, I think they own %7 of Mercedes Benz and probably some other firms also. They could ass Saab to their portfolio.
Saab’ safety features did not help to save Saab!

Picture is from;
EuroNcap Website
Categories
Cars

Who wants Mercedes CLS Station!

Mercedes CLS is one of very successful segment creator car with its four door coupe style. When it was introduced in market, it was a fresh air. CLS was offering coupe style with four door’s comfort and 2+2 seating and sportive driving character. This can be a very good example for successful investment. After CLS, competitors did not respond quickly and waited. And Porsche announced Panamera, Aston Martin announced Rapide and Audi A5 Sportback. Yes, A5 Sportback is smaller than others but their concept is similar.
BMW did not respond to CLS. Instead, they revealed something called 5 GT! That’s a gran turismo with huge boot space. Don’t imagine something which looks like Maserati. That’s a uplifted BMW 5 Series station. Something similar to Audi A6 Allroader! Actually, I liked the 5 GT’s design but I would never buy it unless someone gives it for free. Probably most of the customers think the same. This kind of unidentified cars are quite hard to sale. If customers cannot identify them, how they could pay lots money and buy it?
I thought, Audi A6 Allroader and BMW 5 GT will not be followed by someone. Ohh no!! Mercedes will reveal something called CLS Station. It was first mentioned in 2008 as concept vehicle and I was expecting to see as a concept vehicle. But after six years, they decided to produce a coupe station. I really wonder who is their target group? People who didn’t buy the R Class? Or people who have lots of money and want to buy something which looks like weird?
Time to time, Mercedes makes mistakes like R Class, GL (I really like R and GL but they are expensive!). And this is the nature of business. But coupe station should not be a response for BMW’s pointless car. Instead of unidentified coupe station, introduce a small coupe which is better than CLC!
Sorry; BMW 5 GT is very risky car (proper niche car) and after new 5 Series, it will be extremely hard to sell it. And CLS Station will be worse. Remember, BMW used to have Z3 Coupe! Probably nobody remember it. Because, it was like a coupe station. Please, don’t try to stretch your product range just to extend it.
Last note; as mentioned on Autocar CLS Station will be on sale in 2012. It even has vehicle code, X218!

Pictures (in order)
Mercedes ConceptFascination (Concept car)
BMW 5 GT
Mercedes CLS
Mercedes R

Picture are from;
Mercedes Website
BMW Website
Categories
Cars

Mercedes is in love with Renault !!! ??

Recently, I read on internet that Mercedes will work with Renault to increase their competitive power in small car segment. Like BMW is putting Peugeot engine in Mini range, Mercedes will probably put Renault engines in Smart range.
I said range, because they are planning to expand Smart brand with Renault, which is very good at producing dull cars. And you could remember 1980s in Renault, because Renault still has the ridicilous problems of 1980s. For instance, while driving Renault you can “feel” that gear knob is reflecting what is going on inside the gearbox! Even Ford Ka doesn’t have this problem. Ohh, I forgot! Lack of feeling in steering wheel and superb handling! Why superb? Because, for cost saving Renault doesn’t like to offer proper suspension in the back. They offer torsion bar, which is not a suspension!
Anyway, Mercedes had accident with previous Smart models ForFour and Roadster. I hope that they won’t repeat their mistakes again. Mercedes please think twice!!!

Pictures are from;
Smart
Daimler Media

Categories
Fashion

Sarah Jessica Parker is the coolest celebrity with car!

As I mentioned before celebrities are wishing to have some very unique cars. And they tend to ruin their car with unusual design tips!

However, Sarah Jessica Parker known as staring Carrie Bradshow from “Sex and the City”. She was spotted during the shooting of Sex and the City 2 movie with Mercedes E Cabrio. And she is totally unique! Why? Because, this is not on sale yet. You cannot buy it :) And she is driving.
Want to be different? Star on a movie and drive something which is not on sale ;)

Picture is from;
Benzinsider.com