Mercedes equips dealers with iPads

Those are the words most car buyers dread. They come just before figures are pulled out of some accountant's bottom (drawer) in a room adorned with pictures of large people playing golf.

I can offer you a smidgen of joy, should you be wishing to waft into a Mercedes dealership this Memorial Day weekend.

It seems certain of these exalted places are being equipped with iPads, so your friendly dealer can inspire you to closure without the smell of leather ever leaving your nostrils.

"So my iPad tells me that you can drive this baby away right now for just 45 grand a month!"

According to the Wall Street Journal, 40 Mercedes dealerships will enjoy iPads, whose cool they can adopt in order to produce the most radically inviting digits, while you continue to stroke the steering wheel and dream of a love life you can actually tell your friends about.

"It just gives us more of a sense of credibility," Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Mercedes dealer told the Journal.

It is surely an indication of just how much technology is taking over as society's barometer when it takes an iPad to give a car dealer credibility. And you thought it was only honesty that could do that.

MERCEDES-BENZ - RARE SL NIGHT EDITION

Each SL350 Night Edition has an MLP of $246,000 regardless of paint finish. The Managing Director, Mercedes-Benz Cars, Mr Horst von Sanden said “With the SL being the longest running continous nameplate in the automotive industry, there have been many special SL’s produced over its 57 year run. We have during the last 57 years debuted some very special features on SL-Class and the Night Edition continues that tradition to start off the next 57 years of SL” With the SL 350 Night Edition we have used the opportunity to provide a unique encompassing of the SL core values of luxury, safety, dynamics, performance and exclusivity.

We have been able to secure twenty five of this truly limited run SL for our local customers, half of which will be painted in the stunning designo magno Night black.”

The SL 350 Night Edition is truly an exclusive and bespoke vehicle”

The additional equipment features have been drawn from across the SL range.

Exterior Appointments

- Choice of exclusive designo magno Night black special paint or Obsidian Black metallic paint

- Sporty 19-inch AMG 5-spoke light-alloy wheels, painted titanium grey with a highsheen finish

- Silver-painted brake callipers with Mercedes-Benz lettering at the front with perforated front and rear brake discs

Mercedes-Benz E-Class earns this year’s Top Safety Award

Both large luxury cars Hyundai Genesis and the Mercedes E Class were awarded the 2010 top safety pick awards by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. This award distinguishes top vehicles that gets the best rating of good for front, side, rollover and rear crash protection. It also needs to have an electronic stability control which is one of the many features of both cars. Hyundai officials are very happy as they were recently awarded with the top safety pick for their luxury sedan. What made the occasion more thrilling is that they shared the award with their much expensive rival, the Mercedes E Class.

While the Genesis cost a lot less than the Mercedes E Class, this is the first time the E Class model earned the top safety award. Earlier this year, minor modifications were done to the padding in the front door to increase their protection when a side impact crash occurs. According to the Insurance Institute Highway Safety, the Genesis, who underwent some structural changes this year has also enhanced its roof for more protection in rollover crashes. The recent top safety pick award applies to Genesis models that were made since January 2010, and also the award that pertains to the E Class model are the cars that were built since March 2010.

Mercedes Cabriolet E-Class convertible overcomes windblown hair

Mercedes-Benz

The 2011 Mercedes-Benz E-class Cabriolet. No more cold drafts or windblown hair when the top's down, our reviewer says.
For many prospective customers, convertibles conjure images of cold drafts and windblown hair, a stereotype Mercedes hopes to overcome with the introduction of its new E-Class Cabriolet.

The mechanical wizards in Stuttgart have concocted technical cures for these age-old problems, making top-down driving pleasant and fun in temperatures that would normally cause us to reach for the button to raise the roof.

Mercedes-Benz GLK350 is mysteriously irresistible

Meet the 2010 Mercedes-Benz GLK350.

For twice the price of a Honda CR-V, the GLK gives you less space for passengers and cargo and worse fuel economy.

GLK continues M-B's abominable cruise control lever that's easy for your fingers to confuse with the turn signal — leading, worst case, to unintended acceleration.

GLK employs the M-B "Comand" control system that tries hard to be as absurd as BMW's iDrive.

The seven-speed automatic transmission resets to its less-responsive mode each time you shut off the vehicle, forcing you to punch up "S" for Sport at each restart — just to get the thing to start out in first gear instead of second and to hold each gear a little longer for better performance.

Not only was the rear legroom scarce, the back door opening made it tricky to get in and out. And the sunken safety-belt buckles complicated securing and releasing a child.

Driving with windows partway down set up a drumming noise until you found just-so openings of all the windows and perhaps the sunroof.