Snapping at the heels of the Mitsubishi Charisma (which had none), the Hyundai Excel (which didn’t), and the Smart (which isn’t), Mercedes will introduce in Paris its idea of an E-class shooting brake, which it calls the Concept Fascination (pics here via Spiegel). Fascination, eh? Swabian bubble-think (which is what this misnomer probably is a product of) doesn’t allot space for jokes about the concept of a fascist nation, and we won’t go there either. The Germlish pronounciation of the word fascination– “fast stee nation!” will, following enthusiastic repetition by Doktor Dieter at the Paris press conference, undoubtably lead to countless parodies, which we look forward to. Speaking of parodies: who selected the horrid, pornoid (no, I don’t mean paranoid) typography of the rear license plate? Why is the rear-end reminiscent of the R-class? Who are they trying to impress when they wax quarter-lyrical about the interior’s “dark saddle leather”, as if driving a car was some kind of half-assed equestrian experience? Apart from all this, the CF (let’s stick to the abbreviation, please) is probably a worthy vehicle, what with its showcasing the new Daimler Diesel (Adblue, 2.2-liter, 204hp). Although personally, I think the inner headlights are too small and look like an afterthought.
14 Comments on “Mercedes E-Class Shooting Brake. So to Speak....”
Back to TopLeave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
You can also login using Facebook Connect.
You say shooting brake, I say wagon that somebody sat on.
And the headlights remind me of the Escort ZX2.
Whatever man. That looks awesome.
A Honda Fit probably has more luggage capacity than this thing. What is the point of a wagon with no cargo area to speak of?
what the hell happened to that car. looks like a bad FX infiniti spin off.
OK… what is a “shooting brake”?
Looks like an updated Dodge Magnum to me
Hey, look, Mercedes found a niche not yet exploited by either BMW or Audi!
Does anyone remember those toys we had as a kid, the rotating box in three segments that let you mix and match the head, body and legs of different animals? Does anyone else think that this is more or less how BMW, VW and Daimler are designing products?
“Let’s see, we’ve tried wagon roofline and sedan door count with car ride height, no, wait, let’s try that with a coupe roof and a hatch! No, wait, let’s raise it to SUV height! Got it!” And thusly do we get things like the X6 and CF, though a kind of design mix-and-match.
I’ll just bet there’s a bunch of huge-ego engineers in upper management at each company that a) are too in love with their own brilliance and b) have yes-men underlings too scared to tell them when they’ve done something stupid.
What’s with the door handle, why is it extended rearward. Is that a suicide door in your pocket, or are you happy to see me ?
Eugh, that looks horrible, and I usually like Mercede’s styling. Well, half the time.
A Shooting Brake is defined as a sleek wagon with two doors and sports-car panache, i.e. a two-door hatchback.
It looks like Jesse James grafted a Mercedes R-Class onto a Dodge Magnum back end. Both cars flopped.
Nonetheless, I like it!
I love the look of that thing.
I do, however, detest the term ’shooting brake’. Every time I hear it I get the mental image of a car making a panic stop and the brake rotors just shooting out from the wheels under the strain.
How can you not love a car genre named for the British schleppage of double-barrel shotguns?
Looks more like a preview for the next CLK to me.
I guess I’m the perfect fit for that demoghrapic, because I would certainly want one. Would suit my lifestyle like a glove. Except for the CLS, Mercedes doesn’t have that much of “gotta have”. And it certainly is time for it…