If it weren’t for a Papal visit, Dr. Z may never have come to know Mercedes-Benz.

A brief article in Automotive News mentions M-B boss Dieter Zetsche’s first encounter with a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which ultimately led him to the company that he is now CEO of

During the launch of the new S class in Hamburg last night, Zetsche said what he remembers most from a pastoral visit that Pope Paul VI made to the area where he was living as a young man was the Mercedes that his holiness was being driven in.

Mercedes’ top-of-the-line model wasn’t known as the S class at that time, which didn’t matter to Zetsche. He said he knew right then and there that he had to figure out a way to someday get behind the wheel of a car like that, “without having to become pope.”

As far as Popes go, Paul VI is a fairly controversial figure for some Catholics. I always thought the faux-Idi Amin S-Class used for the Entebee raid was the world’s coolest S-Class but that’s just me.

Anyone looking for an AMG R63, the rarest modern Mercedes-Benz product of all time, look no further. There’s one for sale outside of Toronto for the low price of just $33,995. Plus you get to have dinner with me if you buy it (not really, but you should give me a call if you decide to take possession of it). You can view the ad here. Paging Mr. DeMuro…

Cadillac may be gunning too hard for Germany’s domain of rear-drive sports sedans, but one area where The Standard of the World won’t be gunning for them is in the volume race. GM CFO Dan Ammann told Automotive News that unlike BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi, ”We’re not going to be in every single segment that they’re in”.

“In some ways, I think that not having the pressure to sell the last incremental car at whatever cost … is actually not a bad place to be right now. Continuing to move down price points, and microsegmentation of all of these little categories, all seems to be driven by a sort of volume-at-all-costs mentality,” Ammann said. “What that does long term for brand health I think remains to be seen.”

Now, it’s true that Cadillac is working with a different set of circumstances than the Germans. For one, its product and sales base is much smaller than globally-integrated German luxury marques. And frankly, Cadillac should expand a little if it wants to make a real run at Europe and China. A small crossover to compete against the Audi Q3 wouldn’t be a bad idea, along with a brand new Cadillac SRX.

On the other hand, I’m glad that Ammann feels no need to pursue this strategy of going for every last niche. In the long run, I think it will do some damage to luxury brands if they keep moving too down market, as their premium position will be diluted by making the brand too accessible. Europe is plagued by a declining car market, an aging population and a lost generation of young consumers. Their auto makers have to do something to make their products accessible to the next generation. Like Jaguar Land Rover, Cadillac isn’t as exposed to these problems as Europe’s auto makers. Their big markets (the United States and China, India and the UK for JLR) have both economics and demographics on their side. Refraining from the “volume or bust” mindset is a luxury they can afford to indulge in.

A little light reading for the weekend? Someone went and scanned a German language version of the all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class brochure. Bertel’s preoccupied at Nissan right now, so other folks with knowledge of German will have to help with the translation.

As Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi rush to prepare new entry-level product to attract a younger crowd, Jaguar Land Rover is proudly calling “bollocks” on their efforts to attract younger buyers. Although much of the growth in the “near-luxury” segment is expected to come from vehicles with a transaction price in the $30,000-$40,000 range, JLR’s sole offering in that segment is the low-volume LR2. It’s the $50,000 Evoque that’s driving sales for the brand.  This interview from Automotive News with JLR’s North American CEO, Andy Goss, explains why:

I’ve always been fascinated by the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. Not fascinated enough to buy one, of course, although I think that even I – an unemployed blogger who wears pants at least two days per week – could qualify for financing through Mitsubishi Credit. Presumably, this would depend on whether I arrived at the dealership wearing pants.

No, what’s fascinated me about the Evo is the car’s most unique aspect. I know what you’re thinking: he’s going to make Asian jokes! But I’m not. (Some of you are now thinking: then why am I reading this?) I’m not even going to call out the Evo for its tuner drivers who believe a car’s quality is judged by the number of elderly people it can piss off with a loud exhaust. After all, this isn’t especially unique, since the E46 BMW M3 exists.

Instead, the Evo’s most unique aspect is the fact that it’s based on the Mitsubishi Lancer. I find it hard to wrap my mind around this. The Evo – commonly considered to be a pretty damn good performance car – is based on a $16,000 compact sedan that plays in a segment of cars you’d buy for your teenage daughter whose sole criteria is: I want blue, daddy! Even more unbelievably, it’s actually near the bottom of this segment, except among people whose credit scores roughly equal a linebacker’s jersey number.

As I thought about this, I realized something: the Lancer is probably the car with the single greatest gap between the base model and the performance model. No one who’s swayed by the economy of a 148-horsepower, base-level Lancer will want to drive an Evo. And Evo owners view Lancer drivers with the same contempt as that friend we all had with an SRT-4 who would always correct people who called it a Neon.

Before writing a story about the unparalleled gap between the Lancer and the Evo, I decided to do some research to see if any other cars had similar divides. Primarily, this involved staring out my window at cars that drove by, thinking things like: “Eh, Hyundai Sonata, no performance model,” or “Who still buys the Volvo XC70?” or “Does that car still have those Christmas reindeer antlers on?”

The Bigger Gap

Eventually, something drove by that does have a bigger gap than the Evo between its base model and its performance variants: the Mercedes-Benz CLK.

In the past, I’ve gotten in trouble with the Best and Brightest for making generalizations about car owners. Actually, I’ve only gotten in trouble for making generalizations about Subaru owners, who I now know are not all lesbians, do not solely live in the northeast, and eat a wide variety of food that may include grape nuts, but doesn’t always.

But I think we can all agree on this generalization: virtually everyone who drives the Mercedes CLK is a woman. Sure, sure: occasionally, men drive it too. Like the technician at the Mercedes dealer who’s diagnosing the fourth electrical issue this week. But mainly, women are attracted to the car’s soft lines, its smooth ride, and the rear seats, which are perfect for those tiny dogs with bows in their hair.

But believe it or not, the CLK has actually produced some pretty good performance models.

The Wild CLKs

Witness the 2003-2006 CLK55 AMG, and later the 2007-2009 CLK63 AMG, which only came as a convertible. Those hauled ass, and they did it in a manner far more subtle than any other AMG Mercedes or BMW M model of the time. The CLK63, for instance, had 475 horsepower and did 0-to-60 in less than 4.5 seconds. That’s pretty good for a four-seat ragtop “woman’s car.”

Of course, Mercedes makes AMG versions of everything. So why is the CLK special? Fine: forget about the base-level AMG model. Focus instead on the CLK63 AMG Black Series. The CLK63 Black reaches 60 in four seconds flat, hits 186 mph and looks like a touring car built for the road. And the rear seat is deleted to save weight, which leaves no room for dogs. Or purses.

But the CLK63 Black Series is child’s play compared to the CLK-DTM. Built to resemble the actual German DTM race car, the CLK-DTM road car used a wider rear track and a supercharged V8 with 582 horsepower. Mercedes sold just 180 of these: 100 coupes and 80 convertibles. They all reached 60 in 3.8 seconds, and they cost around $300,000. Needless to say, the gap widened further.

But we’re still not to the top of the food chain. That would be the CLK-GTR, which looks like the Batmobile, if the Batmobile was the size of a formal dining room. Of course, by now, virtually nothing is shared with the actual CLK except, oddly, the taillights. Indeed, the CLK-GTR was created for GT1-class homologation purposes and built in small numbers: they made just 35 units, including, bizarrely, six convertibles. The reason it was so big is because Mercedes had to stuff wings and air inlets in every possible place; this proved particularly important in the 1999 season when the similar CLR race car actually took off at LeMans. Look this up on YouTube. It’s awesome.

The CLK-GTR was not just the ultimate CLK, but the ultimate Mercedes: pricing started at $1.5 million and power increased to more than 600 horses. Today, they’re only seen on a sunny day in Dubai (that’s every day in Dubai) or a warm summer afternoon in Monaco. It’s a long way from the race tracks they were built for – but it’s even further from the base-level CLK320s that cart expensive handbags around Beverly Hills.

Doug DeMuro operates PlaysWithCars.com. He’s owned an E63 AMG wagon, road-tripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute lap time on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America’s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

Apparently somebody “accidentally” uploaded this photo to Mercedes-Benz’s Austrian website. In this day and age of the internet, “leaks” are always suspect, but the next S-Class was slated to be introduced in two weeks time anyways. Here it is in all its glory. Explosive refrigerant not shown, of course.

Last week there was a 2003 Toyota Tacoma with 430,000 miles on it.

I thought to myself, “Well this isn’t news. The quartet of GM/Ford trucks, Honda Cars, and Toyota everything is still cleaning up the charts. I won’t write about it this time”. So I waited…

This week the mileage champion out of 6,945 vehicles was a 1999 Toyota 4Runner with 344,400 miles. The enthusiasts among us are probably a bit Toyonda Chevorded out at this point. So this time, let’s focus on longevity.

This 1975 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham was once owned by Kermit the Frog. It was later purchased by the guy who invented Nickelodeon’s world famous slime and has most recently been on the set of the Incredible Hulk movie. Sad to say, the scene where it was scheduled to be destroyed was cut due to a protest engineered by our own TTAC alum Paul Niedermeyer.

So now it sits with 32,973 miles.

Old Caddies are rarely a surprise at the auctions. What did surprise me this time?

Try two 1977 MGB Roadsters available at the same auction. The miles are 47,959 and 49,048 respectively. Two more garage queens. These happened to reside in Nashville, Tennessee, Elvis country, where the rust is minimal, and the classiness of car decor is often somewhere between decals that portray the act of urinating and world famous truck testicles.

These sheepskin covers aren’t so bad. In fact, I think they would be the perfect fit for the marque that finished fourth and fifth on the longevity list.

These were followed by two Mercedes diesels. The second of which was a daily driver that displayed an impressive 308,052 miles. This is doubly impressive since old Mercedes odometer clusters have a tendency to give out at a certain point. I wouldn’t be surprised if this daily driver had more mileage than the Toyota 4Runner.

Finally, we have another surprise. A 1982 Fiat spider. Just showing the picture of this model with 137,939 miles would not do it justice. So I have arranged for a Youtube video to accompany your Monday morning.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The seats for this model were protected in a more conventional way than the MG twins.

There you have it. The six elder statesmen out of 6,985 vehicles. All of them still run… or at least limp along the road with loose bladders.

A new four-cylinder diesel set to debut on the GLK crossover will make its way to both the Mercedes C-Class and E-Class starting this year.

The 2.1L engine makes 200 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, and marks the first 4-cylinder diesel sold by Mercedes-Benz’s American arm since 1985. The oil-burning GLK will go on sale shortly, followed by a new 4-cylinder diesel E-Class in September. Finally, a diesel C-Class will debut in 2015, right around the time when Audi will launch an A4 TDI.

With the advent of the CLA as M-B’s new entry-level product, the C-Class will have to move upscale as well, and the diesel will be an interesting way to distinguish the C-Class from it’s baby brother. Aside from the whole rear-drive thing.

Mercedes-Benz “leaked” (i.e released) photos of the GLA concept ahead of its debut in Shanghai. The GLA is their latest move down the ladder as far as size and price-points go, but it’s also a harbinger of what’s to come from all automakers; another small, car-based crossover. You are going to be seeing plenty of these in the next few years, especially from premium brands that can squeeze lots of profit out of vehicles like these. Hatchbacks, wagons and body-on-frame SUVs are likely to suffer from this segment’s rise in popularity.

Mercedes-Benz is apparently preparing for a new line of models to slot below the A-Class, to better compete with MINI.

Reuters quotes the German news magazine Focus in claiming that

“The offensive is due to kick off in 2015 with an SUV that is even smaller than the new GLA compact crossover, due to be unveiled at the Shanghai auto show later this month,…A three-door model to compete with BMW’s Mini will follow in 2016, with prices for all cars to range between 17,000 euros ($22,300) and 20,000 euros.”

I once owned a 2002 Mercedes G500. This was – obviously – a horrible idea that we’ll cover in detail in the ensuing review. But first, a little history about one of the most instantly recognizable vehicles on the road.

While most people think the G-Wagen (“G” for “Gelandewagen,” German for “cross-country vehicle”) was designed as a German military vehicle, that isn’t strictly true. Instead, it was suggested in the early 1970s by the Shah of Iran. And by “suggested” I probably mean “commissioned under threat of death.” Eventually, the German military did use the G-Wagen, which meant it wasn’t long before wealthy people wanted to drive it on paved roads.

While Europeans started buying G-Wagens as posh fashion statements in the 1980s, Americans didn’t have that option. Instead, a New Mexico-based company called Europa imported them primarily for wealthy Aspen residents, while Mercedes dragged its feet on getting the G-Wagen certified for sale. Finally, the four-door G-Wagen came stateside in 2002, providing an ultimate aspiration for the “bling” set.

Indeed, the G500 has found favor primarily among basketball stars and five-foot-tall women with handbags the size of sofa cushions. This is a bastardization of its original purpose, but what does Mercedes care? Virtually every unit is pure profit, since the tooling was paid off about the same time Reagan implored Gorbachev to “tear down this wall.” Hell, a G-Wagen probably drove him to the speech.

Why Did I Want It?

Answering the question of why I wanted a G-Wagen is a bit of a challenge. I freely admit that part of it is because I just knew it would make me look cool. In retrospect, of course, this is rather embarrassing. Instead, I looked – as described by one former colleague – “like a total douchebag.” But it seemed awesome at the time, sort of like those kids who wore a cape to class picture day in second grade.

There were also two highly functional reasons for the G-Wagen. One was that I live in Atlanta where it snows, on average, approximately 0.1 inches per year. But one year, it snowed a lot. And because I had a Porsche (and because the city’s snowplow fleet appears to consist solely of a ’99 Silverado with a fuel leak), I couldn’t venture outside for days. So I bought the G500 in early December, vowing this year would be different.

The only possibly legitimate reason for buying the G500 was that it is, as a point of fact, the ultimate off-roader. With three locking differentials, it can un-stick itself from basically any situation – a fact owners tend to discover when they run over a parking curb at Starbucks. But I had grander plans: after off-road adventures with an old Land Cruiser I briefly owned, I wanted to enjoy the G-Wagen on some rough terrain.

On The Outside

The G-Wagen’s styling is opinion-splitting and greatly depends on how attractive you find a file cabinet. That’s because the G-Wagen’s design is based on one, sharing things like right angles and protruding door handles. Actually, given the G-Wagen’s age, the file cabinet may have come second.

There are three things I love about the G-Wagen’s design. One is the satisfying click of the doors closing – a sound that simply says “job well done,” whether it’s to German troops who just destroyed an enemy village or Beverly Hills housewives who just bought some Prada shoes.

I also love everything about the spare tire cover, which foregoes the canvas or cheap plastic used by rivals. Instead, it’s a heavy, body-colored piece of metal that spells out “Mercedes-Benz” in fine printing. This gives the peasants something to read when they’re stuck behind you in traffic. They certainly won’t see over you.

But the best exterior element is the front turn signals. They’re not integrated into the headlights; instead, they’re mounted on top of the front fenders, serving as a constant reminder that your car is so hardcore that it didn’t originally come with turn signals. On AMG models, they’re covered in tiny little brush guards, which makes about as much sense as bringing a baseball glove to an MLB game. Of course, AMG owners would probably offer similar logic as the glove wearers: you never know when you might need it.

Climbing In

Considering the G-Wagen’s militaristic exterior styling, its interior is surprisingly tame. For the most part, you’d think you were sitting in any other Mercedes – that is, once you make the steep climb to the interior. Small people must take a running start. But it’s OK, because they’re rewarded with that lovely door latch sound.

Naturally, there are a few vestigial military items inside. For example, the grab handle in the passenger-side dashboard is so firmly welded in place that it may be structural. And the turn signal stalk requires the strength of a German soldier to push. This is largely a non-issue, since it’s not like most G-Wagen drivers plan on using their turn signals anyway.

Mercedes has, however, taken a few steps to give the civilian G-Wagen’s cabin less of a “United Nations peacekeeper” look. For example: the grab handle includes a strip of fake wood. Quaint.

Driving the G-Wagen

Driving a G-Wagen is one of the single worst experiences the very rich must have to endure on a day to day basis. I’ll get to the fuel economy, the handling and the acceleration. But the worst part about the G-Wagen is the sheer terror created by its vertical side windows.

Here’s what happens. You’re driving along in the middle lane and you want to change lanes to the right. At the same time, a car is passing you on the left. No big deal, right? In a G-Wagen, it is a big deal. That’s because you see the left-passing car reflected in your passenger side window. Suddenly you have no idea where you’re being passed, or by who. All you can hope is that it will end soon without making you do anything crazy, like use a turn signal.

And it will, because you will quickly have to stop for fuel. I know this is well-covered territory in a G-Wagen review, but holy crap is this thing thirsty. There are two reasons for this: one, in addition to sharing styling and door handles with the aforementioned file cabinet, it also borrows wind resistance; and two, it weighs about as much as Honduras. Seriously: the G-Wagen’s curb weight is nearly three times that of the Lotus I had before it.

Interestingly, this doesn’t cause a major problem on twisty roads. On the contrary, I was stunned to find the G-Wagen to be unusually maneuverable in nearly all circumstances. Going in, I expected the G-Wagen to handle like a Lake Powell houseboat, or possibly worse, like a 1990s Chrysler. But really, it steers like a big E-Class. That may not sound like a compliment, but it’s high praise for a vehicle that came out when the 17-foot Lincoln Versailles heralded “entry-level luxury.”

In fact, the weight is more of a problem when you’re driving in a straight line. The big issues start around 35 miles per hour, when the G’s perpetually increasing momentum and massive weight forces you to take an entirely new look at the personal responsibility of driving. If someone walks out in front of you, they’re dead. If someone drives out in front of you, they’re probably also dead. And the brakes aren’t up to the task of saving them.

The G-Wagen is scariest on a downhill, where it picks up speed as if you’re about mid-stab on the throttle. Actually, it’s probably worse in AMG form, since that adds sports-car acceleration to dangerous visibility, tremendous weight and limited braking power. But at least it includes brush guards for the turn signals.

Verdict

I understand the G-Wagen’s allure. It’s ready for anything. It’s unusual. And it makes you look cool. But having owned one, I can dispel each of those rumors.

For one, it’s not ready for anything. Mine came from Boston, and it had so much rust on the undercarriage that it looked like Robert Ballard had brought back my G-Wagen frame as a souvenir from the Titanic. Before I could ever do any real off-roading, I had to sell mine to CarMax, where it probably disintegrated.

Beyond the rust, G-Wagens are surprisingly fragile. Window regulators break every eleven weeks and cost about a grand to fix. The door locks work as if they were designed by Land Rover. And with every trip off road, you’ll worry that you’ve just broken something that will cost $1,800 and requires a special part from Germany. One positive remark, however: except for the rust, the above doesn’t apply to old school G-Wagens, which can really handle just about everything you can throw at them. Like the Polish terrain.

The other common misconception about the G-Wagen is that it makes you look cool. It doesn’t. In fact, I’ve never been more self-conscious driving a vehicle in my entire life. You may like the idea of everyone assuming you’re a rich asshole. You probably also fake tan and wear Ed Hardy T-shirts that depict a fire-breathing dragon riding a motorcycle and fighting with a turtle skeleton with red eyes. For me, the G-Wagen’s image didn’t match my personality.

Of course, you may not have the same problems as I did, whether it’s rust, image, or driving experience. Indeed, as with anything, your mileage may vary. Unless we’re strictly speaking about gas mileage. Then it won’t vary. It will be dismal.

Doug DeMuro operates PlaysWithCars.com. He’s owned an E63 AMG wagon, road-tripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute lap time on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America’s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

The next-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class, due in 2015, will be getting a full lineup of variants to help it better compete against the BMW 3-Series.

The next-generation C-Class will be built in Alabama, a first for a Mercedes-Benz passenger car. In addition to the sedan and coupe, convertible and hybrid variants will be offered, marking the car’s transition from M-B’s entry-level product in the United States to a more prestigious position in the lineup. While BMW outsold Mercedes by 5,000 units when only the sedan models were compared, the delta was closer to 20,000 units when all variants were included. But while BMW will offer a 3-Series wagon, Mercedes-Benz won’t be doing the same with the C-Class.

TTAC readers looking for a more pro-GM news source may want to check out Bloomberg for their next dose of pro-GM news. A story on Cadillac’s revived fortunes contains all kinds of enthusiastic copy and positive quotes, but still manages to bury the lede way down at the bottom of the story.

Take this quote for example

“Cadillac’s performance certainly exceeded expectations, and the ATS was the driving factor,” said Jeff Schuster, auto analyst with LMC Automotive in Troy, Michigan. “They have a lot happening with their lineup and the vehicles are hitting with consumers.”

Joel Ewanick himself couldn’t have come up with a better quote to feed to the industry price. The ATS is a nice car by all accounts. First drive impressions were positive, despite one of the buff books binning one into the red Georgia clay. But scroll a little further down past the ongoing textual fellatio and you’ll find the golden nugget.

Cadillac’s pricing problems show up in the incentives it offers. GM’s average incentive spending on the ATS in February was $3,700 per car, compared to $333 in September, when the new model went on sale, according to TrueCar Inc., a Santa Monica, California, researcher that tracks auto sales.

Uh oh. $3,700 just months after their crucial entry-level car was introduced? A nearly tenfold increase in incentive spending in just a few short months? Not good news at all. The incentives do explain why the ATS had a nice bump in sales right around February. It’s unfortunate that GM would have to spend so much per car to move a product as nice as the ATS.

Of course, Bloomberg handily explains away the unpleasant incentive information with this quote

Those discounts should decline as Cadillac’s redesigned models attract new buyers. GM said more than half the ATS buyers are coming from competitors such as BMW, Mercedes and Lexus. GM aims to increase sales of Cadillac in the U.S. by more than 30 percent this year, Bob Ferguson, global head of the brand, told reporters in New York last week. 

A look at incentive programs in the Miami/South Florida region (using ZIP Code 33180) as a sample shows that the ATS offering more aggressive incentive programs than its competitors. BMW is offering 3.1 percent APR financing for the new 3-Series (save for the Hybrid at 1.9 percent) versus 0 percent for the ATS. Audi offers no finance incentives for the A4 at all. While the ATS gets a $299/month lease for 36 months with $2,199 due at signing, a similarly equipped 328i would cost $349/month for 36 months with $3,824 due at signing. An A4 2.0T can be leased for $309/month for the same term with $3,719 due. Mercedes-Benz was not offering 36 month lease deals at the time of writing. Only Lexus came close to matching Cadillac’s offer, with a lease on an IS250 involving $309/month payment for 36 months, with $3,209 due at signing and a credit for the first month’s lease payment – on a model that is due to be replaced any day now, where dealers are desperate to get rid of the stock.

The incentive picture makes the Q1 2013 sales snapshot above even starker. The 3-Series and C-Class are way out in front. The C-Class is leading the segment with 22,912 units sold, with the 3-Series in second place with 20,662 units. Cadillac is in third place, but is beating the A4 by just 45 units as of the end of March (9795 units of the ATS sold versus 9750 A4s). The Lexus trails in fifth place with 5173.

The unfortunate thing here is that the ATS itself isn’t necessarily the reason for its lagging sales and heavy incentive spending. Rather it’s the result of the continued degradation of the Cadillac brand in the eyes of the consumer over the past few decades. I’m far from the only person that believes the ATS to be a superior product to the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, and there are plenty of knowledgeable  respected auto critics who feel that is is just as dynamically competent as the BMW 3-Series. But these two products are crushing the ATS in the sales race, undoubtedly on the strength of their respective brands. The unfortunate relaity is that most consumers don’t care about whether or not their car is The Ultimate Driving Machine; they just want a fancy badge to show off to other people. Until Cadillac’s brand is on par with the Roundel or the Three Pointed Star, this scenario of significant incentive spending and lagging sales will likely continue to play out, no matter how good the product is.

A couple weeks back, Tetsuya Tada, father of the Scion FR-S, wistfully meditated on his desire to see more variants of the Scion FR-S, including a shooting brake. Rather than dismissive them as fantasy-bait for the enthusiast set, TTAC determined that there is probably a good business case for developing more variants of the Toyobaru platform. After all, you can’t spend billions on an all new platform and only build one low volume niche model off of it, right?

For anyone rooting for this scenario, there’s more encouraging news. Toyota executives are pondering an upward expansion of the Scion brand, and the FR-S could be the focal point of that initiative.

Automotive News is reporting that a group of executives at Toyota’s American arm are looking into the possibility of taking Scion upmarket. With the bottom end of the car market creeping upwards and German brands like Mercedes-Benz and Audi just nudging the $30,000 floor with products like the CLA and A3, there is a potential opening for Scion to slot a new product in the $25,000-$30,000 price bracket, just slightly above the current FR-S. Ironically, while Mercedes and Audi are opting for front-drive platforms, a potential Scion competitor using the FR-S platform would be rear-drive, and all the enthusiast cachet that goes with it.

Aside from the FR-S and the front-drive tC sports coupe, Scion’s product lineup is rather stale; aside from the qurky iQ, the xB and xD subcompacts are 6 years old, despite Scion’s promise of quick product turnaround times. When Scion first launched in 2002, entry-level cars could be had for around $13,000. Nowadays, a subcompact car can easily nudge $20,000. Toyota is also due to launch the next generation Corolla, which will feature more aggressive styling and be positioned at Generation Y customers.

While Toyota USA may be undecided on what to do with Scion, this development seems to shore up the notion that variants of the Toyobaru are on their way, in one form or another. Whether the United States will get them is one matter, but it would be difficult to think that a company as savvy as Toyota would go through all the effort and expense of developing a new vehicle platform without maximizing economies of scale. In the current marketplace of modular architectures and razor thin profit margins, it would be foolish for Toyota not to do so. In addition, it would be the rarest of events in the automotive world, one where the interests of both the bean counters and car guys have aligned.

Last spring, I sold my Porsche to buy a station wagon. Car guys understand this, because it’s outlined in our unspoken creed: eventually we all trade in our beloved sports cars for a practical family vehicle that can haul our kids and whatever expensive musical instruments they’ve decided to learn this week. But for me, the swap came early: at 23 years old, single and without children, I swapped my 911 Turbo for a mommy-mobile.

Most car guys understand this, too, when they hear about my mommy-mobile of choice: a 2007 Mercedes E63 AMG station wagon. At 507 horsepower and 465 pound-feet, it had more of each than the Ferrari F430 or Lamborghini Gallardo of its day. This compares rather favorably to the car my own mom had when I was growing up, which was a 1993 Isuzu Rodeo with a stick shift and no airbags.

The Rodeo had more power than nothing, except maybe one of those little scooters you rent in the Caribbean from a place that just finished washing off the blood stains from the last guy who rented it (“No helmet … sorry … is okay?”). But the Rodeo was capable of hauling children, provided you didn’t mind springing for expensive dental work should their heads hit the rather vertical dashboard.

In addition to no airbags, Mom’s Rodeo also didn’t have a third-row seat, which I’m proud to say the Mercedes did possess. In true Mercedes wagon style, it was located in the cargo area and faced backwards. Yes, this was automotive heaven: a 500-horsepower car with a rear-facing third row. I pictured pulling away from an Audi R8 while a tuba-playing eight-year-old boy waved goodbye from my third row. Not that I ever street race. Or carry around eight-year-old boys.

Still, there were some enthusiasts who didn’t get it. A few weeks before buying the wagon, I was at a party and met a self-described car guy who owned a Monaro-based Pontiac GTO. When I told him I was planning to swap my Porsche for a three-row station wagon, he gave me a disgusted look and walked away. This actually happened.

I didn’t mind. I had always been into strange cars, and the E63 AMG wagon is among the very strangest. In the wagon’s three years on the W211 chassis, the US got only 153 units – the same number of Camrys that Toyota sells in three hours. In other words, it was about as common as the Ferrari Enzo, which couldn’t haul anywhere near as many eight-year-old boys, or their tubas.

Finding one, then, was a challenge best described in another story. After months of searching, I eventually located mine in Indiana and drove it home to Atlanta. I owned it for eight months and around 9,000 miles, nearly all of which were spent with an ear-to-ear grin across my face.

Exterior

Generally speaking, I find the W211 E-Class wagon to be a handsome car in the same way that William H. Macy is a handsome man: not really at all, but you can sort of see it. The AMG version boosted its appeal with those enormous wheels, the rear diffuser and those little inlets on the front bumper that are the kind of thing I absolutely love, but my girlfriend would never notice unless she damaged them. Which is quite possible.

However, being a typical car enthusiast, I couldn’t help but notice a few flaws with mine. One was, quite obviously, the color. My wagon was painted a shade Mercedes called pewter, which I believe came from a focus group of 97-year-old men, 87-year-old women, and people who actually do find William H. Macy handsome. The color never should’ve been allowed on any AMG car, but unfortunately it was on mine. This may help explain how I was able to afford it.

The other flaw with my wagon was an issue I had with all 2007-2009 E-Class models. A facelift inexplicably gave the cars a pointy beak, which oddly resembled the 1997-1999 Acura CL. Mercedes never provided an explanation for this, though I suspect the car could double as an Arctic ice-breaking ship. It certainly has enough torque.

Interior

The interior of the E63 AMG’s main competitor, the E60 BMW M5, had attractive carbon fiber and aluminum on nearly every surface. The E63 AMG, meanwhile, had what I call “Mercedes wood,” which starts its life as real wood but then, after weeks of hard work at the Mercedes factory, ends up looking like plastic.

This was one low point. The other was the interior’s color, for which Mercedes probably devised some high-class-sounding name to take your mind off the fact that it was actually a somber shade of dull gray. Presumably, this one came from a focus group of lifelong Seattle residents.

However, the E63 wagon’s cabin had some benefits. One was, of course, the third-row seat, which every single one of my friends tried to sit in. They were unsuccessful, largely because they have legs. But while third-row room is tight, the overall interior volume is immense. I ended up using the E63 to move my entire apartment, which included my queen-size bed (broken down, of course). I also used it to transport my electric keyboard, proudly joining the ranks of those musical instrument-schlepping parents.

On The Road

Up until now, I’ve been a little negative about my E63 wagon. That’s because it’s not about exterior styling or interior design. The E63 AMG wagon is all about the monstrous engine you’re reminded of whenever you put down your foot or visit the gas pump, which happen equally often.

Acceleration is the car’s strong suit. There is no other car on earth that lets you go so fast and look in your mirror to see seven headrests and a rear wiper.

Acceleration is so massive that I just had to take the wagon to the drag strip. This occurred on a Friday night in rural north Georgia, where going to the drag strip is something people do, presumably instead of reading. There’s even an announcer, who initially made fun of the wagon (“Mom’s here, roof racks and all!”) until it ran a 13.1. I believe a twelve was in it somewhere, but I was embarrassingly unqualified since my previous drag strip experience came as a high-schooler in an automatic Volvo.

Handling, however, wasn’t the E63’s strong point. I once took it on a mountain drive that included Lamborghinis, Ferraris and even a Carrera GT. It kept up with the pack, mostly because of its monster engine and immense grip, which comes from tires as wide as a regulation speed limit sign. But it had some noticeable body roll – even in the “Sport” chassis setting. Still, for a family car, it was damn good. Far better than Mom’s Rodeo, which – on similar roads – probably would’ve gone the way of the Consumer Reports Isuzu Trooper.

One of the best parts about my E63 wagon driving experience came from other drivers. I once had a Lotus, which earned me commentary at every stop light from people whose brother’s cousin’s milkman had one. (Side note: how does one respond to this? I never figured it out. Eventually, I just sold the car.) Not so with the E63 wagon. The only people who ever approached me were true car people, which made virtually every conversation tremendously enjoyable.

Once, when I was in my wagon, I spotted an E55 wagon, which was made in only slightly larger numbers. This is the automotive equivalent of two black people passing each other on the street in Vermont. The response was similarly enthusiastic, with lots of waving and smiles all around. If this happened in my Lotus, the other driver would’ve been mad that someone dared to try and steal the attention from him.

Verdict

In the end, I loved my E63 wagon, but my mechanic loved it more. That’s because I spent several thousand dollars keeping it in perfect condition during my tenure as its owner, from suspension work to a new differential. (Yes, a new differential. Your guess is as good as mine.) When I discovered that brake rotors cost something like two grand in parts alone, I had reached the final straw.

I sold my AMG wagon – with newly-installed brake rotors – four months ago. Still, in spite of the huge running costs, I miss it dearly and I occasionally check used car listings to see if any are available. By chance, mine went to a TTAC reader, long before I ever started contributing to this site. When he sees this post, he will undoubtedly e-mail me and say: “You took my car to the DRAG STRIP?!”

Hopefully, this will prompt him to sell it back to me for exactly what he paid.

Doug DeMuro operates PlaysWithCars.com. He’s owned an E63 AMG wagon, road-tripped across the US in a Lotus without air conditioning, and posted a six-minute lap time on the Circuit de Monaco in a rented Ford Fiesta. One year after becoming Porsche Cars North America’s youngest manager, he quit to become a writer. His parents are very disappointed.

Just because the Mercedes A45 AMG isn’t coming to America doesn’t mean that Daimler forgot about us. Instead, we’ll get the three-box version.

The CLA45 AMG is mechanically identical to the A45 – same ultra-boosted 2.0L 4-banger with 360 horsepower, same dual-clutch gearbox and yes, the red brake calipers and Recaro seats made it over as well. 60 mph should come up in 4.5 seconds, which is actually a tick faster than the quoted time for the hatch. Even though it lacks the brutality and belligerence of the great V8 powered AMG models, I cannot imagine how much fun this thing will be in the snow, what with 360 horsepower and all-wheel drive…

Daimler and Volkswagen reached an agreement over an air-conditioning refrigerant that Daimler claimed was flammable and extremely hazardous to one’s health.

Reuters reports that Daimler, together with Audi, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen, will develop a “completely new A/C system that employs non-flammable carbon dioxide as an alternative to the new, flammable HFO-1234yf refrigerant.”

The current R134a used in virtually every A/C system will be banned in 2017, and HFO-1234yf had been tabled as the replacement substance. HFO-1234yf  is said to be more climate friendly despite the numerous health risks claimed by Daimler, including risks of fire and toxic gases that occur during combustion. But its maker, Honeywell, claims that Daimler is just looking to save money by not using the more expensive HFO-1234yf.

The EU mandate to use HFO-1234yf is still on the books. Daimler R&D chief Thomas Weber told Reuters during the Geneva auto show that Daimler would be prepared to pay the EU compensation for violating the directive, although he stopped short of calling it a “fine.”

Update:

Today, Volkswagen announced

“its entry into CO2 technology, which will be rolled out progressively over its entire vehicle fleet.

Entry into CO2 technology will further contribute towards climate protection. CO2 (carbon dioxide) as a refrigerant – also known as R744 – is a naturally occurring gas with significantly lower greenhouse gas effects than conventional refrigerants, and it is ideal for use in specially designed automotive air conditioning systems. With a GWP (Global Warming Potential) value of 1, it is 99.3 per cent below the EU specified GWP limit of 150. “

Mercedes-Benz has finally released production photos of the A45 AMG – and while it couldn’t be more different than the rest of the rear-drive, V8 AMG lineup, it looks enticing in its own way.

Motivation comes from a 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder engine with 360 horsepower and 339 lb-ft of torque. A 7-speed DCT gearbox is enlisted to put power through all four wheels. 60 mph comes up in 4.6 seconds, and buyers will be able to choose from two different exhaust systems – hopefully it sounds like an even meaner Fiat 500 Abarth. If you squint really hard, this car seems like an AMG version of the Subaru Impreza WRX STI. Let’s hope Mercedes sees fit to grace us with a CLA45 AMG on these shores.

Our Managing Editor is losing sleep over the imminent collapse of the BMW and Mercedes-Benz brand images due to their upcoming sub-$30,000 models. When you are finished with your 27th viewing of Benz’s sneak peek at their Super Bowl ad above, let’s discuss. 

For those of you staid, get-off-my-lawn, traditional German car owners like myself, you probably don’t know that the girl washing the 2014 Mercedes-Benz CLA is named Kate Upton. She is an actress or something. All I know is the ad will certainly raise awareness of the Daimler brand and piqué the curiosity of Derek’ s Gen Why peers about the new class of budget-priced Benz automobiles. I think the pitch works, no matter your age. If Mercedes-Benz can throw in a Last Time Buyer’s financing program, I might even purchase a CLA.

The video is almost as sexy as the granddaddy of all car washing scenes, the one featuring Joy Harmon hosing down a coupe in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke. (The star of the movie, Paul Newman, was also an accomplished race car driver.)

So will this blatant pandering to the next generation of Mercedes-Benz owners help or hurt the brand?

After a long slog through NAIAS and getting TTAC’s house in order for the new year, I was delighted to see the response to my first big endeavor of the year, my Generation Why piece. But with 174 comments and multiple tangents, I wanted to open up the floor to clarify a few things.

1) I should have been more clear in my thesis. While I highlighted both the BMW 320i and the Mercedes-Benz CLA, due to having both of them debut at NAIAS, I do not think they can be weighted equally

2) The 320i is really not that drastic of a departure for BMW’s North American product range – or world product range for that matter. As I mentioned, Canada has had a 3-Series model below the 325/328i for over a decade. This model is actually fairly spartan in its options and features (at least the E46 and E390 variants were) and it’s not unusual to find stick shift models purchased by older guys who just want a fun sports sedan. We all know that the majority of these cars in the U.S. will not be equipped like this, but the point remains the same – it’s not such a departure from BMW’s past ethos. Unfortunately, a number of commenters seized upon the 320i example – to the point of turning it into a strawman – as a means of criticizing my thesis (that a premium auto maker’s quest for volume and short term profits will ultimately erode that brand equity over the long term).

3) I should have been more clear in my piece that the product that’s really in danger of doing damage is the Mercedes CLA. The 320i is ultimately a 3-Series, and part of BMW’s core range. The CLA on the other hand, is a strange bird for Americans. It is a stubby, compact car with odd proportions. For those in the know, it is a front-drive, four-cylinder Benz, something that those types will equate with a cheaper car. For those who don’t know, it’s a Mercedes, but it’s small – and small does not mean premium to many American car buyers. Yes, Mercedes and BMW are full-line car companies in Europe. But merely having a car in Europe is a privilege  Anything larger or more expensive than a Golf is a luxury, and that’s why the A/B-Class, 1-Series and A3 work over there. They are right-sized, but pricey enough to let everyone know you’re not clipping Carrefour coupons.

4) I still re-affirm my belief that allowing too many people to obtain a premium product harms its very nature. Let too many people into your exclusive nightclub and it suddenly becomes passe. If too many people can buy your premium clothing line at T.J. Maxx or Marshalls, its seen as a mass-market product, or worse, something for poor people. I’m fairly agnostic when it comes to “brand values” or “heritage” – that stuff is just pap cooked up by suits and sold to wide-eyed types as a marketing narrative. I find it conceivable that, in such a crowded, competitive marketplace, traditional Mercedes customers could abandon the brand if too many undesirables are seen as entering the brand via the CLA and other lower-end cars. In more affluent communities, there are already soccer moms driving AMG SUVs merely because they are more expensive than the more pedestrian GL550s and ML320 Bluetecs. If this is the trend, then how much more damage can a $30,000 compact do?

BMW’s debut of the American-spec 320i at this year’s NAIAS may have been big news for the American auto press, but up here in frigid Canuckistan, the 320i is old hat. Roughly a decade ago, BMW launched the $33,900 320i, along with an ad campaign touting its price, which was comparable to a well equipped Honda Accord.

Very few Accord customers were poached by BMW; those looking for an Accord wanted the extra space, the power from a comparably-priced Accord V6 and found a BMW a little too obnoxious. Car enthusiasts may have been attracted to the rear-drive dynamics and the silky inline-six engine, but the 170 horsepower figure was considered lacking, and what better way to out oneself as a try-hard striver than to buy the cheapo, leatherette-equipped base 3-Series?

BMW ended up doing fairly brisk business with the 320i, with much of their client base consisting of young, professional women (whether in the workforce or collecting an annuity from the First Bank of Mom and Dad) who also would have carried a Coach handbag. I say “would have”, because at the time, Coach was the bridge between a nasty department store house brand and the absurdly expensive Louis Vuitton, Balenciaga or Hermes bags. Remember, this was a decade ago and we were a few orders of magnitude removed from today. The cheap-credit-and-Kardashian-fueled mental illness that compelled the masses to find one percent aspirational goods essential to one’s well-being was barely in a gestational stage. The idea of spending four figures on a handbag when one worked at an entry-level white collar job would have been seen as irresponsible and reckless at worst, crass at best.

Fast forward a decade; a confluence of societal forces, from fashion magazines to reality TV to rap music, has convinced us that luxury goods are the key to fulfillment and happiness in life. I don’t mean traditional luxury goods, like a mechanical watch, or a well-made pair of shoes or bespoke clothing that requires a significant upfront investment in return for a lifespan of a few decades (or, in the case of a good watch, one that may outlive you by a couple generations). I mean luxury as in lug-zhur-ee, proletarian crap made somewhere offshore and sold for an absurd markup (most clothing items sold in Neiman Marcus, Saks or Bloomingdales), or worse, objects that serve as tokens of social status that masquerade as ethically or morally superior consumption choices  despite evidence that asserts the dubious nature of these claims (any food or clothing item that is “local”, “organic”, “sustainable”, “artisanal” or any combination of these buzzwords).

Left without any sort of moral, spiritual, familial or economically stability in the first quarter of life, Generation Why has become the most aspirational generation of all-time, and the onslaught of smart phones and social media has enabled this disease like a co-dependent parent plying their drug addict child with money for meth and cigarettes. I myself am guilty of this, taking a perverse pleasure in posting photos of press cars on Facebook so that former highschool classmates I haven’t spoken to in years can press “Like” on my photos. But Mercedes-Benz and BMW are far better at making money off this phenomenon.

At NAIAS, the two brands released two cars aimed dead-on at Generation Why members with a bit of money or reasonable access to credit: the newest generation 320i is a novel and exciting foray for BMW USA, but Mercedes-Benz’s CLA is an entirely new frontier for German luxury cars, one that BMW won’t catch up to for a couple more years.

At this point, obnoxious Audi die-hards will note that the A3 and A4 have long been entry-level, front drive options like the CLA, but I’m inclined to dismiss these assertions. The A4′s front-drive layout was a consequence of circumstances, while the current generation A3, fine car as it may be, is a half-hearted Euro-transplant ill-suited for the American market (but great for Canada). The CLA, on the other hand, is expressly designed to be a cut-rate, entry-level Benz, devoid of substance, awkwardly styled and priced just far enough out of reach for a no-credit Cruze customer, but just accessibly enough that a pharmaceutical sales rep or social media brand strategist could afford the $299 a month lease payment.

There is one and only one reason behind the move; volume. The unquenchable quest for volume has led to a sales war between Mercedes-Benz and BMW, with both companies also trying to stave off a full-frontal assault by Audi. All three companies can use their premium positions and scale to capitalize on both margins and volume (Audi may be best suited for this, due to its scale and modular platforms, but that’s another article in itself). And while Europe may be in the toilet, the appetite for premium cars is still strong – hell, why buy a Focus when you can buy a front-drive BMW 1-Series or Mercedes B-Class that costs just as much? Needless to say, the hunger in America has only grown, even as the economy has nosedived. Even if you and everyone else is worse off compared to 2008, god forbid you should display any outward signs of frugality (which is of course, weakness and a loss of social status).

Sounds foolproof, right? After all, Mercedes, BMW and Audi have such strong brands that it will be almost impossible to erode their equity as premium marques, and they can continue to pump out front drive compacts until the Eurozone implodes. If you’re a management track sycophant at one of those companies, then that’s what you’ll tell the board.

Everyone else should take note of what happened to Coach. Their bags, once desirable luxury goods, are now the sort of thing that overprivileged mothers joke about giving to their Filipino nannies as Christmas gifts. Except it’s not a joke – ride the bus near the wealthy neighborhoods of Toronto, and you’ll see Coach bags being carried by the help, even though they live in low-rent walkups.  The rich moms and daughters have moved on to Longchamp bags for every day, and the previously unthinkable Hermes, Louis V, Balenciaga and all manner of obscure boutique labels that nobody has ever heard of and will forget about in six months (what the fuck is a Proenza Schouler bag? I don’t know, but that didn’t stop one girl from telling me how much she paid – as much as a solid NB Miata – and how long she waited for it on a waiting list).

Lest you think this has no relevance to the auto market, think back to when just having a Mercedes was a big deal, how extravagant and expensive it was to have a vinyl-upholstered 240D that took a glacial age to hit 60 mph. But it was imported and foreign and therefore prestigious. Now any of our new age celebrity demigods – think the Kardashians, or Lil Wayne or Dwight Howard – wouldn’t be caught dead in anything less than an S-Class. A Bentley, a G-Wagen or a 458 Italia are really the minimum requirement, and even the Bugatti Veyron, the finest car in the world from a technological standpoint, is the province of D-list rap stars and domestic abusers. The only reason that the top-tier of luxury and performance vehicles is considered the minimum entrypoint for “baller status” is directly related to the erosion of Mercedes and BMW as a brand completely out of reach for the masses. Now that any 9-5 working stiff has “an entrypoint into the brand”, they’re not nearly as special as they once were. They are fast becoming the Coach bags of the luxury car world, and all the pretty rich boys and girls have moved on to the really exclusive stuff, the Bugattis, Bentleys and Birkin bags.

The CLA and the 320i may fool the terminally insecure, regardless of age or gender, but Generation Why, the one that doesn’t care about cars, probably won’t be fooled. If there’s one thing we are good at, it’s detecting disingenuous appeals to our own vanity and self-importance. Personally, I’m hoping for a return to a new kind of luxury, one that is discreet, efficient and pampering to those who are in the know or behind the wheel. The 2013 Accord V6 Touring looks like it would fit the bill quite nicely. And what do you know, it’s only as much as a poorly-equipped 3-Series.

Just in case you need further proof that luxury has been democratized, Mercedes-Benz has blessed us with the CLA250. It’s got front-drive, a 208 horsepower turbocharged 4-banger, and it looks like a pastiche of every M-B design and “lug-zhu-ree” styling cue in existence. Yech.