What's Wrong With This Picture: Gro Und Groer Edition

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

Long-wheelbase Benzes have a long and proud history, having been owned by such icons of cool as John Lennon and Hugh Hefner, as well as infamous villains like Pol Pot, “Baby Doc” Duvalier and Jeremy Clarkson. And, as Auto Motor und Sport informs us, the decline of other glandular vehicles like the Suburban has not prevented a new round of six-door Benz models. In fact, something about this picture indicates that vehicular size inflation is not completely a thing of the past… can you spot it?

If you guessed that the new Benz by Binz (yes, that’s the company’s name) is simply larger than previous Großer models, you were wrong. The original 600 Pullman of 1963 measured 6.24 meters long, eclipsing this latest model’s 5.98 meters. And at 4,630-ish pounds, the latest Großer is a mere feather compared to the 1963 Pullman’s 6,100 pound dry weight. No, the answer is slightly less obvious than that…

That’s right, this is a Großer Kleiner. A stretched, six-door version of the Mercedes E-Class. Remember, Mercedes has a whole gross, er, Groß brand dedicated to 6+ meter-long, 6,000+ pound stretched S Classes: Maybach. But then, who could picture the next John Lennon in one of those?

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Mark out West Mark out West on May 08, 2010

    Nothing has eclipsed the M-100 model 600 series. Absolutely nothing. And that include that wretched Maybach thing.

  • Uncle Mellow Uncle Mellow on May 08, 2010

    Is it an illusion , or is the lower edge of that door-less model slightly arched ? Maybe when you load it with passengers it sags a little and becomes straight.

  • Justin You guys still looking for that sportbak? I just saw one on the Facebook marketplace in Arizona
  • 28-Cars-Later I cannot remember what happens now, but there are whiteblocks in this period which develop a "tick" like sound which indicates they are toast (maybe head gasket?). Ten or so years ago I looked at an '03 or '04 S60 (I forget why) and I brought my Volvo indy along to tell me if it was worth my time - it ticked and that's when I learned this. This XC90 is probably worth about $300 as it sits, not kidding, and it will cost you conservatively $2500 for an engine swap (all the ones I see on car-part.com have north of 130K miles starting at $1,100 and that's not including freight to a shop, shop labor, other internals to do such as timing belt while engine out etc).
  • 28-Cars-Later Ford reported it lost $132,000 for each of its 10,000 electric vehicles sold in the first quarter of 2024, according to CNN. The sales were down 20 percent from the first quarter of 2023 and would “drag down earnings for the company overall.”The losses include “hundreds of millions being spent on research and development of the next generation of EVs for Ford. Those investments are years away from paying off.” [if they ever are recouped] Ford is the only major carmaker breaking out EV numbers by themselves. But other marques likely suffer similar losses. https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fords-120000-loss-vehicle-shows-california-ev-goals-are-impossible Given these facts, how did Tesla ever produce anything in volume let alone profit?
  • AZFelix Let's forego all of this dilly-dallying with autonomous cars and cut right to the chase and the only real solution.
  • Zelgadis Elantra NLine in Lava Orange. I will never buy a dirty dishwater car again. I need color in my life.
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