We arrived in Germany on Wednesday, saw the Frankfurt Motor Show on Thursday and on Friday it was test driving day.
The schedule included early to mid-morning meetings followed by the much anticipated test driving right from the hotel at 4pm.
My wife Jane and I breakfasted early at the hotel while taking in a breathtaking view of the Rhine.
Afterwards, we were ushered to the meeting room. The presentations, given to around 45 people, were made by a few senior executives from Mercedes-Benz – these guys live the car business.
The last presentation before lunch was by one Heinz Neunzig of the bosses of the G-Class. I really enjoyed his talk because he and I had some history.
Not only had I met him in 1994, he and his wife spent Christmas with us in 2002, and in 2003 he gave my son Peter and I a real treat by letting us drive a brand new G 55 AMG the two hours from Heidelberg, to his home outside Stuttgart where we dropped him off. My son and I then drove around Germany for two days in that 360 horsepower monster.
Yes, the G-Class is like a brick, but that’s okay, it’s the only car in the world that has hardly changed in 26 years. Each year they sell more and more. Now around 3,500 units of the mostly hand-built beasts are turned out of the factory in Austria each year. The word classic just doesn’t say it.
Heinz was there 26 years ago when the first G-Class was made, and he is known as the Grandfather of the G-Class. I had that G 55 doing 120 mph on the Autobahn, and Heinz was in the front passenger seat going, ‘Faster, faster…’ That was incredible! The flat windshield was howling, but who cares, it was a G-Class! It’s supposed to be like that, it answers to no one.
So Heinz made his presentation, and he announced that the decision was made again to not end the life of the G-Class as had been expected. So the new GL-Class coming from the M-Class factory in Alabama in June 2006 would not be the direct ‘replacement’ for the G-Class, it would be really a new model. It was announced that the GL-Class would be the ‘long’ M-Class, with 3rd row seats. As already known, it would be based on the M-Class platform but stretched and made beefier.
I could have told them they should not stop the G-Class production. Nothing can replace it, and nothing ever will, but apparently a lot of important people also felt the same way too. After Heinz’s presentation, he handed out copies of the latest G-Class history and development book, which he autographed for us.
After lunch, we decided we just could not bring ourselves to sit through two hours of presentations on trucks and played hookie. We hung around the courtyard, where the five cars we were going to test drive were parked.
A silver B 200 Turbo was waiting. This was the new small Sports Tourer with the souped-up engine, brakes, etc. Standing beside it, was its big brother, the new R 350, the Grand Sports Tourer, also in silver.
The B-Class and the R-Class are other new ideas from Mercedes-Benz as in 1998, where they were the first to combine the car and the SUV to create the M-Class. So now with the B and the R-Class, they threw some van into the mix too. These cars make you want to be a Soccer Mom (or Dad)!
Then there was the S 500 with the long wheelbase, the flagship, the president. The ML 350 was there too, the new SUV from Alabama, the modern evolution of the original. Honest, handsome, trustworthy and just the right size. And last but not least, the G 55 AMG. Square jawed, black on black, not just the original hot rod brick with 360 horsepower, but the 476 horsepower supercharged V-8 version. It shares the same body and the same face, but has a lot more power. Another slam dunk from the guys at AMG.
Supercharger
Heinz was the only other person out in the yard. He came over to Jane and I and invited us for a drive in the G 55. I was behind the steering wheel in an instant and settled into the firm designer leather seat. I cranked up the motor. Just idling it felt and sounded like a volcano was gently rumbling under us.
We went out to the main road, took a right onto the straight but gently rolling road, and Heinz said, ‘Floor it!’ Well, I think that Heinz and Jane started talking a little to each other, but all I heard was the whine of the supercharger. All I was feeling was the 700 newton metres of torque moving the massive 5,600lb four-wheel drive monolith like it was a go kart.
It was really something incredible. Imagine being on a cruise ship that can do 100 miles per hour, that’s what it felt like. The supercharger kicked in and we were doing 80 mph. Hard on the brakes coming up to the top of the hill, then as the next little valley opened up in front of us and all was clear, again to 90.
Wow.Two miles zipped by, gearing down was just a click on the steering wheel buttons, sharp left, now a little steeper down the hill, sheer cliff on the left, just a guardrail to stop us going over. Winding down and down, the wet roads just seemed like a weak challenge, unbelievable confidence.
Yes, a brick, but a 26-year-old piece of history with a feeling that the competitors are only just now catching up to. At the bottom of the hill, about another three miles later, I exhaled.
Then Jane took over and I sat in the back. She pushed back up the wet windy and narrow hill road, not quite as fast as I did, but I was really impressed. That’s the thing with the G-Class, you feel like you are so in control. It seemed like we got back to the Hotel way too soon.
We had a nice chat with Heinz and took some more pictures, and it seemed like a few moments and everyone was coming out of the meeting for the ‘official’ test driving.
Official test drives
We drove the B-Class first; it’s a 200 horsepower, front wheel drive grocery getter. A 6 speed manual gearbox with short travel shifter makes you crave the next gear. Unbelievably roomy interior, leg room for the rear is like your back porch, in this car that looks so small. It’s a ‘mini, mini-van’, with a sporty side. Top speed 130mph and although we did not have the roads for it there, you could feel its confidence.
Then we drove the six-seater R 350 long model. It’s long, smooth and spacious with similar high quality comfort like the new ML, but with a lower, sportier, seating position. You really felt as if you were flying over the road like a hovercraft, but on rails. Fantastic panoramic roof, rear room like your front porch.
Then it was our turn with the king, the S-Class. It’s hard to describe the feeling you get with this car. It’s very emotional, it’s like you can feel the 119 years of history of Mercedes-Benz. It’s like Daimler and Benz are in the back seat smiling.
To move along in a car with this feeling was perfection in motion. Like driving a huge throwing knife, light, sharp, balanced, you can stick it exactly where you want it. I did not want to turn around to go back to the hotel.
We did not need to drive the ML because we already had a few in Cayman. We already knew how nice it was.
That night was the International evening dinner and Jurgen Schremp handed over the reins of DaimlerChrysler to Dieter Ztesche.
We planned to stay the last night in Frankfurt so we did not have to drive back to the hotel. The next morning we headed back home to Cayman.
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