Archive for Mercedes Benz

Mercedes-Benz has announced that it has decided to end its partnership with British firm McLaren when its existing agreement expires in 2009. The next generation flagship premium roadster that replaces the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren will be built by AMG instead. It’s expected to make its debut in 2010, replacing the SLR which was introduced in 2003. A 7 year model cycle sounds reasonable for such an advanced premium model, but a roadster (drop top) model was just announced sometime last year.

We can expect the new AMG SLR replacement to top the current SLR, but for us to know what kind of levels the new car will be offering we have to revisit the specs of the current generation SLR won’t we?

Read more after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz ends partnership with McLaren

Despite the “230″ badge being one of Mercedes-Benz’s best brands, it’s taken up to nearly the end of the W211’s lifecycle for Malaysia to welcome the E230 onto her roads. With reports of a new generation E-Class set to debut at the end of the year, this comes late in time, but is still very much a noteworthy addition to Mercedes’ best-selling line.

Shannon Teoh reveals more after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz E230 Short Test Drive Report

Daimler AG is planning to launch two electric vehicles in 2010 - an electric-powered smart and an electric-powered Mercedes-Benz. These electric vehicles will be powered by batteries, but a limited run of fuel-cell powered vehicles will also be introduced in 2010.

You can expect these vehicles to be smaller models such as the next generation Mercedes-Benz A-Class or whichever vehicle replaces the A-Class as we know it in Mercedes-Benz’s model line-up.

There is currently a batch of 100 electric-powered smart fortwos crunning in the UK, modified by Zytek Electric Vehicles. It is called the smart ed (ed = electric drive). These are powered by a 30kW (41 horsepower) electric motor at the rear, with sodium-nickel chloride batteries. It can travel a maximum of 110km on a full charge, and can charge up from 30% to 80% in four hours, or 100% in eight hours. It goes to a top speed of 120km/h.

Naza Brabus Motor Sdn Bhd enjoyed brisk sales when its first batch of 15 units of the Brabus S B7 arrived on our local shores from Germany earlier this year. A second batch of 15 units is now here in Malaysia.

The Brabus S B7 is essentially a Brabus-tuned version of the Mercedes-Benz S350 SEL, which is sold locally for RM828,888 for the locally assembled CKD version and RM978,888 for the fully imported CBU version.

The Brabus S B7 adds a Brabus bodykit which includes a front bumper with fog lamps, illuminated side skirts, rear bumper, sports exhaust, Brabus 19 inch Monoblock S wheels, and a Brabus tune-up kit for the engine which increases horsepower to 307 horsepower, up from the standard 272.

It retails for RM888,888 fully imported from Germany with a 1 year warranty.

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The last time we spoke about this car, it was on a good all-round workout up to Cameron Highlands and back. But there’s only so much you can do on a schedule, with a driving partner. Also, the fact that the motoring media were about meant that the ’sportier’ Avantgarde models were snapped up way ahead and held preciously throughout the trip.

It was everyone’s loss since nobody got to make a simultaneous comparison between the two trim lines last year. But a hardworking Shannon Teoh pursued Mercedes-Benz Cars Malaysia so he could ‘C-for-himself’.

They might be sick of his face by now, but you get to read more from him after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of W204 Mercedes-Benz C200K Test Drive Review

Mercedes-Benz has launched its new compact SUV, the Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class, which is set to go against the likes of the BMW X3 and the Audi Q5. The GLK-Class has a sharp-edged boxy look to it, perhaps to pay homage to the larger G Wagon, which the GLK shares the G model letter with.

Mercedes-Benz says the design also allows the typical advantages of a proper off-roader to be offered on a compact SUV like large approach and departure angles and good ground clearance. It’s 4MATIX all-wheel drive system splits torque at a 45:55 front to rear split during normal conditions. A multi-disc clutch in the centre differential allows a basic partial locking torque of 50 newton metres between the front and rear axle.

There is a button labelled G that you can press to activate a special off-road driving program for the 7G-TRONIC transmission which softens the accelerator pedal so that you can modulate how much throttle input you want to put in more precisely. This makes it easier to tackle off-road conditions with low-friction surfaces. There is also a Downhill Speed Regulation system which lets you set a maximum speed and just let the GLK roll down a hill, with the DSR system controlling the braking automatically.

At launch, the GLK-Class is available in 4 variants - the GLK 220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY, the GLK 320 CDI, the GLK 280 or the GLK 350, with the first two being turbodiesel engines and the other two being V6 petrol engines. The GLK 220 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY’s 2.2 liter inline-4 engine puts out 170 horsepower and 400Nm of torque between 1,400 to 2,800rpm. This engine is from the recently launched OM651 twin-turbocharged turbodiesel family. The GLK 320 CDI’s V6 turbodiesel puts out 224 horses and 540Nm of torque.

The petrol-powered GLK 280 and GLK 350 put out 231 horsepower and 272 horsepower respectively. Both turbodiesel and petrol V6 variants use Mercedes-Benz’s 7G-Tronic transmission which features 7 forward speeds and two reverse speeds.

More photos and 4 videos of the new GLK-Class available after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class: Details and Photos

Business Times reported last week that former DaimlerChrysler Malaysia head Datuk Frank Steinleitner may be engaged by Proton either as a consultant or as head of international marketing. Steinleitner is back in Malaysia.

There was previously some talk on Steinleitner being back in Malaysia to set up his own automotive consultancy firm, so this firm may be engaged by Proton as a consultant as the “Option A” in the report.

Datuk Frank was originally in Malaysia to work with Cycle & Carriage Berhad when Mercedes-Benz had no official presence in Malaysia. Then when Mercedes-Benz came in via DaimlerChrysler Malaysia, Datuk Frank was in charge of setting up the company. He also has experience with the Chinese automotive industry, so that would be a plus point for Proton as well.

Source

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A twin turbocharged inline-4 diesel engine producing 204 horsepower? Sounds familiar but we are not taking another look at the engine powering the BMW 123d again here, instead this is Mercedes-Benz’s new OM651 turbodiesel engine, which is available in 3 stages of tune.

In the 250 CDI state of tune, the 2,143cc turbodiesel produces 204 horsepower at 4,200rpm and 500Nm of torque between 1,600rpm and 1,800rpm. Two lower states of tune are available - a 220 CDI tuning which results in 170 horsepower between 3,200rpm and 4,800rpm and 400Nm of torque between 1,400rpm and 2,800rpm, and another 200 CDI tuning produces 136 horses between 3,000 and 4,600rpm, and 330Nm of torque between 1,600rpm and 2,800rpm. Installed in the W204 C-Class, the 204 horsepower engine pushes it up to 100km/h in a mere 7.7 seconds, with 60 to 120km/h taking 9.4 seconds.

The twin turbochargers are installed in a sequential manner, with one high pressure small turbocharger spooling up quickly for low revs and the other low pressure large turbocharger taking care of the higher engine speeds. The high pressure turbo that serves the low revs has a bypass duct to prevent it from being overloaded, and it ceases work from medium engine speeds onwards.

The engine also has a fourth generation common rail system with 2,000 bar rail pressure, a big up from the previous generation 400 bar pressure. Maximum ignition pressure is 200 bar, and injectors are piezoelectric.

For smoother operation, two Lanchester balancer shafts with low-friction roller bearings help counter the vibration inherent with inline-4 designs. The engine’s forged crankshaft also has eight counterweights turns supported by five bearings. Conrods are made of forged steel, with weight optimised by Mercedes-Benz engineers. The aluminium pistons slide up and down in cast-iron barrels for minimum frictional resistance.

Lastly, the engine uses a two-mass flywheel which connects a primary flywheel to a secondary one by use of springs to isolate the crankshaft’s vibration from the drivetrain.

You will find a power and torque curve after the jump.

Related Posts:
BMW announces 204 horsepower 400Nm twin turbodiesel inline-4

Click here to read the rest of New Mercedes-Benz OM651 twin turbodiesel

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Mercedes-Benz has long been rumoured to be coming up with the CLE-Class, a coupe based on the C-Class, but what we’ve got so far is only the CLC-Class, a restyled hatchback version of the previous generation C-Class chassis.

Theophilus Chin has whipped up what he thinks the CLE-Class 4-door coupe could look like, with headlamps inspired by the SL-Class. It’s essentially a smaller version of the Mercedes Benz CLS-Class, and the CLS is a 4-door coupe version of the E-Class.

No news anywhere lately about the CLE-Class, so it may not be something that could ever come into existence after all. It was rumoured that the CLE would come with suicide-doors instead of being a proper 4-door car because the car would be much smaller than the E-Class-based CLS and the 4 doors would not look good on it.

Have you ever seen crash test videos of an old car? Well, neither have I (as far as I can remember) until today, so I’m sharing this video with you. It’s a series of crash test footage for the Mercedes-Benz W123. Watch the video after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mercedes-Benz W123 Crash Test Video