Removing the center piece from the cupholder makes extra room to store a "Big Gulp" or a "Thirsty-two" ounce cup of soda from the local gas station or convenience store. But wait, there's more. On the underside of the same piece is none other than - - a bottle opener.
It's easy to question the motives of Mercedes engineers when installing this feature. Were they trying to incite a tailgating revolution? Maybe trying to avoid their own keychain-openers from banging them in the knee while driving? There must be a logical purpose besides opening a refreshing Hefe-Weizen after work (after the drive too, of course).
If most of the sodas nowadays didn't come with a twist-off top there would be a lot more (non-alcoholic) uses for this feature. But it's still pretty cool.
Mike Schmidt, Vehicle Testing Assistant - 10,970 mi
tsgeisel says:
05:54 PM, 10/ 2/06
One of your compatriots noticed and posted about this 3 weeks ago.
http://66.160.188.111/roadtests/346
vvk says:
09:05 AM, 10/ 3/06
As hard as it is to imagine, the R-class is sold outside of North America. In other countries there are plenty of non-alcoholic uses for the handy bottle opener. Apparently not everyone likes the taste of plastic and corn syrup in the soft drinks.