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I was getting ready to get hacked off about a recent service visit for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz R500 at Mercedes-Benz of Long Beach (Calif.). We took it in for the "B-Service" scheduled maintenance visit and the estimate was $300. I went in there picturing maybe a pricey oil change and tire rotation running about a hundred bucks. So when I got the $300-estimate I asked my service advisor what the heck they were going to do...
When I got into the R on Friday, the gas pedal was misbehaving. Its usual spongy, long travel was gone; feeling as if it was already half pressed. The most mundane, mild acceleration had the pedal to the floor. If I actually wanted to wring something out of the V8, I had to push the pedal hard against the floor. Not good. This problem was gone by the time I got into the R500 Friday evening and it didn't return...
Whenever I am tasked with driving the Mercedes-Benz R500, I am reminded of the Dennis Miller phrase, "I rant, therefore I am." I try so hard to have something nice to say about this car, but I simply can't. It drives like a building, it's as cute as a warthog, and mostly , it tries to do too much and doesn't do any of it particularly well. I have mentioned this before, but it bugged me last night. It's the damn hatch in the back...
New vs Old -
One of our videographers just bought an old Benz wagon, love the color. It struck me as odd how simple the early Benz is versus the super sized, super sophisticated R-Class. True, the E-Class wagon is the more direct descendent but this R 500 is essentially a post modern version of that humble little station wagon.
Brian Moody, Road Test Editor @ 24,355 (on the R500 that is)
My initial impressions of the R500 may have been wrong. I saw the car as sort of pointless and felt that a minivan would do a better job better for less money. Technically, that might be true but after spending a few long weekends with the R500, I'm really begining to like its ultra roomy and flexible interior. Yes, a minivan might work just as well but whenever I'm in a minivan, it seems like people are looking at me with a sense of pity - I don't like that.
The double decker center storage bin is also very useful and the Harman Kardon stereo sounds excellent...
Does this look like a person to you? I didn't think so. It doesn't look like a person to me either. And it doesn't need a seatbelt.
I think I actually managed to update the clock in the R500. In a previous post I noted that I followed the instructions in the owner's manual but the clock did not update. But it seems to have reset after turning the car off and then restarting. It now shows the correct Daylight Savings Time...
I had some people/stuff moving chores this weekend so I signed up for the Mercedes-Benz R500. I seem to have a knack for picking the long-term vehicles with empty tanks, and now I know why the R500's low-fuel light was on.
With Los Angeles gas prices being some of the highest in the nation (never mind that I live about 5 miles from where the oil tankers off-load, and I drive past at least two refineries twice a day), the proposition of filling the R500's 21.1-gallon tank with premium (recommended) fuel takes on a whole new financial scale. Imagine my surprise when the pump clicked off at $68.00, not because it was an even dollar amount but that it rang up almost seventy bucks!
It wasn't that long ago when fuel pumps would automatically shut off at $50 because it would indicate some sort of wrong-doing...
In response to all the RTMs and RTFMs we receive from our readers on a daily basis, we requested an owner's manual for our Mercedes R500.
One of the quirks of the R500 is that it's so gadgety you need a manual to do anything, including change the time on the analog clock.
Well, here it is in all its glory. Look how beautiful, all 80 pounds of it wrapped in sturdy leather...
I like a car that "talks to me" in terms of steering feedback, handling dynamics and road surface adhesion. But sometimes I just want to tell a car to "Shut Up!" And while the talking cars of the 1980s ("fuel level is low"; "headlights are on"; "please fasten seatbelt"; etc.) rank as the most annoying in the history of cars offering too much information, the R500 also had too much to say during a recent drive. Specifically, it kept telling me, by way of the driver's information display in the gauge cluster, "Front passenger airbag enabled" every time my wife was riding in it. This reminds me of those cars with a light that stays on whenever the passenger airbag is not activated, such as our former long-term Nissan Quest...
In a previous post I complained about how the seat heater in the R500 turns itself off but does not fire back up again.
Last night as I was driving home, I noticed my seat heater had faded from 3 lines to 1. I pressed the button until it climbed back up to 3, so as not to lose any cozy time.
The seat got so hot I had to turn the heater off and open the moonroof to get some cool air. I've never had it behave like that before...
^^This is what leaped to mind after I nearly plowed through the turnstile when trying to leave the office yesterday. I don't recall the R500's brake pedal having this much initial pedal mush before generating actual braking power. Almost as if the pedal free play has increased over time. I'm sure my fellow editors will let me know if this is real or if I'm just losing my mind...
Back-up sensors don't protect you one hundred percent of the time, or so it would seem since a fresh scrape was discovered on our Mercedes R500's right rear bumper. The damage is minor, but will still require a trip to the body shop for a touch-up.
Kelly Toepke, Manager of Vehicle Testing at 20,185 miles
Everything is power-operated in the Mercedes-Benz, as it should be in a vehicle that costs $56,000. But some features you just don't expect to be powered, like the head restraints.
I got into the R500 last night and I think the Jolly Green Giant must have been driving it because the front seat was miles away from the pedals and the head restraints were up to maximum height.
I'm not embarrassed to admit that I spent a good 5 minutes trying to figure out how to put them down to normal-person level...
Here's a look at the R500's cargo space with just one of the third row seats folded down. I like how it's open and uncluttered. Spacious? Not exactly, but it's adequate...
Why oh why oh why do the seat heaters turn themselves off? I like the toastiness of the R500's three-level seat heaters. They go all the way up the back. But they slowly turn themselves off, which aggravates me...
My deformed physique of being somewhat tall with an abnormally long torso means that most seats are way too high. So normally, the first thing I do when I jump in a car is ratchet the seats all the way to their lowest position. I don't even think about it--it's become a reflex. I did just that in the R500 last night. When the seat bottomed out, I felt like a little worm on a big freakin' hook. Last time I felt that short, I was twelve.
Even at an appropriate seat height, the headroom is vast. It's as though M-B designed this thing to accomodate seven-footers.
What other "tall-guy (or -gal) friendly" vehicles have you owned? --Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor
Finally, I had an opportunity to make use of our R-Class wagon, as family members were in town over the weekend. These relatives are M-Class owners, so I was curious to see how they would react to this bigger M-B sport wagon. The funny thing was they didn't react. They didn't even know it was a Mercedes until I told them... they just assumed it was some kind of minivan. Of course, the gigantic optional double sunroof was a hit -- and it's probably my favorite feature on our R500.
My second favorite feature is the superb passing power made possible by the teamwork of the 5.0-liter V8 and sharp-shifting 7-speed automatic transmission. But I still think the V8 sounds too coarse at idle. And the cruising range on this family vehicle is laughable: The fuel light came on at 255 miles. I'd wait it out for a slightly used R320 CDI (since you can't buy 'em new in California). Or maybe I wouldn't. The R500's handling is fine, but I challenge Mercedes engineers to drive a U.S. market Honda Odyssey and see if they don't prefer its crisper steering response and tighter body control.
I like the R500 no matter what our other staffers say. It's not a minivan that's missing sliding doors. It's not as tall as a minivan. It's more luxurious than a minivan certainly...
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