The "M" Word

(Pic or two tommorow. Stay groovy.)

The letter “M” is indelibly etched into the automotive zeitgeist. I realize you do not need someone like me to hyperlink the word zeitgeist or pummel you with such a pretentious first sentence.

Pretense, on the other hand, may keep you from driving the Mercedes Benz R Class. You would probably rather been seen in the stronger variants of this letter, like the M-Series BMWs or the “M” for Maserati I just wrote about.

Yes, the letter “m” means a great deal applied to a BMW or as the first letter of an fabled Italian marque. The air gets heavier when this letter is applied to another vehicle. You know its name. It lurks like a dark spirit within the zeitgeist of youth.

This M-word is “minivan.” For some, the word is more explosive than an f-bomb. To many the Minivan means the end of youth and beginning of that indentured status known as parenthood.

But it doesn’t have to be.

You, Road Rake or Rakette (you’ll meet a few soon on this blog) don’t have be anyone but yourself. In fact, as you’ll notice once I get the pictures up, the blue R-class Mercedes and the blue Maserati almost look similar from certain angles (with a little squinting). Its a car with numerous sides, not just one (kinda like you.)

What’s more this R-class Mercedes has even more in common with the Maserati than shared angles. Drive either vehicle and people will stare. People stare at the Maserati because it is the most beautiful sedan in Minneapolis. People stare at the Mercedes because it is unique. While it is not a touring wagon or whatever the press release says, it is the movie star of Minivans. (You don’t really need to link to that film bug site for movie stars, just skip it and get to the real deal here.)

I’ll say that again. The Mercedes R-Class is the movie star of minivans in a Jeremy Piven with kids kinda way.

Yet while Mr. Piven is too cool to upstage others, the R-Class Mercedes will do that to pretty much any truck or van based vehicle on the road. To wit:

1) The Mercedes R-class is one of the only vehicles on the market with a seven speed manu-matic transmission (BMW has only six and Lexus has eight but none in a vehicle with this much interior space.) That means you can shift it almost like the Maserati and surprise the family schaunzer.

2) The Mercedes R-class features more interior space than any other vehicle save a small commercial truck–which is what all large and oversized SUVs really are, albeit with a bit more “kit” as the Brits say.

3) The Mercedes R-class is quieter than your Grandmothers living room in Highland Park, making it the world’s only pied-a-terre capable of moving at 150 MPH.

The list goes on but I’ll stop for now. Because you, my friends, have to ask yourself whether you are ready to be pioneers. Oops, make that “early adapters” as I happen to know a female dentist in Edina who is married to a highly successful house builder that drives her 350 R proudly around this pretentious (at times) town.

Then if you decide you are ready to be different stop by and get acquainted with this vehicle at Sears Automotive in Plymouth, if for no other reason than to experience how a lot filled with the most expensive cars in the world is utterly lacking in pretense. In fact, I hear the guy who runs it is a business man with close roots to the farm. Yes, that is farm as in “F”.

Perhaps we should all now channel Ferrucio Lamborghini on what the farm means to the world’s finest marques. The guy made his fortune in tractors long before he penned a single car.

Disclaimer: Just so you know that I am not in the dealers pay, however, I will tell you that I wish the doors shut with a more authoritative “thunk” like the Mercedes of old. Sadly no minivan on the market offers that kind of sound including the Honda and Toyota which I have also driven. I also wish the V6 drove more like the 400 HP Maserati but then I am probably not being entirely fair. I also realize that Mercdes makes an 502 HP AMG variant of this vehicle for people like me (and I want one badly.)