Mercedes Model Makeover

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday October 25, 2008

BRENT DAVISON

You can bet your bottom dollar that while updates to Mercedes-Benz models will be discreet, says BRENT DAVISON after sampling some of the '09 crop, the overall differences will be palpable.

Think of it as giving the automotive alphabet soup a stir.

Mercedes-Benz takes its A, B and M models, gives them a cosmetic and equipment rework, throws in a small capacity diesel for the little A-Class and has a trio ready to hit the market as 2009 models.

The big news for the A-Class is, of course, the diesel engine fitted to the new A180CDi five-door. A 1991cc, four-cylinder, it develops 80kW of power and 250Nm of torque.

The diesel A-Class has a combined fuel consumption of 5.2 litres/100km, well below the figures from its petrol-powered (1.7, 2.0 and 2.0-litre Turbo) brethren.

As a driver the diesel is a very impressive thing.

Quiet and with a tonne of torque dragged from somewhere down around its ankles it is an absolute delight, capable of running low speeds in high gears.

If it could be mated to an automatic transmission Mercedes-Benz could not get enough of them to sell but, at this stage, that is not about to happen.

A-Class changes for 2009 stretch to new headlights which combine with a new bumper design with a lower, larger air intake and a bigger, more aggressive radiator grille to give the car a new frontal appearance.

There are bigger exterior mirrors and both they and the door handles are painted in vehicle colour (there are now three new colours on the palette) and at the back there is a new bumper design and tail-light clusters that now extend well into the flanks.

More practically, the tailgate handle has had an ergonomic rethink.

Internally there are bigger storage compartments, new cloth interior trims and door linings.

The Elegance line of cars get leather seat trims and Avantgarde models get combination "man-made leather" and fabric.

The story is similar for B-Class when it comes to cosmetics. The grille gets a grown-up look with three large cross-fins and the corporate three-pointed star grafted into its centre and a new bumper with big air intake.

There is also a new bonnet and all of it helps visually broaden the frontal appearance of the car.

At the back new light clusters blend with the side character lines and the overall appearance is enhanced by body-coloured mirrors, door handles and sills, giving the "B" a distinctly grown-up look.

For the M-Class it is a midlife rework to carry the car through until a new model makes it to market, probably around 2011 or 2012.

Again, the devil is in the detail and includes a newly-designed, four-spoke steering wheel and two-tone interior colour scheme, new high-performance telematics system and a more muscular front-end design.

The telematics unit has an enhanced Linguatronic voice-operated control system and upgraded COMAND information and entertainment system.

It is standard for all models except the ML280CDI but is optional for that car.

For Mercedes-Benz Australia's president and chief executive Wolfgang Schrempp the release of three 2009 models is important as the company looks for sales in the wake of the Federal Government's recent Luxury Car Tax (LCT) victory.

Mercedes-Benz sales in Australia have dropped by 13.6 per cent since the LCT rise came into place.