Thoughts from the Curb

Dec 17, 2008 - 2009 Mercedes-Benz GLK350: I Suddenly Like Mercedes

Up until recently, I had a very dim view of Mercedes-Benz. Its cars seemed horribly overpriced, I heard they were horribly unreliable, their headlights looked like peanuts and I didn't find their interiors particularly impressive. I also had a dim view of their owners. A white Benz meant you were a rich suburban housewife. A black one meant you were a douche bag (times 8 if you own a C240). I'm not sure what silver meant, but since that seems to be the only other color people buy Mercedes in, I'll just say it meant you're uncreative (but at least not as much of a douche bag).

Any way, although my opinion of Mercedes buyers hasn't really changed, my opinion of the cars certainly has. I must admit that part of it is that I'm actually driving the cars now, although my veteran colleagues are all quick to point out that Mercedes has dramatically improved with the most recent batch of automobiles. Specifically, that impenetrable, indestructable, ridiculously overengineered tank-like feeling is back. Our long-term C300 has this and so does the new GLK350 I drove this past weekend. Quite simply, the GLK feels like the most solidly constructed SUV I've ever been in. There's not a single bit of chassis flex or shutter when you go over a bump -- even the gnarly potholed pavement and rail road tracks I repeatedly drove over during a photoshoot downtown. The GLK feels like it could drive over a grenade and you'd only register a minor thump.

The cars once again feel like they're constructed out of a block of iron and I think its fitting that they are starting to look a little more edgy and block-of-iron-like. Not as many rounded edges and no peanut headlights. They look solid and are solid. Their interiors are now befitting the cars' price tags and that awful old COMAND has been replaced by a much better system. And even if they aren't the canyon-carving tools that BMW produces, who cares? The latest Benz models are still brilliant to drive. They're also reportedly more reliable.

Mercedes-Benz has turned things around after experimenting with cost cutting and rounded shapes. I find myself suddenly liking Mercedes and have therefore realized that if you buy one you're not necessarily doing it because you're a suburban housewife or a douche bag. There's still a good chance you are, so to be on the safe side, I'd buy a green one.

-James Riswick

8:46 am | Categories: car reviews Permalink | Alert Administrator

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