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Walkaround
This is a very large vehicle, but the radical design and its sloping roof and sweeping front-to-rear lines tend to minimize the size and accent its sportiness at the same time. Up front, the R-Class uses the sports car grille theme with the large circled star in the grille, multi-element headlamps, a sporty upper and lower bumper look, and a fast-sloping hood and windshield to get to a drag coefficient of only 0.31, remarkably low for such a large vehicle.The R-Class is long. It's 14 inches longer than the M-Class sport-utility and 9 inches longer than the Cadillac SRX. It's longer than the big Cadillac Escalade, by more than 4 inches. It's almost as wide as the Escalade, but only slightly taller than the SRX due to its deliberately low ride height and ground clearance. The rear side doors are very, very long, almost as long as those on a Maybach luxury sedan. That makes getting into and out of the second and third rows easy, but may cause problems in tight parking areas. Depending on model and options, there are four different alloy wheel packages to choose from, in five-, seven- and ten-spoke designs. The AMG Sport package adds a whole new front end look, 19-inch AMG five-spoke wheels and tires, and a new rear treatment.
Interior Features
The R-Class was designed from the beginning to accommodate six average American adults, not four adults and two kids. The interior is absolutely cavernous, with gobs of room in all directions, including third-row headroom and legroom that's more than adequate for a 95th percentile (6-foot, 4-inch) man.In order to pull off the Grand Sport Tourer" idea, every one of the six bucket seats in the R-Class has its own cupholder, seat adjuster, armrest, ventilation, lighting. The first two rows can provide an independent choice of listening and viewing entertainment. The sound system is capable of playing tracks from any MP3 player, using the player to select, and there is a $299 option that will let you put your Apple iPod in the glovebox and play it through the sound system using steering wheel controls to select track and volume, with track and playlist data displayed on the COMAND screen. The floor layout allows 16 cubic feet of cargo behind the third seat, 34 cubic feet of cargo with the third-row seats down, and 85 cubic feet of cargo space with the second row of bucket seats folded. Mercedes says cargo lengths approaching nine feet can be accommodated inside. Each of the second-row bucket seats can be moved through four inches of longitudinal adjustment, and each has a reclining seatback for long-distance touring comfort. The seat slider/folder mechanism is brilliant in its simplicity and ease of use. Adjusting the steering column is done manually on the R350; the R500 gets power tilt and telescope that micro-adjusts to any driver's favorite setup. The new dashboard and instrument panel is easy to use and looks great. It's more chronometer-like in its layout and design, with more chrome ring decoration than any other Mercedes model. This new sport tourer has huge amounts of glass front, side and rear, and that makes for a very open and airy environment inside, whether you get the tan, grey, black, or black and Alcantara interior scheme."
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