The Fast Lane Car

Video: 2012 Mercedes-Benz C350 Coupe Colorado Rockies Road Trip Review

The new 2012 Mercedes-Benz C350 is a sexy and sporty coupe that can easily take you on a cross country road trip in German luxury and style.

With a tick over 300 horsepower the four passenger Benz will carve canyons or cruise over the Rocky Mountains all day long.

We had the chance to drive the C-class coupe from Boulder, Colorado to the historic Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado as part of our road trip review.

So how fast is the 2012 Mercedes-Benz C350 Coupe from 0-60m MPH at over one mile of elevation and how good of a car did Mercedes build for your 50K. C

Check out this road trip review of the 2012 Mercedes-Benz C350 Coupe to find out.

Review: The 2012 Mercedes-Benz SLK350 is what the SLK should have been from the start

The new-generation SLK remains small,with just a 95.7-inch wheelbase. But it has more aggressive styling for a sexier, more masculine look and continues with its fast-acting retractable hardtop. Even the exhaust outlets are artfully shaped.

The 3,397-pound SLK350 has a solid feel—top up or down. But Mercedes stuck its plastic three-pointed star emblem right up front in the center of the grille, where it can be easily damaged.
 
The first Mercedes-Benz SLK, which I drove in Italy at a media preview in the late 1980s, was a bore. It had terribly plain styling and modest performance. It was at least some fun with a manual gearbox, but that wasn’t even initially offered in America.

Review: The 2012 Mercedes CLS63 AMG kicks sand in the face of all lesser cars

One glance at the revised 2012 Mercedes CLS63 AMG should tell you this is one very fast, luxurious car. It looks expensive and IS expensive at $94,900—without desirable options. Along with a destination charge, they pushed the price of my new test CLS63 AMG to $112,585.

This four-door sedan has coupe-like styling, which was pioneered by Mercedes in 2006 with the original CLS and has been copied by other automakers. 

Some may feel that the revised styling of the 2012 CLS63 AMG is overly aggressive, compared to the2011 model’s “softer” styling. But, what the heck, this thing is designed for aggressive driving.

That said, the new upright grille treatment meets new European-mandated pedestrian safety regulations.

Fast take video review: the 2012 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic Wagon is the UnCrossover of family haulers

The 2012 Mercedes-Benz E350 4Matic Wagon is the UnCrossover, UnMinivan and the UnSUV of the current crop of new family haulers.

While it has a third row seat, it still manages to drive like a sedan, brake like a sedan and handle like a sedan.

Why?

Because the old school ride is basically a bigger version of the Mercedes-Benz E350.

Best of all it looks sexy and svelte very much unlike most family haulers on the road today.

Below is a TFLcar fast take video review of this very cool and expensive station wagon.

Review: the 2011 Mercedes-Benz CL550 coupe is big, powerful and way over the top majestic

The 2011 Mercedes-Benz four-passenger CL550 coupe I tested from the automaker’s CL-Class line is a throwback to the grand  Mercedes coupes of decades ago.

That was when Mercedes engineers were given a pretty free hand to design the automaker’s large sedan and coupe models, complete with thick double-pane side glass. .

Those big powerful cars thus were superlative and majestic. Although heavy, they were  fast and had no serious competition in America, where they were overqualified for most U.S. driving—and for most U.S. drivers, who were accustomed to soft U.S. luxury cars.

The new CL550 coupe is the entry model in Mercedes’ CL-Class coupe line. It’s a two-door version of the sumptuous Mercedes S-Class sedan and thus has all the luxury and high-tech items found in S-class four-door models, along with perhaps excessive electronic sophistication.

Review: the 2011 Mercedes-Benz S-Class S400 hybrid is fast, roomy, economical luxury ride

Mercedes-Benz gives some models in its S-Class flagship line a stupefying amount of horsepower for a dignified, prestigious sedan. Such power should be left to the automaker’s smaller, sportier models.

However, the $91,000 S-Class S400 gas-electric Hybrid model I tested is a sensible, reasonably fuel-efficient alternative to the gas-guzzling hot rod S-Class versions.

The S-Class once stood alone as the ultimate luxury car in America, far outdoing Cadillac. Caddy hasn’t offered an S-Class  rival for an awfully long time. But now rivals include the  Audi A8, Jaguar XJ, BMW 7-Series and Porsche Panamera. All are excellent, but lack the formidable  reputation of Mercedes.

“After all,” Mercedes spokespersons are fond of saying, “we invented the car.”

Mashed-up Match-up: AWD snow vs. summer tire shoot out in the Rocky Mountians

Anybody can race a Camaro vs. a Mustang in a straight line. It's been done tens of thousands of times over the years, but what about racing two All-Wheel-Drive cars with the same horsepower in the snow?

The catch?

One car has snow tires while the other one has summer tires.

Review: The dreamy & swanky 2011 Mercedes-Benz R350

The 2011 Mercedes-Benz R350 is pretty dreamy. It’s a minivan, but not really a minivan. It’s a family hauler to be sure, but it’s also swanky. It’s utilitarian, but can spoil you like a luxury car should. It’s brilliant, mostly. The front end has been redesigned and looks less like a Tylenol caplet than before. It’s got a more squared off nose and looks very sharp and modern.

Video: Our K-9 correspondent puts Mercede's new Aircap automatic draft-stop to the test

When you spend $63,000 on a Mercedes Benz convertible, you expect a certain amount of luxury refinement and engineering.

For 2011 Mercedes Benz provides something unusual in the E350 Cabriolet...the Aircap Automatic draft-stop.

To promote the Aircap Mercedes produced a commercial with a dog sitting in the back seat with ears flapping in the wind. The driver raises the new Aircap and the pooches ear stop flapping as the comfort level goes way up for backseat occupants both human or animal.

Review 2011 Mercedes Benz E350 Cabriolet: a simple drive becomes an event (part 2)

What really gets me about this sweet machine is the way it makes me feel – while driving. I was über stressed one day and opted to drive off, through Idaho Springs, Colorado, where the scenery is stupendous. So, while tripping the light fantastic, I noticed how the Mercedes Benz E350 Cabriolet performed.

Review 2011 Mercedes Benz E350 Cabriolet: a simple drive becomes an event

Perhaps one of the most refined convertibles in its class. The Mercedes Benz E350 Cabriolet coddles its owner like no other.

Rarely are automobiles truly sensual. Sure, some have lines that are downright sexy, but those cars tend to be testosterone pods with gobs of power. Some luxury sedans ooze riding pleasure while looking staid or boring.

Video Review 2010 Mercedes GLK350 4MATIC: Just call me Chuck Norris

Give us 3-minutes and we'll give you the scoop.

The new Mercedes-Benz GLK350 is most certainly the Chuck Norris of the small luxury crossover segment. It just has that don't mess with me snarling face.

While the competitors are very organic and much more smooth and round the GLK350 is all about cutting edges and prominent in your face styling.

Review 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK 350 4MATIC: slightly underwhelming for a Mercedes Benz

“Fine honey, you see ‘Sex in the City’ with the girls and I’ll see ‘Tropic Thunder’ with the boys!” That was how the argument ended many moons ago when we were trying to find a movie that our friends (mostly couples) could all go to. All had a joyous time.

Funny thing. A few days later my wife was asking me about some Mercedes she saw in the movie. I had no idea what she was talking about until I caught my first glimpse of the 2010 Mercedes Benz GLK 350. I found out that Mercedes used the film “Sex and the City” as a medium to give the public a glimpse of their new crossover SUV.

Review 2010 Mercedes-Benz E550: nine percent cheaper and 100 percent better

It isn’t often (OK, maybe never) the price of a luxury car gets reduced by several thousand dollars. But that’s what Mercedes-Benz did with 2010 models, including the E550. But Mercedes-Benz not only lowered it prices, it did so with a re-designed vehicle, not the staid offerings of yesteryear.

The E550 five-passenger sedan is the prime example of how the German manufacturer is attempting to retrieve former Mercedes owners who may have opted for more trendy and less expensive luxury sedans in recent years.

Review 2010 Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe: When pain and pleasure collide

I staggered out of the hospital's emergency room to the arctic white Mercedes-Benz E350 coupe at about 4:40 a.m. after being poked and ultra sounded for about 3 hours.

The diagnoses: I was having a gallbladder attack due to a gallbladder stone stuck in my bile duct.

Until about two hours ago I didn't even know I had a bile duct, but now this little internal appendage is causing me so much pain I'm seriously considering sticking a sharp knife into my left side to balance out the pain in my right side.