As predicted by AutoSpies.com, Mercedes new lineup starting to pay dividends

Let's stay with the facts.

In reply to MLane8416. Some of the issues proposed are faulty. Styling of the R class may be a bit out of the norm and not everyone will like it. But face it..it is not a MiniVan, is a new innovation to create flexible room with comfort for all passengers. Mercedes already have "vans and minivans" in their Europe/ Asia market, if they were to make a MiniVan, they could have simply market their people-movers (MPVs) to North America as real VANS and save costs on r&d and marketing.I feel that MLand8416 has some bias towards the R class.The length of the R class is even longer than the S and is to provide new options for people who likes the S class for its size and comfort. Providing that, it is even bigger and has a lot more Leg room than the previous S class (prior 2007). Thus the Big door is similar to the S class. if u have a S class u would face the same issue with the door being in the way when opened. Please don't forget, for those who can afford a S class probably lives in house with 3 garages or big enough garages for their cars and not some allyway parking, so the R is similar in stance. I am 6'1" and the R class fits perfectly for my height in all of the 3 rows of seats. The comment about the 10 year old kid having difficulty for getting into the last row of seat is faulty. With all the seats in its original position I was able to move in from the Second row and into the back (3rd row). The movement was at ease also, i did not get stuck in between or anything like the Old Toyota Sienna would give. <br>
Lastly as for the point about only seating 6. We should resort back to the point about how this vehicle is designed for comfort and roominess, they have enough room in the 2rd row to make another seat like those 7 seaters SUVs, but that would provide inadequate space and mobility of passengers to get to the back. If they were to make the 2nd row seat 3, then MLane could have argue again about how his/her 10 year old who weights 70 pounds have difficulty getting in the back and needs to rearrange the seating to have access to the back. Not to mention, more and more soccor parents are buying SUVs over minivans in transporting their youngsters, and seating 7 has showed accessibilty problems for its passengers, especially when SUVs tend to have less height room inside (due to their raised floor).<br>
<br>
Besides if the buyers want to get 7 seats, they could simply have gotten the M Class with 7 seats. Which would contribute to their sales in the end for the company. As for the fact about the pricing of the R class. R350 is Substanitally cheaper than the E class, it is slightly more expensive than the ML. While R500 is slightly less expensive than the E class. So in terms of value, you would get space for both passengers and luggage.<br>
<br>
As my final point, with the aging of the population by the baby boomers, this R class "country estate wagon" is focused on a very specific age group. That is for the aging population, who would be retiring in less than a decade.