I was getting ready to get hacked off about a recent service visit for the 2006 Mercedes-Benz R500 at Mercedes-Benz of Long Beach (Calif.). We took it in for the "B-Service" scheduled maintenance visit and the estimate was $300. I went in there picturing maybe a pricey oil change and tire rotation running about a hundred bucks. So when I got the $300-estimate I asked my service advisor what the heck they were going to do. (Confession: I committed the cardinal error of not checking our own Maintenance Costs page before going to the dealer.) The advisor, who couldn't have been nicer, was unfazed by my question. He responded by printing out a laundry list of tasks they would perform.

Have you ever noticed that dealership service departments are great at justifying their expensive maintenance visits? They do this by providing long lists of impressive looking actions. But if you look closely, nearly everything on the list begins with either "check" "adjust" or "inspect." That's the way the list was for the R500 but, to be fair, it's a high tech piece of machinery and I guess it needs a lot of service.

When I got back to the office I checked the "Maintenance Costs" section of our site and it estimated the "B Service" to be $271. When I read this I cooled down quite a lot. I guess there's a lesson in all this. People don't mind paying a lot but they hate the feeling that they were ripped off. So, when I got verification from my own web site that the charges were in line with our estimate, I got down off my high horse.

While I was at the dealership I had fun watching the service advisors interacting with the clients. I've been to a lot of domestic car dealership service bays and gotten the "base" treatment. Here I got to see service advisors in shirts and ties with foreign accents and higher levels of attention to customer service.

While waiting for my service guy, an older woman, dripping with jewelry, appeared beside me. "Are you waiting to see Russ?" she asked me. I nodded, even though I didn't know his name. "I just need to tell him one quick little thing," she said. I let her go ahead. She went to his desk and animatedly related all sorts of information and impressions about her car. Everything she said assumed he had a high level of intimate knowledge of her life, her schedule and her personal automobile. He nodded and smiled and assured her it would all be taken care of. She walked away completely satisfied. I bet that woman would never be a cad and ask what was included in Service B.

Philip Reed, Edmunds consumer advice editor

When I got into the R on Friday, the gas pedal was misbehaving. Its usual spongy, long travel was gone; feeling as if it was already half pressed. The most mundane, mild acceleration had the pedal to the floor. If I actually wanted to wring something out of the V8, I had to push the pedal hard against the floor. Not good. This problem was gone by the time I got into the R500 Friday evening and it didn't return. All in all, like so many of us I won't be joining the R500 fan club.

But since I was driving a V8-powered, six-seat quasi-minivan thing that averages 14 mpg on a good day this weekend, I felt compelled to utilize at least some of the R500's girth...so I bought a vacuum. Actually I bought the vacuum because my floors were dirty, but the R-Class provided a good excuse for finally buying the thing. The R also provided enough space for a full load of laundry. Yes, these loads could have been satisfied by our Honda Fit, but I had to haul something to justify this absurd beast of a vehicle with only two people aboard. On a day trip to Moorpark, Calif., from Los Angeles, I averaged a little more than 18 mpg, with mixed city driving getting a shade under 14. That just stinks. So does backing the R-Class up. The rear headrests are enormous and completely block the rearmost side window, conspiring with the huge D pillars and small side mirrors to create a perilous parking experience. Sure, it has those little backup light indicators, but in parking lots, I wasn't confident they'd warn me if some kid or a Miata suddenly darted out behind me. This thing needs a backup camera...among other things, like an aux jack not located four feet from the driver.

James Riswick, Associate Editor @ 25,274 miles 

 

Whenever I am tasked with driving the Mercedes-Benz R500, I am reminded of the Dennis Miller phrase, "I rant, therefore I am." I try so hard to have something nice to say about this car, but I simply can't. It drives like a building, it's as cute as a warthog, and mostly , it tries to do too much and doesn't do any of it particularly well. I have mentioned this before, but it bugged me last night. It's the damn hatch in the back. Opens via key fob (presumably designed for target-demo mother whose hands are presumably too full of cell phone, lipstick and possibly a young'un to actually open the thing itself). Then you push the red button and it closes automatically. Problem is, roughly 2 out of 3 times, it doesn't close tight, the dash warning light goes on, you have to get out and open it again (to the sound of that incredibly loud industrial-dump-truck-backing-up beep) and slam it again.

But today's rant is of a different nature. It concerns what should be a simple item: the rearview mirror. I live in a neighborhood that requires parking permits, little plastic tags that hang off the rearview mirror. But even this relatively simple procedure is confounded by the R500's Brobdingnagian mirror.

Once again, I realize I am not the R500's key demo, as presumably someone with 73 large to spend on a minivan is probably sufficiently flush to have a driveway or a really huge garage and not have to worry about such trifles as parking permits. (Well, except maybe here in Santa Monica.)

But there's the rub. For that much scratch, this is a poor design cue. I realize that all manner of radar and sensors and such are housed in the mirror, but there's got to be a way to fix this simple problem. Maybe the mother needs a permit for her gym. Maybe dad needs to hang a permit at work. Maybe they park in the public lot at the beach. This sort of thing seems inexcusable to me, particularly from Mercedes.

Doug Lloyd, Senior Copy Editor, at 24,410 miles

New vs Old -

One of our videographers just bought an old Benz wagon, love the color. It struck me as odd how simple the early Benz is versus the super sized, super sophisticated R-Class. True, the E-Class wagon is the more direct descendent but this R 500 is essentially a post modern version of that humble little station wagon.

Brian Moody, Road Test Editor @ 24,355 (on the R500 that is)

My initial impressions of the R500 may have been wrong. I saw the car as sort of pointless and felt that a minivan would do a better job better for less money. Technically, that might be true but after spending a few long weekends with the R500, I'm really begining to like its ultra roomy and flexible interior.  Yes, a minivan might work just as well but whenever I'm in a minivan, it seems like people are looking at me with a sense of pity - I don't like that.

The double decker center storage bin is also very useful and the Harman Kardon stereo sounds excellent. No Bluetooth is a serious buzz kill though.

Brian Moody, Road Test Editor @ 23,194 miles.

Does this look like a person to you? I didn't think so. It doesn't look like a person to me either. And it doesn't need a seatbelt.

Continue reading...

I think I actually managed to update the clock in the R500. In a previous post I noted that I followed the instructions in the owner's manual but the clock did not update. But it seems to have reset after turning the car off and then restarting. It now shows the correct Daylight Savings Time.

I checked with Chris, our Chief Road Test editor, who has been driving the R500 the last couple of days, and he did not try to update it. So, I'm pretty sure the little Mercedes elves worked their magic while I was out. They just didn't want an audience.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor

I had some people/stuff moving chores this weekend so I signed up for the Mercedes-Benz R500. I seem to have a knack for picking the long-term vehicles with empty tanks, and now I know why the R500's low-fuel light was on.

With Los Angeles gas prices being some of the highest in the nation (never mind that I live about 5 miles from where the oil tankers off-load, and I drive past at least two refineries twice a day), the proposition of filling the R500's 21.1-gallon tank with premium (recommended) fuel takes on a whole new financial scale. Imagine my surprise when the pump clicked off at $68.00, not because it was an even dollar amount but that it rang up almost seventy bucks!

It wasn't that long ago when fuel pumps would automatically shut off at $50 because it would indicate some sort of wrong-doing. Not any more. I wonder if they've raised the limit to $100. Rated at 14 mpg city/19 mpg highway, our R500 is currently averaging 16.6 miles per gallon, and I managed to earn over 18 mpg this weekend.

Chris Walton, Senior Road Test Editor @ 22,077 miles

 

In response to all the RTMs and RTFMs we receive from our readers on a daily basis, we requested an owner's manual for our Mercedes R500.

One of the quirks of the R500 is that it's so gadgety you need a manual to do anything, including change the time on the analog clock.

Well, here it is in all its glory. Look how beautiful, all 80 pounds of it wrapped in sturdy leather. It's longer than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Pages and pages of instructions for our reading pleasure.

I took it home last night and read all about how to change the time. But then saw the note about how these instructions don't apply if you have the nav system. So I read the navigation manual and followed the instructions on how to switch to Daylight Saving Time. I did everything it said but the time didn't change. I couldn't find anyway to just change the clock itself.

Alas, the analog clock on the dash and the digital clock in the nav are still an hour behind.

So I tossed the manual into the glove box but it wouldn't close. So I tried to put it in the center console but it was too large. So I put on the front passenger seat but it set off the seat belt alarm. So I left it on the floor.

Donna DeRosa, Managing Editor @ 21,825 miles

We've had a few high-end vehicles in our fleet over the years, but I can't remember any whose floor mats offered the level of luxury seen in those of the R500.

We've had the Mercedes for a few months now, and its mats have beat off dirt and scuff marks like a hero crushing bad guys in a Hong Kong action flick. This photo doesn't really do them justice.


And they remain fixed in place with such relentless tenacity that I had to check and make sure they aren't being held by Velcro (they aren't). They're heavy and plush, too.

If you've got any sort of floor mat fetish whatsoever, the R500 is the ride for you.

Warren Clarke, Automotive Content Editor @ 21,790 miles