Driving from Dunedin to Auckland on a tank of fuel would be quite an ask of even an eco-optimised small car, so should be a challenge well beyond a two-tonne luxury sports utility.
After an absence of a decade and a-half, the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Cabriolet is back. David Thomson slips behind the wheel for some open-top winter motoring.
In an automotive world obsessed with making premium off-road and soft-road machines handling like regular saloons, the new Mercedes GL-Class is a breath of fresh air. While no slug on the highway, the GLClass defiantly puts offroading capability ahead of on-road finesse. It's an approach Land Rover has long taken with its premium Range Rover model.
Mercedes-Benz has added a fresh twist to the crossover vehicle theme by combining the attributes of an upmarket station wagon, an SUV and a people-mover in its new R-Class range.
For more than half a century, the S-Class has been the pinnacle of Mercedes-Benz luxury motoring, and as such has often been a candidate for that exclusive title of the "world's best car".
Successive days of pre-Christmas rain played havoc with the intended combination of a solid highway drive and lengthy off-road expedition with the new Mercedes ML500.
Mercedes-Benz has added the letter B to its naming alphabet with the launch of the latest in a new breed of mid-sized people movers that are cleverly packaged alternatives to conventional hatchbacks and wagons.
Mercedes-Benzhas a long tradition of offering large coupes alongside its premium saloon range. The CLS is a new take on this established approach, which combines a traditional four-door saloon configuration with sleek, coupe-like lines.
Small luxury cars have gained a new lease of life in the past year with the launch of two quite different vehicles: the BMW 1-series and newgeneration Mercedes-Benz A-Class.
There is a rare and intoxicating quality to Mercedes-Benz's latest piece of politically incorrect, power-laden automotive one-upmanship, the SLK 55 AMG.
Mercedes E-Class saloons have been no strangers to these pages over the years, and the latest is the E350 Avantgarde.
Replacing the previous E320 as the top six-cylinder model in the E-Class family, the E350 features Mercedes-Benz latest 3.5-litre V6 engine and seven-speed automatic transmission.
Just as the world seemed to be getting used to the five-speed automatic gearbox as an automotive standard, BMW joined forces with transmission specialist ZF to launch a six-speed self-shifter in its five and seven-series luxury models. Others, like Jaguar, followed suit.
