spwolf

exactly. No wonder they are giving out 9k...damn!

LexFather

I've seen a few too, to my surprise, so I thought they were selling well.

Milla...

I see these things constantly. They hurt my eyes very bad.

Turkoman

We just bought one in February. My wife just fell in love with it when she first saw it. I can't argue with those who don't like the styling because it is a matter of taste. Some will say a black one looks like a hearse and I may agree with that (we avoided black). I personally like the styling.

But the rest of the car, you should not knock until you have actually taken a ride in one. It is exceptionally smooth, comfy and quiet and it has so many creature comforts and goodies that it is hard to resist once you are in one. It is the ultimate family roadtrip car. What sold it to us was the panoramic sunroof, which is huge due to the size of the car. It feels like a convertible, minus the wind and noise. And the entertainment system in the headrests sealed the deal. I know you can get third party products like these but then you lose the safety features of the MB headrest built into it. The entertainment system allows the kids to do seperate things like one can play PS for example while the other watches a DVD. Much nicer than the Acura one we also have.

It is more like a minivan than a truck. We were tired of the truck handling of the MDX and the RX (or lack of handling). It may be me but I won't buy an SUV or truck again unless it is my second vehicle for snow, off-roading etc. This thing handles much better than expected, more like a large sedan or wagon. Has a 7 speed automanual adaptive tranny and AWD. I think you would have a hard time finding any minivan or SUV handling like a car with AWD, this tranny and the smooth LS like ride.

Those of you who say it is a rebadged Pacifica, MB denies that but there is probably some truth in that. Having been in both, you won't mistake the build or ride quality between the two. It is no more a Pacifica than an LS is an Avalon or an ES is a Camry. You notice the difference inside out very clearly and it is worth every penny of the difference IMHO.

By the way, the original article noted the BMW coming out with something similar in 2008. It is very similar and will be called the V5. Lexus will likely introduce a very similar vehicle in 2008 called the VX. This is a hot segment that I think will grow. The day we took delivery, there were 4 others being delivered on the same day. Only other car being delivered was a 2007 S-class. I think this segment will grow and more manufacturers will jump on this in the future.

LexLaw

Hats off to MB. The R Class, while controverisal in styling is definitely here to stay and is the begining of a new Luxury Minivan/SUV hybrid trend. Think MPV but on a whole 'nother level. And yeah the Pacifica jumped out immediately when I first saw the R-Class.

foofighter

i was just telling my wife last night that i noticed the soccer moms in the OC are starting to sport these around town. Considering there are two high volume benz dealers in the OC near me its not surprising to see this result from the price drop. We did look into this car initially but the pricing was a bit high considering it was a minivan. We ended up selling our 05 odyssey to get an 06 odyssey touring...fits the bill for our family of 5

mmarshall

Correct, Mike.....it is NOT related, despite the obvious styling similarities and 2+2+2 seat layout, but it DOES get some competition from the high-end versions of the Pacifica, and for that reason the R, IMO, was clearly overpriced. M-B is doing the right thing by dropping the sticker.

Faraaz23

I guess if people want some of the practical qualities of a minivan, but luxury along with it... or simply the status of the 3-point star... this is the vehicle for them. Just seeing many of our family aquintances and my dad's colleagues... they seem to play follow the leader a lot. They are so concerned with competing for material posessions within the cultural community, that back in the 90's... when one person got a Chrysler T&C, everyone else followed suit. Pretty soon the ML320 came... and it still offered practicality along with a 3-point star, so most of them dumped the minivans for the ML, and then the RX300 as well later on (I can think of 25-30 people I know off the top of my head). This however, I predict, as serving as the new status car for people wanting the space of the minivan. I'm not saying there aren't other types of buyers out there who may buy this for completey different reasons, I'm just saying this is going to perfectly suit a certain niche I can think of.

I agree with above posters that value-wise, the Odyssey and Sienna are totally the way to go though.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

yup, it's true, i am not surprised people are getting this car for its brand name. sad, but true.

D2-AUTOSPORT

I was thinking the same, I see ALOT of them in the NYC / CT area (mostly basment model 350s: no HID, extra small wheels, etc etc)

mmarshall

That's the case with most M-B products today. People are dwelling on M-B's past glory, not today's poor quality, and buying their products to brag about the 3-point-star...or to have insane ( and mostly unusable ) amounts of power in the AMG models.

rai

agree

No one wants a Pacifica in the first place so who thinks one that cost's 2x is a good idea?

I have a Sienna awd which costs as much as $40K with everything (less after discounts). I can't see another $35K even for a V8 MB van.

vans are great, but they are not the hottest segment. Lets say there are 1 million sales/year toal. Now most of these will be chrysler/Honda/Toyota so why fight over the crumbs? You know these are overpriced to begin with, It's not a Pacifica but IMO they probably cost similar amounts to build, yes the MB has better materials etc. but IMO MB is not what it used to be. Since it's gone down market basically it's no more superior to Toyota/Lexus if you had them both in the same dealership.

rai

I do not mean to put the car down, I do like it. Just (IMO) when I saw the price I was saying "that's not good". Like I said, I know it's not a Sienna, but you can buy a Sienna from $22K-$39K (+/-) so this van is at $49K and up. I can see it's probably better than the Sienna, but priced at least $10K more and as much as 2x of a top of the line Sienna seems high. Hopefully they will re-adjust the MSRP to a more realistic level so more people will take a look. I know for myself seeing the price (not knowing about the discounts) would automatically put it off my list. I mean I have kids and don't fancy putting kids in a $70K car.