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Tag: Mercedes

  • Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

    Want Faster Acceleration in Your Mercedes? That Will Cost $1,200 Annually.

    Mercedes is the latest automaker to jump on the most deplorable trend in the industry, charging $1,200 annually for faster acceleration.

    Automakers looking for ways to nickel and dime their customers have turned to subscriptions as their method of choice, locking access to existing features unless customers pay the subscription price. Mercedes is the latest to adopt this practice, with plans to charge $1,200 for customers that want faster acceleration.

    Mercedes EQ electric vehicles (EVs) will come with reduced horsepower and torque, which will be increased if customers pony up the extra cash annually. The overall performance of the vehicle will increase as well.

    “Fine tuning of the electric motors increases the maximum motor output (kW) of your Mercedes-EQ by 20 to 24%, depending on the original output from factory,” Mercedes explains on its website. “The torque is also increased, enabling your vehicle to accelerate noticeably faster and more powerfully. This shortens the time it takes to accelerate from 0 to 60 MPH by around 0.8 to 0.9 seconds. This additional output is available in all DYNAMIC SELECT drive programs.”

    Mercedes’ move follows similar ones by other automakers. For example, BMW announced plans to charge $18 per month to unlock the heated seats already present in the vehicle.

    The problem has become so bad that New Jersey lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban automakers from charging a subscription for features that are already built into a vehicle.

    As we have stated before, it is completely understandable to charge a subscription fee for services that require ongoing updates, such as GPS mapping services. It is certainly understandable to charge for other subscription services, such as satellite radio.

    On the other hand, it is nothing but unmitigated greed and absurdity to charge customers to use features that are already included in the vehicle and that do not cost the automaker anything. If a user purchases a vehicle with a certain set of features, ALL of those features should be available and unlocked.

  • Portia de Rossi, Ellen DeGeneres Take Birthday Selfies

    Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres shared some lovely selfies with their fans just ahead of Ellen’s 57th birthday. Despite the talk show host’s dry humor and hilarious antics, these photos depicted the softer, sweeter side to this married couple.

    Ellen and Portia appeared in the shots, sans any makeup or special wardrobe, locked in an embrace on a beach at sunset.

    “My last sunset of 56 with my favorite person,” DeGeneres captioned one of the shots.

    Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres–who have been together since 2004 and married since August of 2008–appear both relaxed and very much in love in their sunset scene.

    Portia was noticeably absent when Ellen DeGeneres celebrated her birthday on her show, however. Instead, the host celebrated with Joe Biden and Keith Urban, who sang her a very special song.

    Ellen DeGeneres was her usual upbeat, hilarious self while celebrating her birthday on her show–she even gave away two Mercedes cars–but nothing says happiness like the look on her face in the selfies taken with Portia de Rossi. Despite recent rumors that things aren’t going well for the couple, there appeared to be a sense of love and peace in those shots.

  • Mercedes-Benz CLA 250 Has A $30,000 Price Tag

    That’s right.

    Your friends laughed in the past at your pie-in-the-sky plans to posses a Mercedes someday. But you can take a ball-peen to that piggy bank of yours, because your day has finally arrived in the cramped backseat of a supreme German sedan.

    But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

    Ordering up a Mercedes is sort of like ordering from a salad bar. Maybe you’re content with the 2014 CLA250’s 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged engine as is… or maybe you don’t want to leave until all the majestic AMG dressings are dripping from your metaphorical Mercedes salad. If the latter is more your speed, you’ll probably be seeing between $45,000 and $60,000 – but you’ll also be seeing 208 horses transform into 355 horses, while the torque goes from 258 to 333 lb-ft.

    Even if its standard status is enough for you, remember that there’s no escaping taxes – which will likely drive it up from a list price of under $30,000 to the mid $30,000 range.

    But at either (comparatively) economical price, are you only paying for the name?

    Jason Allan, a reviewer from Kelley Blue Book, didn’t seem to think so. Although Allan concedes the coupe-like sedan doesn’t have the roomiest interior, he’s quick to add that it doesn’t detract from the driving experience. In his review, he said, “we spent six hours in the car … and never felt cramped or confined in front. Most of the practical compromise affects the back seat and trunk.”

    Another reviewer claims that “The 2014 CLA250 sports some fine tech from the Mercedes-Benz catalog and presents a stylish look, but its driving character is far from satisfying.”

    Finally, a third reviewer compared it to (bear with me here) Hyundai and Kia. Before you throw rocks at the poor guy’s windshield, he was just trying to make the point that, regardless of name, real luxury is already affordable and Mercedes-Benz is just now beginning to offer that in what he describes as:

    “A car priced, including options, a tad north of $36,000 – not inexpensive, but a heck of a lot better than the $47,000 BMW 328d (diesel) I drove a week earlier.”


    Image via Youtube

  • Mercedes Bringing Siri To Its A Class

    Mercedes Benz has always been at the fore front of automobile technology. 4 wheel independent suspension in 1931, crash test program in 1958, antilock brakes in 1978. Some of these were pioneered by Mercedes, most were standard in the S-Class years before they were standard on any other manufactures cars.

    Now we get the great announcement that Mercedes is bring Siri to it’s economical A-Class. This is part of Mercedes and their smart car initiative introduced at CES. Siri will easily be accessed through the “Digital DriveStyle App.” With this app you will easily be able to control your phone with the push of a button on the steering wheel. Things like Texts, weather, and music will be able to be controlled with Siri.

    The technology to seamlessly integrate the iPhone into the A-Class was a joint venture between Mercedes-Benz and Apple to develop the Drive Kit Plus for the Apple iPhone. With this new kit drivers can now access all the key content of their Apple iPhone through the in-vehicle touch screen display or you can use it via the controller on the center armrest.

    Now if they could get Siri to drive your car for you, then we could go from New York to San Fransisco in …… Sorry, I don’t understand New York to San Fransisco, do a web search?

    As of the press release there is no current release date for the A-Class in the United States.

  • CES 2012: Mercedes Debuting New Line Of Smart Cars

    The one thing that was not expected at CES this year was the emergence of the smart car.

    Mercedes-Benz USA is introducing and launching mbrace2 today. The service provides drivers top-of-the-line features related to safety, infotainment, personal assistance and vehicle care.

    The service was developed by Hughes Telematics and was made to work seamlessly inside and outside the vehicle. It features a new control module with two all-new categories of services: Internet and remote access capabilities. It also updates all software via a cloud network so users will always be on top of new technologies being developed for the service. It also includes a remote app for iPhone and Android smartphones. It’s first appearing in the MY13 SL-Class in the spring and will be standard in most MY13 passenger vehicles.

    “The connected services included in mbrace2 will enhance both the driving experience and the ownership experience for Mercedes-Benz customers,” Steve Cannon, president and CEO, MBUSA, said. “Traditionally, in-vehicle technology is finalized more than a year before a vehicle comes to market and is difficult to upgrade. The mbrace2 system solves the vehicle electronics lifecycle conundrum in a unique way, creating a truly networked vehicle that is always online, always upgradeable.”

    To that tune, mbrace2 features 3G network connectivity. The new Internet-based service is called “Mercedes-Benz Apps,” and includes the usual apps like Facebook and Google. It also includes open browsing, stocks, Yelp! and news headlines.

    Facebook in a car sounds dangerous and rightly so. People get into accidents over updating their Facebook while driving. Thankfully, the Facebook app is disabled when the car is in motion preventing text entry according to a Mercedes’ product manager speaking to Reuters.

    The remote access apps allow drivers to check on their vehicle with their phones. The apps include geo-fences, vehicle health diagnostics, curfew minder, driving journal, speed alerts, valet protect and remote horns and lights. This is good news for people who want to know where their car is and what it is doing at the moment. I can see this appealing to those who want to feel like Batman, controlling their car from a distance with a remote device.

    For those worried about the car not being safe with all these apps possibly distracting drivers, the company rests those fears by offering over 60 apps dedicated to safety and security. Now if only there can be an app that cures reckless driving.