Ultimate Gift
BY MICHAEL RIVERA
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The ultimate gift this holiday season may be a shopping spree for a new Mercedes-Benz or Infiniti, especially if that special someone in your life has luxurious taste and a love for
high-performance automobiles.
The 2010 model year marks a redesign for the Mercedes Benz E-Class sedan as the carmaker continues to stand out. Gone are the ovoid headlamps and smooth edges that defined the previous generation sedan. An arrow-shaped hood and angular headlamps frame a more aggressive, athletic body.
The headlamps, which illuminate around curves, and high beams that gradually shift to low beams as cars approach, illustrate the thought behind the new E-Class sedan.
“Mercedes-Benz (vehicles) are generally overbuilt,” said Paul Ross, of Berberian European Motors of Stockton, “meaning that they are stronger and more precise than they need to be.”
There are a myriad of reasons to lie awake at night dreaming of owning an E-Class Mercedes – a trunk engineered to hold four sets of golf clubs, an optional panorama sunroof, heated seats with an adjustable rolling massage, and lateral pads that inflate while cornering – but the delight is in the driving.
The test-driven E-350 performed exceptionally well in sluggish traffic. Absentminded or distracted drivers will enjoy the sedan’s braking system. Sensors in the car detect when a crash is imminent and will automatically apply the brakes.
The brakes will also automatically be applied if the vehicle is oversteering or understeering at a high rate of speed.
A word of caution on speeding in the 2010 E-Class Mercedes: it’s surprisingly easy to do. The experience is so relaxing that drivers could be lulled into a false sense of security and forget they are hurtling down the highway.
Thank goodness for the Attention Assist feature, which alerts drivers when it detects erratic steering or drifting into another lane.
Infiniti’s 2010 QX56 offers above-average comfort for a full-size sport-utility vehicle. Acceleration is powerful enough, thanks to a 5.6-liter V8 engine that delivers 320 horsepower to its five-speed automatic transmission.
The QX56 comes well-appointed, with the usual goodies one would expect from a luxury SUV: a navigation system installed on a hard drive for speedier processing, a Bose 12-speaker stereo system and a 9.3-gigabyte MP3 player.
The luxury SUV is only a taste of things to come. Infiniti unveiled the all-new 2011 M56 and M37 performance luxury sedans at the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance in August.
The completely redesigned bodies come with an optional V8 power plant that will deliver more than 400 horsepower.
It might be time to make room in your garage.
high-performance automobiles.
The 2010 model year marks a redesign for the Mercedes Benz E-Class sedan as the carmaker continues to stand out. Gone are the ovoid headlamps and smooth edges that defined the previous generation sedan. An arrow-shaped hood and angular headlamps frame a more aggressive, athletic body.
The headlamps, which illuminate around curves, and high beams that gradually shift to low beams as cars approach, illustrate the thought behind the new E-Class sedan.
“Mercedes-Benz (vehicles) are generally overbuilt,” said Paul Ross, of Berberian European Motors of Stockton, “meaning that they are stronger and more precise than they need to be.”
There are a myriad of reasons to lie awake at night dreaming of owning an E-Class Mercedes – a trunk engineered to hold four sets of golf clubs, an optional panorama sunroof, heated seats with an adjustable rolling massage, and lateral pads that inflate while cornering – but the delight is in the driving.
The test-driven E-350 performed exceptionally well in sluggish traffic. Absentminded or distracted drivers will enjoy the sedan’s braking system. Sensors in the car detect when a crash is imminent and will automatically apply the brakes.
The brakes will also automatically be applied if the vehicle is oversteering or understeering at a high rate of speed.
A word of caution on speeding in the 2010 E-Class Mercedes: it’s surprisingly easy to do. The experience is so relaxing that drivers could be lulled into a false sense of security and forget they are hurtling down the highway.
Thank goodness for the Attention Assist feature, which alerts drivers when it detects erratic steering or drifting into another lane.
Infiniti’s 2010 QX56 offers above-average comfort for a full-size sport-utility vehicle. Acceleration is powerful enough, thanks to a 5.6-liter V8 engine that delivers 320 horsepower to its five-speed automatic transmission.
The QX56 comes well-appointed, with the usual goodies one would expect from a luxury SUV: a navigation system installed on a hard drive for speedier processing, a Bose 12-speaker stereo system and a 9.3-gigabyte MP3 player.
The luxury SUV is only a taste of things to come. Infiniti unveiled the all-new 2011 M56 and M37 performance luxury sedans at the Pebble Beach Concourse d’Elegance in August.
The completely redesigned bodies come with an optional V8 power plant that will deliver more than 400 horsepower.
It might be time to make room in your garage.