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New Mercedes VClass 2024 review: popular MPV gets welcome tech upgrade
The Mercedes VClass has been updated to keep it competitive against new premium MPV rivals

Verdict

We’re confident the updated Mercedes VClass will be just as popular as before, but that’s more a comment on its lack of competition than anything else. Mercedes won’t have the premium MPV market to itself for much longer, so the intriguing mildhybrid petrol version could be crucial.

Perhaps no other car signifies the power of the Mercedes badge like the VClass. You might think a vanbased people carrier would dilute the prestige of the threepointed star, but with the VClass, it reinforces Mercedes’ premium appeal.

You would hope so too, considering the VClass costs near enough £75,000 in entrylevel form. With this midlife facelift we’ve seen the entrylevel AMG Line become a £3,950 optional extra, replaced by the ‘Premium’ version complying with Mercedes’ goal to drive its brand even further upmarket. With this in mind, we a go in the rangetopping ‘Exclusive’ to really find out if Mercedes is still the champion of the luxury people carrier.

We say ‘people carrier’ in the loosest possible sense, because instead of the usual eightseat or sevenseat configuration, the car we’re driving here has the suitablynamed ‘VIP luxury seat’ layout in the rear. This means you get two lounge seats in the middle row, with space for two ‘regular’ seats behind, creating a sixseater. With room for fewer passengers, Mercedes says this isn’t going to be the most popular model, but with a focus on opulence it could be the only competitor to the new Lexus LM and upcoming (not yet for UK sale) Volvo EM90.

Seating comfort is a personal preference, but you’d be hard pressed to find the Merc’s VIP luxury seats anything but truly cosseting. If we were a global pop star with a penchant for pickiness we’d flag that the seam on the lower back section is a little firm, but other than that we’d be happy being ferried between concerts in this most luxurious of VClasses.

Look away from the seats and the premium overtones start to unravel, with the V’s more utilitarian foundations becoming apparent. For starters, the climate control buttons for rear passengers are located on the roof between the front seats – virtually inaccessible for those in the rear. The rear seats are positioned more inboard than the front seats, too, meaning the fold out table on the back of the front seats is noticeably askew.

Further to this, the foot stool and seat rails are manually adjustable, which a surprise given nearly every other adjustment is electronic. We did find the champagneglass magnets on the armrests pretty amusing, holding on while we inflicted as much Gforce as we could by throwing the Mercedes into corners.

The facelifted VClass receives a few tweaks on the outside, with a new grille and bumper arrangement, plus Mercedes’ ‘Multibeam’ adaptive LED headlights as standard.

The VClass’ diesel powertrains haven’t changed for this update with a turbocharged 2.0litre fourcylinder diesel offered with either 161bhp and 380Nm of torque (in the V 220 d) or 236bhp and 500Nm in this V 300 d. Power is sent through a ninespeed automatic gearbox to the rear wheels.

It’s a little gruff at low speeds, with an audible groan under hard acceleration. Thankfully there’s a lot of lowdown torque and the gearbox seems calibrated to change up at the earliest possible chance, so you’re revered passengers will rarely have to put up with any diesel clatter at highrevs. What was really noticeable is how much quieter the VClass was at motorway speeds. It also seemed to settle down over bumps much better than around town.
Read More https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mercede...


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