Mercedes-Benz M-Class 2013 News

None of us wants to crash our shiny new car but, if we do, we want to know we're safe. That's where the Australian New Car Assessment Program's standardised crash-testing analysis is invaluable, providing comparable ratings for vehicles of all types.The ANCAP site notes that a one-star car is twice as likely to kill you as a five-star model. Carsguide examines ANCAP's results to find the best of breed in each segment. It's worth noting the advanced software in some cars that readies the vehicle if a crash is imminent are disabled during the official tests. Cars are scored out of 37 points after the following tests.FRONTAL OFFSET TEST: The subject vehicle is accelerated to 64km/h and rammed into a deformable alloy barrier to simulate a head-on crash. To increase the severity and reproduce real-world conditions only 40 per cent of the car hits the wall - equating to a driver swerving to avoid an oncoming vehicle.SIDE IMPACT TEST: The T-bone hit rams a 950kg trolley into the side of the car at 50km/h. The sled has an alloy face to simulate the front of another vehicle, which deforms and absorbs some of the impact.PEDESTRIAN TEST: Simulates the results of hitting a pedestrian at 40km/h. The test assesses adult and child impacts, given their heads and limbs strike different areas of the car.POLE TEST: This is the most demanding test in the ANCAP repertoire. Trees and poles don't deform, so all the crash energy is transferred to the vehicle. The car is put on a sled and propelled towards a fixed steel pole at 29km/h.SAFEST SMALL CARSAUDI A3 36.41 See reviews of this carOfficially the best small car to occupy in an accident. Impressively, the windscreen pillar didn't move after a 64km/h hit with the concrete block.  HONDA INSIGHT 36.39 See reviews of this carIts score reflects a 3mm movement of the pillar in the frontal offset test and "slight risk" of serious leg injury for driver and passenger.   BMW 1 SERIES HATCH 36.33 See reviews of this carThere's a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver in the frontal and side crash test and a slight risk of serious leg injury for the passenger in the frontal crash.   SAFEST MEDIUM CARSMERCEDES B-CLASS 36.78 See reviews of this carTops the charts with the highest score of any car in ANCAP database. Technically there's a 4mm movement of the front pillar and a slight risk of injury to the passenger leg closest the door.  BMW 3 SERIES 36.76 See reviews of this carBarely behind. It showed a 1mm movement of the pillar and there was a slight risk of serious injury to the driver's and passenger's legs.VOLVO V40 36.67 See reviews of this carThe only loss of points occurred during the frontal crash test, with a slight risk of serious injury to the front occupants' legs closest the door and the driver's chest.SAFEST LARGE CARSTOYOTA AURION 36.59 See reviews of this carFirst place in this class makes it the only locally built vehicle in any top-three line-up. There's a slight risk of lower leg injury for driver and passenger.   BMW 5 Series 36.53 See reviews of this carNot a bad place to be in the event of an accident either. It blitzed the side impact tests and only lost fractions of points in the head-on hit.    VOLVO S60 36.34 See reviews of this carSweden maintains its safety credentials. The passenger compartment stayed intact with only a 1mm movement of the front pillar.    SAFEST COMPACT SUVS SUBARU XV 35.53 See reviews of this carLike the slightly lower-riding Impreza, the XV scored highly in all crashes, with a slight risk of injury to the front occupants' chests and legs.    HOLDEN TRAX 35.18 See reviews of this carThe surprise packet. One of the smaller cars in the class has only a slight risk of serious leg injury for those in the front in a head-on crash.   Skoda Yeti 34.67 See reviews of this carDepite being one of the older examples in this segment, the Yeti still rates well for safety, with only a slight risk of serious leg injury for those in the front in a head-on crash.    SAFEST MEDIUM SUVSVOLVO XC60 36.53 See reviews of this carANCAP says the cabin 'held its shape extremely well" in the frontal test, with the pillar shifting just 3mm. There was a slight risk of serious chest and leg injuries to the driver.  FORD KUGA 36.33 See reviews of this carA solid second, posing a slight risk of serious chest injury for both front seat occupants. The front pillar moved 15mm.   HONDA CR-V 35.91 See reviews of this carPlaced well despite being penalised for the foot-operated park brake moving upwards and back. Structurally there was only a 2mm movement of the pillar.  SUBARU FORESTER 35.64 See reviews of this carTested this year, it scored highly in all crashes, with a slight risk of injury to the front occupants' chests and legs.   SUBARU OUTBACK 35.52 See reviews of this carFills the brand's quinella. Crashed in 2008 and at the time topped the charts as the safest vehicle ANCAP had tested. SAFEST LARGE SUVSMERCEDES-BENZ ML 36.34 See reviews of this car Luxury SUV has a slight risk of serious chest injury for driver and passenger in the head-on hit and a slight risk of serious leg injury for the passenger. The pillar moved 2mm. RANGE ROVER 36.19 See reviews of this carBig Brit has a slight risk of serious chest injury for the driver and the pillar shifted by 15mm.   NISSAN PATHFINDER 35.73 See reviews of this carSlight risk of serious leg injury for the driver. Unlike the other two, it applies to the upper leg as well as the expected lower-leg hits. Docked points for a marginal pedestrian impact result.

Mercedes-Benz already builds what may qualify as the most comprehensive line of civilian armoured vehicles available, with models in the S Class, E Class and G Class product lines awaiting delivery to high-profile consumers worldwide.Now you can add the Mercedes-Benz M Class crossover to the list of available Guard family vehicles, too. Like other Mercedes-Benz Guard vehicles, the M Class Guard is designed from the ground up as an armoured vehicle, so it delivers optimal protection while retaining the same level of luxury and ride comfort as the standard M-Class.Mercedes claims that the entire passenger cabin is protected, including elements like the roof frame, the door locks, the door gaps and even the external mirror mounts. More than anything else, this illustrates why building from the ground up results in a safer end product than retrofitting after assembly.The M Class Guard is constructed to deliver VR4 class protection, per Bullet Resistant Vehicles (BRV) 2009 standards. It can withstand assault from pistol calibres up to and including .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, and can even shrug off a blast from a DM51 hand grenade (thankfully not the weapon of choice for any Australian carjacking so far).Even the wheels and tires are designed for occupant safety, as they can be driven without air at speeds up to 80km/h for a distance of 30km. That may not be enough to outrun pursuit, but it’s (hopefully) sufficient to get you out of immediate danger.Under-hood, the M Class Guard comes standard with a 3.0-litre V-6 turbodiesel, good for 190 kilowatts and 620 Newton metres of torque. If you want more thrust at the expense of range, the M Class Guard also comes in an ML 500 gasoline version, equipped with a 300 kilowatts V-8 engine.Mercedes says the new M Class Guard will be offered for sale worldwide. Pricing in Germany will start at 105,050 euros ($132,102 AUD) for the ML 350 BlueTEC Guard, rising to 118,650 euros ($149,204 AUD) for the ML 500 Guard.www.motorauthority.com 

The Mercedes-Benz ML 500 has undergone surgery to insert the 285kW V8 petrol engine under its more shapely hood. Benz claims the new powerplant is more refined and produces more power using less fuel. The 5.5-litre V8 engine has an extra 60kW of power and 60Nm of torque over the outgoing 5.0-litre engine. The seven-speed automatic transmission remains unchanged but the 0-100km/h time has dropped to 5.8 seconds and the governed top speed is 210km/h. Benz says the new drivetrain combination also returns better fuel-economy figures of 12.9 litres per 100km, down from 13.4 litres per 100km. The rest of the M-Class features remain unchanged, with a double-wishbone suspension using the Airmatic air system. The ML500 has the 4Matic all-wheel-drive system as standard; with traction and stability control or, for the more serious off-road driver, the car can be optioned up with the Off-Road Pro engineering package. This package adds two manually selectable differential locks; a low-range transfer case and a reinforced rear-axle differential. The M-Class range has anti-lock brakes, eight airbags, active head restraints and the brand's award-winning Pre-Safe occupant protection system. Mercedes-Benz says the M-Class is the first car in its class to offer this life-saving technology, which uses its ABS and stability control sensors to detect an imminent impact before it occurs. The car then prepares all of its passive safety features, primes the airbags and seat belts, and closes windows and the sunroof to maximise the level of occupant protection. More than 18,000 M-Class SUVs have been sold in Australia since 1998. So far this year, more than 1800 have been sold, making it one of the top-selling luxury SUVs behind the Lexus RX and the BMW X5. The only ML model above and beyond the $120,874 ML500 is the stove-hot $160,874 ML 63 AMG, which is anything but an off-roader. Packing AMG's first effort at a stand-alone engine, the ML 63 offers 375kW of power and 630Nm of torque, which equates to a five-second sprint to 100km/h and an electronically-limited top speed of 250km/h. The ML 63 gets the AMG high-performance brakes as well to haul it back to a standstill quicker than your average 2.3-tonne 4WD. It sits on 19-inch wheels with 45-profile tyres. There's no OffRoad Pro package option box to tick; you can't get the proper 4WD goodies on this hot rod. With a claimed average of 16.5 litres of fuel for every 100km travelled and a 95-litre tank, the range off the beaten track is not going to be great either. Does the new ML500 sound appealing? Does it need a bigger fuel tank to be practical?

Where manufacturers have previously pursued one environmental solution, most are now embracing multiple strategies to the high-profile problem.GM chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner best summed up the industry's new multi-pronged environmental strategy as energy diversity.He referred to alternate energy sources such as electricity, ethanol, biofuels, compressed natural gas, hydrogen and combinations of these working happily together in the same vehicle.Wagoner says GM will also continue to seek improved efficiency from internal combustion petrol and diesel engines and expand its commitment to electric power.GM will introduce a test fleet of 100 hydrogen-powered Chevrolet Equinox fuel cell vehicles in the US this year and 10 in Europe, he says.Other car companies working on alternate powertrain solutions, such as Kia, also pledged to introduce test fleets, particularly for government evaluation.The first of GM's new energy strategies to be introduced in Australia could be the extension of the Saab Biopower range from the 9-5 to the 9-3 model range, including vehicles running on 100 per cent biofuel.GM has also developed a new cleaner turbo diesel V6 engine which could power the new Holden VE Commodore.Wagoner confirmed that the 184kW 2.9-litre Italian-made engine would be compatible with the VE chassis, but he could not confirm its application in the Australian market. A GM Holden spokesman says the company will consider the engine.Mercedes-Benz has started its push to clean up diesel emissions with a detox system called BlueTec. It is claimed to reduce nitrous-oxides (NOX) from the exhaust by up to 90 per cent compared with previous diesels.The German firm has introduced BlueTec in its upper-luxury E320 sedan in the US market and will follow that up with three more models next year. The E320 and the follow-up R320 people mover, ML320 SUV and GL320 4WD will be released in Europe in 2008 and are expected here later in 2008 or early 2009.Volkswagen showed a Passat and a Polo with the technology, the latter capable of a low 102g of CO2 and greatly reduced NOX.Japanese makers are aggressively pushing hybrids. They are led in this by Lexus, which announced it is making more hybrids combining electric motors with petrol engine models than conventional petrol-fuelled vehicles.Geneva launched the Lexus LS600h luxury saloon that it claims has the power of a V12 with the economy of a V6. It has a V8 petrol engine combined with an electric motor to deliver 327kW. Yet Lexus claims the lavishly-equipped saloon will get an average fuel consumption of only 9.5-l/100km while having a CO2 emission level of less than 220g.Toyota showed a hybrid concept sedan, the Hybrid X, that is more a styling exercise than a mechanical marvel. Then there is the Toyota FT-HS hybrid sports car that combines a 3.5-litre petrol V6 with an electric motor; a car that doesn't ignore performance or style.But while Europe is going diesel and Japan is leaning towards hybrids, there is some blurring of technologies.Honda announced a NOX-depleting system similar to BlueTec and says it will be fitted to its diesel-powered cars. It plans to launch its new diesels within three years, first in the US and later in Europe and Australia.At the same time, Honda says it will make its fuel-cell electric car available to selected buyers by next year, making it likely to be the world's first car maker to make a production fuel cell passenger car.The new Honda, which uses hydrogen gas and air to produce electricity to power electric motors, is based on its long-standing FCX concept vehicle.To keep its feet in all camps, Honda plans to introduce a small-car hybrid that is currently in concept form.The Small Hybrid Sport shows that even hybrids can be fun and sexy.Subaru unveiled its 2-litre turbo-diesel engine that will go into European models later this year but won't come to Australia until at least late 2008. It is Subaru's first diesel and has been devised to improve sales in diesel-crazy Europe.Meanwhile, BMW and DaimlerChrysler have announced they will join forces to create a new hybrid system for the premium car segment.Both companies plan on introducing the new technology into rear-wheel-drive models within the next three years.A BMW spokesman says the technologies will be tailored to fit the specific character of the different vehicles.And, two battery city cars were among the show oddities, including the Zebra which was painted like animal fur.