Overview & Reviews

"Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz?" That's the opening line of "Mercedes-Benz," a song most famously recorded by singer Janis Joplin in the early 1970s. The tune gently poked fun at materialism and our desire for the finer things in life. It's fitting that the renowned German marque figures prominently in the lyric. Mercedes-Benz has long been known for crafting vehicles that emphasize luxury and refinement. For many, its vehicles are sleek symbols of status, success and good taste.

In January of 1886, Karl Benz unveiled the world's first automobile, a three-wheeled vehicle dubbed the Benz Patent Motor Car. A few months later, Gottlieb Daimler and his chief engineer Wilhelm Maybach rolled out a four-wheeled vehicle powered by his Daimler engine. The first Mercedes was crafted in 1901, shortly after Daimler's death. Built by Maybach, the car was commissioned by Emil Jellinek, one of Daimler's primary distributors, and was ultimately named after Jellinek's daughter, Mercedes.

In 1926, the companies founded by Daimler and Benz merged to form Daimler-Benz AG, and the Mercedes-Benz brand was born. The company's insignia was a three-pointed star wreathed in a laurel; the star was dreamed up by Daimler years earlier, and its three points signified the fact that his engines were used in vehicles that traveled land, air and sea.

Right from the start, the Mercedes-Benz name was synonymous with automotive excellence. One of the automaker's earliest vehicles, the 1931 Mercedes-Benz 170, distinguished itself as the world's first production car to offer a technology that was nothing short of extraordinary for the day: four-wheel independent suspension. The '30s and '40s saw Mercedes establishing itself as the brand of choice for car buyers seeking the ultimate in luxury, thanks to coveted cruisers like the 380 and 540K.

The 1950s witnessed the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SL "Gullwing," a sports car that has been described as being the world's first supercar. With its dramatic styling and race-bred technology, the 300 SL reigns today as a classic coveted by collectors worldwide. The decade also saw Daimler-Benz making strides in the area of safety technology. The company's Mercedes-Benz 220 sedans were the first vehicles to incorporate its patented "crumple zone" body design, created to absorb impact in the event of a crash.

In 1963, the company cemented its reputation as the home of automotive luxury with the launch of the Mercedes-Benz 600. The elegant, luxurious sedan was also available as a limousine and featured an ahead-of-its-time air suspension system and a V8 engine that boasted 300 horsepower. The decade also saw the launch of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3. This full-size sedan went from zero to 60 in under seven seconds, distinguishing itself as the quickest luxury car is its day.

The 1970s saw the birth of the brand's storied S-Class line of vehicles, opulent sedans and coupes that coddled passengers with powerful engines and a long list of luxury features. The decade also saw Mercedes continuing on the cutting edge of safety technology, by being the first to offer antilock brakes in its vehicles.

Daimler-Benz's safety advancements continued in the 1980s. Its cars were the first to offer airbags and traction control. The manufacturer also raised the bar in terms of ride comfort and handling when it introduced multilink rear suspension. The technology debuted on the compact Mercedes-Benz 190 E, and it remains a vital component of the company's chassis engineering to this day.

Mercedes-Benz vehicles got an extra dose of power and performance in the 1990s, thanks to the manufacturer's partnership with AMG, a performance and tuning shop that was eventually purchased by the company to help produce ultra-high-performance versions of some of its vehicles. The first AMG model offered in the U.S. was the sporty C36 AMG in 1995; since then, Mercedes has gone on to offer an AMG-tuned version of almost all of its vehicles.

The company's current lineup is the most comprehensive in its history. With a variety of sedans, coupes, SUVs and roadsters filling Mercedes showrooms, it seems like the only thing missing is a pickup truck. Surely, the fact that Janis Joplin's song holds as much relevance today as it did four decades ago is a strong indicator that the brand's premier status is still very much intact.

User Reviews:

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  Go baby - 2004 Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class
  By barry zeldes - June 12 - 2:00 am

  Had a few problems at first. The car was designed over the heads of the people who fix them. But when it was fixed. Its a really great car. I have owned 60 cars in my 53 years on earth and they did a good job the only one I would rather have is a sl 55

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  Bluetecs the way to go - 2007 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
  By David Jacobs - June 11 - 10:36 pm

  My 3rd Benz. 1990E class loved it.2000 S500,had trouble with it. Now this Eclass.So far great. I tend to go back and forth between Benz, BMW,and Lexus. I wanted good mileage, but more fun luxury and performance than a Prius, which I drove as well. I am dissapointed with the direction of the Lexus hybrids(poor mileage). It came down to the Lexus GS450h vs Benz E320 bluetec. Benz won this time around.

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  Engine gaskets are lowest quality! - 1995 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
  By uberthom - June 11 - 3:56 pm

  I bought this car because I thought the 95 gave Mercedes 10 years to perfect the 300E. I was wrong. At 65,000 miles the engine gaskets are made of the worst quality materials and I have more than a few engine leaks. This is unacceptable. I am now facing a $1,200 expense to replace the head gasket and the replacement part is made of the same inferior material. This is the reason Mercedes has PLUMMETED in customer satisfaction. I plan to buy a LEXUS and I hope Mercedes goes out of business. They cannot even provide their customers with the $10 in materials it would take to solve this problem. They had to choose the $2 materials instead.Disgraceful and shameful!

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  MY E55 - 2002 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
  By Papidos - June 11 - 2:26 pm

  What a car! The fastest and best performing vehicle Ive ever driven in 50 years. Cant beat the highway mileage too at 22+ mpg with this vehicle. Simply in a class by itself.

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  So far so good! - 2002 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
  By sabroson - June 11 - 10:00 am

  Since I bought the ML500 in Sept/02 I have put on it about 18000 miles. So far I have had only minor initial problems that were corrected during the first couple of months. The truck is FAST. Road and Track tested it to be 6.7 sec 0-60 and I believe it. The only minor thing that I miss is the fact that there are no controls on the steering wheel for the radio. The other little thing is that the navigation system is CD based instead of DVD based, and therefore there are about 10 CDs for the US maps (instead of 1 DVD).

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  Great Fun - 2002 Mercedes-Benz C-Class
  By Welshy - June 11 - 10:00 am

  Great fun to drive, six speed gears are very close in ratio, sticks to corners like glue, looks good and turns heads.

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  Simply the best ! - 2005 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
  By BW - June 11 - 4:40 am

  It is amazing how mercedes has coupled the durability and mileage of a diesel platform into a quiet, high performance engine. The Audi, Acura, BMW are all nice but are no match for this vehicle.

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  Sporty Feel - 2005 Mercedes-Benz M-Class
  By Fireball - June 10 - 4:10 pm

  Looked at from the outside, this vehicle looks small, but Im impressed by the cargo room. Two large crates for our German Shepherds will fit into the cargo section with rear seats down. Climate control system is superb, with vents in the rear seating area. Im also impressed by the safety features. There are no blind spots. Nice fit and finish all round i.e. no squeaks or rattles, but bear in mind only 3K on the odometer.

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  Solid, Well Built German Cruiser - 1995 Mercedes-Benz E-Class
  By y2kimmel - June 10 - 3:23 pm

  I have owned my E420 for 1.5 years now, and love it. I previously owned 2 BMWs, and consider the build quality of the Mercedes to be superior. No squeaks or rattles on a 10 years old car! The engine is turbine-smooth, the suspension is silky, and fuel economy is better than many V6s. This is a car that I could see myself driving for another 100,000 miles.

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  a BMW killer? I dont think so - 2011 Mercedes-Benz GLK-Class
  By johnwr - June 9 - 6:03 pm

  The navigation system we paid $1200 for (or more precisely, got robbed for)—it is a piece of junk, worst GPS we ever used and we have used quite a few different brands and models. This is simply the worse than the worst. The interface is extremely clumsy and slow to use, the features are limited, some address cannot be found, wrong routes, etc. The traffic update (TMC) is a joke since you have to manually check the text messages for each road on the list. At 8 time price of a touch screen Garmin 1450 with Life Time Map and Traffic update we got 1/8 of the features, functionalities, accuracy and quality.