Mercedes-Benz is known as a pioneer when it comes to creating premium vehicles aimed at providing a tremendous amount of luxury to passengers. Even though there is a lot of competition from other automakers like BMW, Audi and Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz keeps on evolving its product range to stay at the top of the market. Mercedes already sold the Viano and now it was high time the company replaced the outdated model with a newer model that keeps pace with the latest technology around. The Viano started selling from 1996 and got a couple of updates in 2004 and 2010 but now it has been replaced by a completely new vehicle.
Mercedes-Benz has now unveiled the new V-Class MPV/Van which will be replacing the Viano. The V-Class will start selling in Europe from March 2014. From the looks of it, the V-Class packs in a good amount of styling, features, driveability along with a humongous amount of space. This vehicle is aimed at the commercial segment mostly and the company feels that it will be hugely accepted by many premium hotels around the globe. The new V-Class looks outright modern from the outside and it is a huge step up from the Viano. Mercedes has added snazzy interiors to this vehicle and they will greatly appeal to owners of other vehicles from the automaker.
Coming to the space that the V-Class provides, Mercedes is giving a number of seating options for customers to choose from. The base variants will come with four captain seats with armrests in two rows or you can also opt for a bench seat which can seat two or three passengers and these will come with an individually folding backrest and three-piece backrest respectively. All the seats can be removed if you want to move around some huge cargo. The rear glass is attached to the upper tailgate frame and can be opened individually and there is also an optional electrically operated tailgate.
The V-Class is available in a number of variants to choose from. You can choose from two different wheelbases, three body lengths ranging from 4895 mm to 5370 mm and three engine options. Mercedes-Benz will make two variants available for this vehicle – V-Class and V-Class Avantgarde. The company is also providing an Exterior Sports Package and Interior Design Package with the V-Class. The van is loaded with the usual features found on most Mercedes’ such as COMAND online system with internet browser, LINGUATRONIC voice control system, THERMOTRONIC automatic and individual climate control system, Crosswind Assist and ATTENTION Assist.
The Mercedes V-Class is available with a 2.1-litre 4-cylinder diesel engine in the following power output choices – V200 CDI with 136 PS of power and 330 Nm of torque, V220 CDI with 163 PS of power and 380 Nm of torque and V250 BlueTEC with 190 PS of power and 440 Nm of torque. The first two engine options are mated to a manual transmission and an AT is optional while the V250 BlueTEC is mated to a 7G-TRONIC PLUS transmission with paddle shifters. Some other safety features that you get with the new V-Class are Blind Spot Assist, DISTRONIC PLUS proximity control, Traffic Sign Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST, LED Intelligent Light System and Adaptive Highbeam Assist.
