R Class Needs Positive PR - Benzworld.org

BostonBob · 06-30-2007, 08:28 AM

I have owned my R350 for almost a year and and just love the car. Clearly, the car is part of an important "cross over" trend reported almost daily in the press generally. The Mazda Cx-9 shows up everywhere. The new GM cross overs share a similar foot print. Audi Q7 gets press and accolades. No articles on any of these even mention the R class as an interesting alternative. I get the sense from this forum that there is tremendous owner satisfaction with the R class. I think the car delivers the most bang for the buck of any Mercedes vehicle, yet they seem to be selling at a painfully slow rate. We own four Mercedes vehicles including an E320 wagon, 320 sedan and an ancient Gwagen. This our favorite by far. Has Mercedes just failed to market this correctly?

BobbyHowie · 07-02-2007, 05:37 AM

Don't know BostonBob. Had ours 4 months and love it as well. It's not a well-known car in the UK, so maybe they could advertise more here? It's easily the nicest looking of its type.

FlyBryR · 07-03-2007, 01:59 PM

Probably just me, but I see very few MB commercials at all.
After I got the R, several of my employees commented they had seen it advertised on TV. So, some ads are out there. But you are right, in the Dallas market, I see more Mazda ads than the any of the others.

singer2767 · 07-09-2007, 08:00 AM

I agree with you on the lack of marketing. I initially hadn't even heard of the car until I purchased automotive buyer's guide. My lease was up on my wife's XC90 and we were looking for something different. We test drove every single SUV/Crossover/Minivan vehicle for the past 3 months. It actually was a lot of fun. Once I drove the R-class, nothing else compared. This vehicle is leaps and bounds above the others. We both fell in love. It's a perfect vehicle for my family and 4 kids. (We also have a yukon XL), I got my R500 2 weeks ago, and I absolutely love it. Everyone who sees it loves it also. Can't figure out why these aren't flying off the lot. It's less expensive than an Escalade. You shouldn't have any doubts about purchasing this vehicle.

shazam-2k · 07-09-2007, 01:38 PM

When we went to the MB dealer it was to test drive the GL. They didn't have one on the lot but asked what we thought of the R500. Never heard of it I said. So we took it for the afternoon. The next day they had brought in a GL for us. We took that for the afternoon but after having driven the R we didn't like the GL.

It's really strange that MB doesn't market the R. I haven't seen any test drives either. (I watch almost every car mag TV show) It's almost as if they have given up on the car.

rickpaguyo · 07-09-2007, 02:28 PM

Six months ago I used to drive down to the greater Los Angeles area sighting 2-3 billboards advertising the R. I noticed a couple months ago they were gone, haven't seen one since!

Here in the high dessert I see a couple of R's or three running around almost everytime I go out. When I was in Van Nuys a few weeks back, I parked my R only to find another four in the grocery parking lot only 10 mins later. While in Vegas during the 4th of July, I must have sighted a dozen or so R's while on the road late night/early morning. They're out there here in So Cal, but advertising is not.

THR500 · 07-09-2007, 04:04 PM

I have seen them on the road more lately, must be the deep discount they are offering.

Mr_Ferrari · 07-09-2007, 07:43 PM

I've never seen another R class on the road here in Sydney either.

sleepyhead · 07-25-2007, 12:46 AM

In my city here in western Canada, metro. pop. ~ 1 million, I have only seen 2 other R class vehicles on the road.

I don't think the R-class is for everyone ... it's kind of a quirky vehicle. Either you love it or hate it. I love my black R320, but my wife thinks it's a hearse.

Haven't seen any advertising for it either. Anywhere. I don't think MB has a great marketing department. Instead of spending $$$ on appropriate adverts, they send me a really slick, professionally-designed MB magazine every quarter which I don't really need or read.

Just my opinion!

transcanadatom · 04-23-2008, 03:18 PM

I live in Western Canada and I just bought a slightly used R320 with 5,000 kms and got a 6 Year/160,000 warranty included I had them throw in a Ipod Interface to close the deal. I am happy that these vehicles will remain unique and with the Diesel Engine I am budgeting a decade of Ownership. Is that realistic? I had my last Lexus 7 years and 225,000 kms. Really excited about the diesel engine and Legendary mercedes ride.