[Birger]

Hi,

So far I have only seen it in German, but non-German readers can Babelfish it. 35 pages, quite detailed, on the W251 here: http://www.jesdc.de/news/news/w251.pdf.

You may like the looks or not (I personally do), but this is simply a differently-dressed W164 without the off-road pretentions. Nothing at all to do with the Pacifica.

Wolfgang, in this picture (posted by Drew):

it's the SWB (European) version of the Vision R, isn't it - the rear doors seem considerably shorter than in this picture:

Plus points for the W251 over the W164 would for me be the mega-sunroof, the added luggage space (when the 3rd row isn't in use) and the possibly easier step-in height, as well as the (marginally) better fuel economy. Minus points that there doesn't seem to be provision for a luggage area cover [sorry, there is, I see now - but of course as an option], and that the luggage area is a bit irregular with the 3rd row folded, as seen here:

I can easily imagine smaller items in the luggage compartment disappearing under the 2nd row seats.....


I've just sent an e-mail to my salesperson at MB to "freeze" everything until we reach a decision whether to go for an October '05 W164 or an early '06 W251.

It's interesting to notice that there's talk in this forum of an under $50K starting price, and over here there are indications that the W251 will start at €50K [B)]

Cheers from Luxembourg,
Birger