Taxi-dad luxury wagon

HOBOKEN, NJ—If a hockey mom were to design a vehicle, the 2011 Mercedes-Benz R Class could well be the result. But, since Benz is of German descent, the inspiration likely came from a soccer mom.

R-Class is a crossover that blends the ride and handling of a sedan with the usefulness of a station wagon in a body style for people who don’t want a wagon. Despite the glamorous camouflage, it’s still a wagon.

It is well suited to the North American hockey family lifestyle: it’s spacious with room enough for the forward line plus all their gear or, if someone else is carrying the bags, two defensemen could fill the third row seat.

Mercedes didn’t mess much with the previous design or content …at least not visually. Changes are decidedly evolutionary.

Up front, there’s a new hood and fenders and the side mirrors have been redesigned. Daytime running lights are now LEDs, the new grille is black with chrome accents, headlights are dark-tinted Bi-Xenon with washers and blind spot monitoring has been added to the Premium Package. In back, there’s a new bumper with integrated exhaust tips and the tail lights are LEDs.

For those who want that extra bit, a new Sport Package gives you 20-inch AMG wheels, blue tinted front glass, dark-tinted LED tail lights, AIRMATIC air suspension and an adaptive damping system.

The driver looks at a new gauge cluster that’s clear, concise and visible under every lighting condition we encountered during the preview drive.

It all sounds like a lot of tinkering, but the changes are quite subtle.

While R-Class offers a number of variations, Canada gets just two: R350 BlueTEC 4MATIC and R350 4MATIC, both in long wheelbase all-wheel-drive configurations.

The first is powered by a 211 horsepower V6 diesel while the latter gets its motivation from a 272 horsepower V6 gasoline engine.

Both engines put power to all four wheels through a new generation of seven-speed automatic transmission. You don’t notice the transmission working through its shift points unless you keep your foot firmly planted on the floor and force the issue.

Handling isn’t sports car crisp, but response is reasonable for a vehicle such as this ... you’re not racing, after all.

Cornering produces a moderate amount of body lean but falls way short of being disconcerting.

Everybody, even those in the third row seat ride in comfort as the R-Class glides over rough spots in the road like a sedan. A panoramic sunroof makes the already large interior space seem even larger.

Rear doors open wide enough to provide easy access to second and third row seats. Both aisles of seats fold to produce a large cargo area capable of swallowing a large amount of gear or, if you like, groceries for that hockey team for a week. With all seats occupied by human backsides, there’s a lot less room for stuff.

Test vehicles at the launch in New Jersey and New York showed off the R-Class option packages including an extremely effective and easy-to-operate navigation system.

As someone once said: “people buy horsepower but it’s torque they drive” and if I had my druthers, based on a day of driving, I’d opt for the diesel version. It responds much more energetically to the throttle and uses less fuel in the process, not that the gas engine is a dog, but torque is less evident.

If I had a family at home and had to do a lot of taxi-dad transportation and didn’t want to be seen driving a station wagon, the R-Class fills the need nicely.

Pricing has not yet been set and the vehicle will appear in dealerships in late summer or early fall 2010.