Video of the event [3.3mb QuickTime movie]
(Note: All stills from the video)

It was an easy decision as a Mercedes fantatic, even one who had already bought what will hopefully be his car for the next three-odd years.

Signing up for information on the C-Class gave me an invitation to the Mercedes-Benz PowerTrip, an event that allows you to ride and drive the latest from Mercedes-Benz. They offered drives of the C-Class, competing models from BMW, Audi and Lexus, and drives of their other models.

The setup reminded me of a grown-up version of Autopia in Disneyland, The cars were set up on a course rimmed by bollards, there were lines clearly labelled for each one, and you simply got into the line and drove when you reached the front. There was, fortunately, no E-ticket required, and no admission charge - even parking was free.

THere were three separate pavillions. One was a performance course where you could be a passenger in one of their AMG-tuned cars a professional driver drove around the course. It was a scary thrill ride; it would have worked just fine in an amusement park if it hadn't been obviously expensive to perform. The ride ate up tyres, and I'm sure the professional drivers weren't cheap.

In the next pavillion, the C240 and C320 were pitted against their most fearsome rivals from Lexus, BMW and Audi. The longest lines were for the competing vehicles. At first, I found this curious since I assumed people interested in the Mercedes event would be most interested in driving the Mercedes. The actual reason was that there was one each of the competing vehicles with two of each Mercedes model. I suspect this was deliberate and many people did not drive the competing models at all thanks to the wait.

The longest line was for the BMW, and since I had not driven an even vaguely current BMW in a while, I was most anxious to try it. I was fairly impressed since it was significantly cheaper than the Mercedes. The main differences were that I could tune the stereo easily, it had a positively funeral interior despite the wood trim, and I quite embarassed myself by forgetting how to release the perfectly standard parking brake. (Mercedes use a foot brake with a pull release; I had not seen the standard "push up and press button" style brake in some years).

The ride of the Mercedes C320 was significantly better than the BMW, and acceleration and handling seemed about the same. The stereo wasn't as easy to tune, though. The interior of the C320 was a very nice place to be, so with that and the ride I would give it the win. But it might not be worth the extra money if you're straining to afford it instead of the BMW.

Due to lack of time and incredibly long lines, I didn't drive the Audi or Lexus. I wanted to, but I also wanted to take time to get some pictures, which would not have been possible if I'd stood in those lines.

Over in the "Dream Drives" section, the line for the SL500 was by far the longest, and it continued that way right to the end. I was most curious to drive the new S-Class since it was the successor to the car I currently own. This took about half an hour standing in line.

However, I must say that it was well worth the wait; the S430 was just an awesome car, by far the best of all of them I drove. I was immediately comfortable with the car on the course and was able to drive it around the obstacles amazingly fast. Even the fellow in charge was impressed when I skipped out of the car like the cat who ate the canary saying, "THAT'S my next car."

He had a right to be impressed; most of the people who drove it or any of the other "dream cars" were running at about 20mph through the course. I'm not sure if they wanted to savour every second of luxury or were simply intimidated by the $72,000-odd cost. This made it embarassingly difficult to get good video of the event; much of what I got made it look like a snoozefest, but it actually wasn't; it all depended on how you drove the cars.

I will admit a curious quibble: I had to reluctantly conclude that the auto writers who complained about the COMND combined radio/cd player/navigation system controls were quite right. It is, in fact, virtually impossible to figure out how to operate within a reasonable time. I could not figure out for the life of me how to tune the radio to a FM station past "Weather Channel 1". I had to give up because I was conscious that many people were waiting to drive the car.

The ML320 was rather less impressive, not because of any performance issues due to the smaller engine, but because the higher body caused far more body roll than was really seemly. I never felt I was in control of the car as I did on the S420.

If you get an invitation to one of these events, be sure to come early; they give you extra time to drive the cars if you do. I wasn't able to due to a last-minute traffic horror; I arrived about ten minutes late and definitely wished I hadn't.

This was a really fun event. The people were nice, the cars fabulous, and there was no sales pressure, just as advertised. They do ask you to fill out a survey at the end that includes "Would you like your dealer to contact you?" I was ambivalent; I cannot buy a new car at this time since I just signed a lease on my 1991 420SEL. But once I've gone through three years of car payments, I will almost certainly pony up the extra bucks and get a 2000 or later S-Class; I feel the newer model is well worth the money.

I didn't know that before; now I do. So Mercedes-Benz may one day be glad of its generosity in inviting me to the event.

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