The new Mercedes V-Class is surprisingly agile. Photo: Deniz Calagan/Mercedes-Benz Mercedes V-Class's plush interior. Photo: Deniz Calagan/Mercedes-Benz AG I have a new-found admiration for a certain brotherhood of drivers after testing this week’s “extra long” Mercedes.
I’m talking about those who drive large vans on all sorts of roads, but particularly on narrow city streets. They have won my unequivocal respect for the job they do. You see, I had this new seven-seater people carrier (MPV), the Mercedes V-Class, for test.
It may be a high-end luxury vehicle but it is based on the Vito van – hence my acknowledgement of the skills van drivers need every day. But this people carrier V-Class is not your ordinary MPV. As if it wasn’t long enough already, they have stretched it even more to a whopping 5.
37 metres: the wheelbase extends to 3,430mm and it weighs 3,100kg. It’s a lot of car. People were genuinely surprised at how far it stretched from a normal parking slot into the one behind it.
I had it from Friday to Tuesday and drove it far and wide. I was grand with the wide bits but sweated blood in a couple of truly awkward city parking situations and negotiating narrow country roads in Wicklow. It was ideal for a nice run to Wexford on the open road, but I took more deep breaths as I crept through a thronged Malahide on Monday.
Still, it was great to have it to take some special people for a spin around north county Dublin. I would hate to have scraped it or .