2000 Mercedes-Benz CLK430 Reviews

If you think electric vehicles might be just a fad, like a Rubik’s Cube or a Livestrong bracelet, or even those Oakley stickers everyone had on their windscreens that said “Thermonuclear Protection”, we have news for you: EVs aren’t going anywhere. They’re going everywhere.

If you’re one of the many Australians that’s ready to take the plunge and turn your motoring from fossil fuelled to electric, you’ll probably have noticed there’s not the same choice in vehicle layout as there is with ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) cars. We’re behind the rest of the developed world in all types of EVs, and when you look at electric sedans Australia is a real back-marker.

Mercedes-Benz has updated its Sprinter van range with more safety equipment and comfort features, plus the addition of an all-electric eSprinter variant. The entry price into the line-up now kicks off at almost $5000 more than before.The Sprinter range now starts at $71,740 for the medium wheel base (MWB) 311 Panel van and tops out at $121,041 for the new fully electric long wheel base (LWB) eSpinter.All variants from panel vans to cab chassis body styles come updated with a large amount of safety tech including Active Lane Keeping Assist and Traffic Sign Assist.Two new safety items specifically tailored for commercial use are Moving Off Information Assist which monitors areas around the vehicles at speed below 10km/h and Side Guard Assist which supports the blind spot warning system but at lower speeds.A leather-wrapped steering wheel with touch sensitive buttons and hands-off detection is also new.The features join the Sprinters otherwise comprehensive safety list which includes AEB, crosswind assistance, load adaptive control and roll over mitigation.  A thorax airbag has been added as well to the existing front and side airbags protecting the driver and front passenger. Cabin media technology also gets a boost with a new 10.25-inch touchscreen and “Hey Mercedes” assistant with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android auto.The Sprinter range has lost its front wheel drive variants as it moves exclusively to rear-wheel drive with a 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo diesel engine powering the combustion engine line-up. The four-cylinder comes in several tunes producing: 84kW/300 Nm in the 311 Panel Van; 120kW/340Nm in the 315 and 415 Panel Van; 125kW and 400Nm in the 317, 417, 517 Panel vans and 517 Cab Chassis; and 140kW and 450Nm in 319, 419, 519 Panel Vans and 519 Cab Chassis.The new electric eSprinter is also rear-wheel drive and comes in panel van form only. The eSprinter is offered in a choice of MWB with an 81kWh battery and LWB with a 113kWh battery with a range up up to 440km (WLPT). Both eSpinters have a single electric motor making 150kW and 400Nm, and have a gross vehicle weight of up to 4.25 tonnes.As for ownership costs all Sprinters including the eSprinter are covered by Mercedes-Benz's five-year/250,000km warranty, while the eSprinter's electric battery is covered by an eight-year 160,000km warranty.  

Close your eyes and think of a luxury car (just make sure you open them again to read the rest of this story).What did you picture? A BMW X5? Mercedes-Benz S-Class? A Range Rover? Chances are it was something big. But a few years ago luxury car makers had a revelation that they didn’t have to build just big cars and could, in fact, build smaller ones.This allowed them to expand their line-up to new levels of affordability, attracting new customers and growing sales. In 2023 Australian snapped up more than 22,500 small cars costing more than $40,000, which is the figure used to determine the difference between mainstream small cars and luxury small cars.We’ll go into detail below about the best luxury small cars and the biggest sellers, but before we do it’s important to explain the defining characteristics of the small luxury cars Australia currently offers.That’s because inflation, price rises and other business decisions have pushed some mainstream nameplates into the same ‘small car under $40K’ official segment as the genuine luxury compact cars from the likes of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.For example, the Honda Civic, Peugeot 308 and Volkswagen Golf all fall into the same sector of the market as the Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and Mercedes-Benz A-Class, despite not being direct competitors.While often there isn’t much to split these different types of cars on features, there is a clear demarcation between them in terms of brand prestige and often the ownership experience.The likes of the A3, 1 Series and A-Class can all be considered small luxury vehicles rather than just fancy hatchbacks, and they play a key role in attracting new owners who can then potentially graduate through the ranks of whatever premium brand they choose.It’s the same reason small luxury SUV models are so popular. They act as gateways into the brand at a price more comparable with a high-grade mainstream model.*Based on 2023 VFacts registration dataArriving into the world in 1996, the A3 is a prime example of why luxury car makers, and their larger parent companies, love small cars.That first A3, and every model that followed, uses largely the same underpinnings (‘platform’ in car-speak) as the Volkswagen Golf, which allows for the expensive engineering work to be shared and then charging more for the finished product.In 2023 Audi sold 3319 examples of the A3, while Volkswagen Australia sold 3592 Golfs, which means nearly 7000 sales of a largely similar car for different prices. The A3 range begins at $50,600 and stretches all the way to $99,300 for the RS3 Sedan.In fact, the sedan is another way luxury car makers have continued to grow the small car market. Audi now offers a hatch and sedan, expanding the appeal of the A3 and extending its reach across the smaller segment.The three-pointed star brand was one of the first to enter the true compact luxury car market, announcing the A-Class way back in 1994. After a difficult beginning, mainly because of the now-infamous ‘Elk Test’ that saw the car roll over during a Swedish magazine test, the A-Class has gone on to become a Mercedes staple.In 2023 Mercedes Australia sold 2392 A-Class, which not only made it second on this list but also the brand’s fourth best-selling model here, behind only the GLC and GLE SUVs and the stalwart C-Class sedan and wagon. While Audi and Mercedes jumped into the small car space in the ‘90s, BMW waited until the mid-2000s, launching the first generation 1 Series in 2004. Not only did the brand arrive late to the party, but showed up with a different take on the concept - a rear-wheel drive hatchback.The first 1 Series used a modified version of the 3 Series platform, allowing for the unconventional but very sporty and dynamic layout.It meant sacrificing space, though, and for the third (and current) generation, BMW has swapped to a more conventional front-wheel drive layout.It hasn’t hurt sales, with the latest model notching 1755 sales in 2023 to claim third on this list - which is only the beginning for BMW’s small luxury cars…The Bavarian brand may have been a slow starter, but it’s not only caught up but become a major small car brand with a second entry in the top five sellers. The 2 Series was spun-off from the 1 Series Coupe and Convertible models, although the current line-up features the four-door Gran Coupe instead of the drop-top.Between the 1 and 2 Series line-ups, BMW Australia sold 2887 small cars in 2023, making the duo the second best-sellers after the Audi. Despite being small, the 2 Series also showcases how this end of the market has evolved to a more premium level over time, with the latest high-performance M2 Coupe starting at $121,700.One of the key reasons for BMW’s switch to a front-wheel drive 1 Series was because it allowed the German giant to take advantage of the platform it had already developed for the Mini Hatch.While the original Mini was an affordable and very mainstream small car, when BMW took control of the brand it decided to reinvent it as a premium compact model, starting in 2001.Since then it has continued to evolve and grow to the point that there are currently six variants of the Mini on offer in Australia. This includes the standard Cooper three-door hatch, a largely five-door model, the even larger Clubman, an electric version and a convertible, plus the Countryman SUV (which is stretching the meaning of the word mini).Still, last year Mini managed to sell more than 4200 cars in Australia, of which 2011 were the hatch and thus putting it on our list.

The rise of luxury SUVs has driven the increasing amount of luxury family cars, whereas previously it was five-seat sedans like the BMW 5 Series or Mercedes-Benz S-Class, nowadays you can choose from the likes of the BMW X7, Mercedes-Benz GLS, Land Rover Defender 130 and more.

Top-end cars are all about bragging rights, and the new Mercedes-Maybach EQS680 brings a “first class” experience.

This might seem controversial, but really it’s just logical. If the idea of switching to electric vehicles instead of using combustion-engined cars was entirely about reducing the amount of CO2 produced, it stands to reason car companies would design EVs to be as small, and light, as possible, which, at first, they did (witness the Nissan Leaf, which was, for some time, the world’s biggest-selling

The GLC43 is an important variant for AMG, so we attended the Australian launch to find out how good it is.

Mercedes is making big strides with its new generation models... is the E-Class up to the task of carrying on its heritage?

Mercedes-Benz has unleashed its potent new AMG GLC 63 performance SUV. Gone is the brutish twin-turbo V8 and in its place is an even more powerful plug-in hybrid set-up.