For many car categories, speaking of “urban” means opposing to “off-road”, like mentioning SUVs’s handling at city streets or the accessories of compact hatchbacks that give an “off-road look”. On the other hand, since vans were never intended to defeat rocks and rivers (nor look like they’re able to), their particular counterpart to that expression are the commercial vans. The latter can be considered easy to sell because business transportation is a steady demand, but this is exactly why working with the urban ones becomes hard. After all, vans aren’t focused on being fast, ecological or luxurious, not to mention being cheap would only make everything worse. So how can an automaker convince families to use the same vehicle that is seen delivering mail every morning?
Dealing with that ended on creating the minivans, thirty years ago. Since these were supposed to concentrate on the private use, they started to invest mostly on design and sophistication, getting each time closer of sedans and station wagons – to the point of stealing an important part of the latter’s customers. In nowadays, there are many automakers working like Renault, for instance, which satisfies families using Espace and Scénic and companies with Master and Trafic. Besides, some years later the multivans arrived, which offer both passenger and cargo versions in order to create some sort of halfway between those two. This strategy turned out effective, indeed, but the automakers can’t escape of making its urban and commercial lines as different as possible.
At this point you might’ve already figured it all. To keep it short, Mercedes’s problem was trying to sell V-Class as urban, even though it was clearly based on Sprinter, which has been a successful commercial van since 1995. The first V-Class appeared in 1996, was called Vito in some markets and received Viano in 2003 as its upscale counterpart, but none of them would ever prosper among non-commercial buyers. Later, Mercedes tried to start from the SWs and released R-Class, in 2005. The intention of offering a crossover when the market was starting to crave them was great, but since those still didn’t have a solid public, it started to be seen as a sportier minivan. Later, as a too-expensive minivan. And not so later, only at used car showrooms.
Mercedes’s only truly successful minivan has been B-Class, specially at the second phase. But it is still a small, five-seater vehicle. Bigger families will recur to V-Class once again, but even though it still looks too much like Sprinter, the new car became so much more sophisticated that it’ll certainly attract a different public. The design follows the automaker’s latest design language, which in nowadays means looking like from A-Class to S-Class, with each time fewer exceptions. Like its direct competitors, this van comes in several sizes. The shortest length available is 4.89 m. Stretching its rear overhang takes it to 5.14 m, and doing the same with the wheelbase makes it reach 5.37 m. It seats up to eight passengers, whose access is helped by rear sliding doors.
However, V-Class’s interior has much, much more to offer. Seats, roof and door panels and dashboard have up to four coating options each, which enables a great number of possible combinations for the room. Besides, the top of the dashboard can come in faux leather with accent stitching, and there’s an exclusive three-color light system to create the best illumination for each moment of the travel. Some of the optional features are Burmester audio system, COMAND touchpad-controlled infotainment central and a climate-control system based on S-Class’s, with three flow modes. Some of this upscale touch went to the exterior too, specially through the full-LED headlights and the aluminum 17”-to-19” wheels that can replace the standard 16” steel set.
The safety package includes a trailer-stabilization system, besides the typical electronic preventive systems. The performance is helped by rear-wheel-drive, electrically assisted steering, four disc-brakes and the optional sport suspension and variable damping. Such equipment list works with the very same turbo-diesel, four-cylinder 2.1L engine, whose three output versions create the van’s trim levels. V200 CDI reaches 134 hp and 243 lb-ft, which takes it from 0 to 100 kph in 12s8 and to the top speed of 180.2 kph. V220 CDI produces 161 hp and 280 lb-ft, and therefore achieves 10s8 and 194.7 kph. V250 BlueTec, in turn, generates 187 hp and 354 lb-ft and is capable of 9s1 and 206 kph – the latter uses a seven-speed automatic transmission, while the others rely on a six-speed manual. Prices begin at €42,900.