Test Drive Mercedes Benz VaNeo W414 2002 - 2006 Minivan

Seven me, five we and one he

Attempt, and successful, embrace the immense such vision of the DaimlerChrysler concern policy. And if more precisely, its European branch of Mercedes-Benz. Just think about how much the most diverse technology is produced under this brand! Prestigious sedans with limousines on which the heads of state are moving, once. Different buses and long-range trucks are two. Army SUVs and municipal intelligence equipment three. Tiny urban smarts four. Sports and racing cars five. Six, seven, the eight list of this is not complete. Yes, what is there to say, only the transfer of all the products of the company is, in fact, there is no story, a novel about the history, development and the current state of the world automotive industry! And with the bikes of Mercedes, you did not come across? By the way, and those in nature exist itself saw one of the dealers in the showroom.

So there is nothing surprising in the fact that rather unusual cars come to the market from the depths of the company. Unusual, however, only for adherents of classical Mercedes. If it is good to think about it, all the unusual times will volatile once the one thing is called Mercedes-Benz, then it should be. After all, it is immentable to argue, although difficult, but fully achieving the goal. So all the means are good. Metalized in the metal just over a year ago, Mercedes Vaneo pleased in the hands of the Russian consumer recently. It will be more correct even to say almost the car, which you can see on the illustrations, at the time of filming was the only one in Russia. Conceptually Vaneo is knocked out of the total number of traditional Mercedes, but perfectly fits into the company's immense policy than and interesting from the point of view of journalism. But will the potential buyers take such an alignment, especially in conservative Russia? Two days in the society of this car helped to figure out much.

Vaneo is built on the chassis of the smallest Mercedes A-Class, which you can guess when looking at the Afas car. Deep immersion in the study of the Matchasti Machine only confirms guesses: the body has a bunk floor, for the top floor of which, saving the lives of the inhabitants of the cabin, the engine will go away in case (God forbid) an improvised crash test on common roads. The gamma of power units is also one in one repeats a-class: two turbodiesels and three gasoline engines, the most powerful of which develops 125 hp

When ordering the car, the buyer is free to choose from three levels of equipment Trend, Family and Ambient from simple to more complex. But even more interesting special packages of equipment, with which it is possible to customize its VANEO as possible. There are five of them five: Snow, Surf, Bike, Dog and Carry. Each of them is a kind of organizer of the luggage compartment. Let's say the trunk of the car in the presence of a DOG package is equipped as a cell for a dog with a special flooring; And performed by SURF, BIKE and SNOW, the machine layout is optimized for the transportation of relevant sports shells for outdoor activities.

Compact A-Class, putting deep roots, rummaged in VaNeo to the size of a solid car: high, but not very slender. The appearance of it is deceptive. Yes, it seems to be a minivan on dimensional indicators only a little exceeds the donor. In fact, everything is exactly the opposite. Short Outs in conjunction with a long base led to the fact that even large wheels on elegant alloy discs against the background of an impressive body seem disproportionately small, and the pretty minimine simmer does not match the size of this bus. However, upon closer examination, you come to the conclusion that the body does not just seem great. He is really big!

The originality of Vaneo does not occupy. A short hood, without changing the angle of inclination, develops into the windshield here even can also be asked for a certain similarity with a large Mercedes Sprinter. But the car feed is its own, the main element of which should be recognized as a giant, in two thirds of the body height, lights with lattices of the salon ventilation system. Inside the case continues. The central panel VaNeo does not affect the imagination by scope and endless, especially if you make a discount on the machine single-volume. However, it is enough just to turn around to realize the true scale of the salon stretching far back. The car is filled with air such an impression create a high roof and a large area of \u200b\u200bglazing. The daylight floods the car, penetrating through huge side windows and a transparent hatch with an electric drive, located somewhere high above the driver, under the vaneo dome. That's really a bus! Not an international liner, of course, but its family.

The car that we took from the DaimlerChrysler representative was in the middle configuration of the Family, but the supplemented almost to the full minced fixed options. One of the features of the family version of VaNeo is the ability to install additional seats in the trunk, which actually turns the car into the seven-party Ven. In our car, these seats were absent, but we fully managed to experience the advantages that gives the retractable, like stretcher at ambulance, telescopic trunk floor. It is very convenient for loading large-sized uncontuble items weighing up to 80 kg: pulled out the pallet, pumped on it, for example, TV and pulled back to the subsoil of the car. And someone's subsoil! If dismantling all the seats, except for the driver, then the inner volume of the car will be almost three and a half cubic meter. Ship Oranges by barrels!

Each of the family members Vaneo provides due attention. The seats of the second row in one reception are transformed into children's conforming to ISOFIX. The same seat (or rather, only his right part) can be turned into a table with deepening for glasses. In exactly the same table, the place next to the driver is converted.
But most of all the car pays attention to the driver. Low waist line of the front doors allows you to take a relaxed pose: You can, put the left hand on the window sill, hold the steering wheel with one finger, and right to wonder the mechanical box with a convenient short-terrestrial lever or lead the audio system. Or, going about the rear passengers, steering the salon by pressing the rear-wheel drive control button.

In Motion, Vaneo is very reminiscent of the A-class naturally, with a correction for the length of the base. 125 forces are quite enough for a relaxing movement of a separate family with a fold. The loaded car confidently accelerates on dry asphalt, but if under the wheels there is a tightly rolled snow or just a wet road, then a sharp pressure on the gas causes a short-term slip of the wheels, which instantly stops with the entry into the work of the Traction Control system. By the way, PBS in VaNeo is integrated into the ESP stabilization system, which is included in the standard equipment of the minivan.

The emptying machine already admits active ride, which is especially noticeable if there is a powerful gasoline engine, aggregated with a manual box. The only remark to acceleration is an electronic drive of the accelerator, the calibration of which became a victim in the struggle for the ecology: when pressed on the gas pedal, the car reacts with a tangible delay.
The smoothness of the course in most cases does not cause complaints, although the setting of the Vaneo suspension is more displaced towards reliability and comfort when moving in a straight line, rather sharpened to the maximum fast passing of aggregates. Be that as it may, the casual rolls in turns remain very moderate. At the same time, the apparent suspension stiffness is compensated for its energy intensity: the car confidently copes with large defects, the presence of which on our roads has always been the norm. But at the same time, Vaneo will not leave in front of small irregularities, their car passes without nervous shudder.

Mercedes Vaneo Twice. On the one hand, it is an extremely practical family car, like other representatives of the minivan breed. In addition, thanks to a variety of additional thematic equipment, it is able to adapt to the needs of both one person and a whole family. On the other hand, it is a stylish and original car whose utility practically does not affect prestige. The owner of VaNeo can declare without false pride: I have Mercedes. And add: not like the rest. But it is in the last phrase and lies the trick. Are there many such originals that will prefer the family sedan family minivan? Such cars are not so often found on the streets of our cities. Personal minibuses are the realities of Europe, not Russia. And yet: who will not be afraid to throw a call to his own me? Who will overlapping the need for sedation? For whom the family is not only a homemade focus, but also the joy of movement?
Text: Kirill Brevdo
Photo: Roman Stunnin
 
   
 

A source: Magazine "Wheels" [№65 / 2003]