OpinionTop Gear
Mercedes VLE: a welcome return for the MPV, or an overhyped electric bus?
Time to find out if Merc's new electric V is a hit or a miss
Jack Rix: “We’ve long championed the resurgence of the MPV”
How to tell you’re firmly installed in your forties? When a new E-van is the product you’re most excited about in the current Merc range. Actually, Merc’s product planners and my age can share the blame for that.
Anyway, we’ve long championed the resurgence of the MPV over the dominance of SUVs and this could be the tipping point: a car with all the unashamed practicality of Volkswagen’s ID.Buzz, but with a range that actually works in the real world. Oh, and a cinema in the back which will keep the kids quiet, making this vehicle effectively priceless.
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Ollie Kew: “Let’s have the proof of the VLE be in the eating”
Steady on there: what’s German for déjà vu? Once upon a time, certain corners of the TG team got awfully frothy for a bluff-fronted EV bus with a retro design motif, only to find the range was crap, the practicality unrealised, and the infotainment was as disastrous as the depreciation. No, not the Merc.
The VW ID.Buzz was overhyped and undercooked: an ID.4 in ice cream van cosplay. Let’s have the proof of the VLE be in the eating, before we start blowing smoke up its illuminated quasi-grille. Electric Mercs have been the definition of hit and miss – this one needs to continue the reboot begun by the CLA.
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