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Best of # mbrt15
Big Mäc, big thing, big trip..or so!
2.600 km from Tuscaloosa to New York.
Road trips have a long history at Mercedes-Benz. In 2013 we drove from the west coast of the USA to Detroit for the first time. We brought the then new E-Class to the NAIAS 2013 in Detroit. The year before, Mercedes drove under the name “Hunting the A-Class” in the direction of Geneva for the premiere at the Motor Show. And my-auto-blog? We drove the legendary in 2012 Porsche Blogger Road Trip and Citroen Blogger Road Trip, So you can definitely say: When it comes to Road Trips then Mercedes-Benz and autohub.de fit together very well.
The start in Alabama
There are supposed to be people for whom it is important to know where they are going on a road trip. Which cities, which places. What hotels. I am not in this group. For me there is a road trip in the car. Outside, the landscape that flies by is the backdrop. And scenes are interchangeable. However, the best interchangeable backdrop is a road trip in the United States. Always. On the one hand, this is due to the style of the Americans to pack everything into systemically perfect processes. Every truck stop looks like the other. Fast food huts, supermarkets, always the same billboards. On the other hand, this sheer size.
In principle, you can interrupt the route at any interstate and you will always find the same infrastructure. That sounds boring. But it also gives you the kind of security that doesn't seem annoying. “I know my way around here”. Starbucks there, Waffle House there and a bath over there, Bath & Beyond. Boring?
No. Because the attraction of a road trip in the USA lies in the distances and the details. Okay - also on the landscape. But above all because of this unbelievable size. Accordingly, the USA offers the right framework for road trips. Always. It doesn't matter if it's right across the United States along Route 66 goes, or up the west coast, down the east coast or straight through, as last with #mbrt15.
The # mbrt15 started this time at the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. On almost 4 million square meters, more than 3.500 employees manufacture the US variants of the C-Class and the GLA, but that is precisely why the plant was originally built, the SUV models from Mercedes-Benz. ML and GL have US roots and are manufactured in the Tuscaloosa plant for the whole world.
The all new Mercedes-Benz GLE and the GLE Coupé
The coupé version of the Mercedes ML, the M-Class was known before, but the premiere of the Mercedes-Benz GLE was announced for NYIAS 2015. GLE Coupé? GLE? Exactly, Mercedes-Benz changed the names of the SUV models. Above all the “G” for terrain. But also for the family proximity to the G-model. Which is more likely to be found in the brochure than under the sheet metal of the models. The ML and the M-Class became the GLE. And that makes it clear that a GL-E is the off-road brother of the E-Class. And the GLE Coupé? Well, to make matters worse, the SUV's “coupe representative” is not only pointless, but also has four doors. Four doors, one coupé? A coupé on the chassis of an SUV? Yes, you can ask yourself a lot of questions about it, collapse before it and be perplexed. In the end, only one thing counts: The customer wants it that way.
The customer request is his kingdom of heaven, especially in the USA. Honey - a little ice water?
Stage 1 - From the off-road area to the Appalachian Mountains
Before the impressive fleet of G-models, GLA, GLE and GLE Coupé started, the off-road park at the factory site in Tuscaloosa had to be conquered. Next time I want to drive myself. Then you can hold on to the steering wheel at 100% slope and not just your own despair.
If the # mbrt13 was still under the slogan “Guarding the E-Class”, it went with mbrt15 actually two models. Because even if it was a road trip that online people, bloggers, videographers, photographers, journalists (you name it) were not behind the wheel of the GLE Coupé or behind the wheel of the newly launched GLE. So this time we “accompanied” two “Brummers”. And both will see their premiere on the street long after this trip.
To ensure that the two GLE arrived fit and lively in New York, Mercedes-Benz provided an armada made of GLA 45 AMG, GLA 250, G 550 and G63. So equipped you could go on the tour. 2.600 km from Tuscaloosa to New York.
From behind as from the front, GLE ..
I don't get warm with the rear of the GLE Coupé. No seriously. I can't do anything with that. The facelift of the ML, however, works well. At least from behind. That fits. Fresh lighting graphics and an exhaust design in the style of the house.
Real manure weather belongs to every road trip. The sun cannot always shine. And I mean that metaphorically.
Here it goes on to the second part ...