Benz’s electric "Grand Limousine" might just make minivans cool.
Tim Stevens The concept of a living room on wheels is something of a modern cliché in the automotive world, a vision for a car so comfortable, well-appointed and ultimately luxurious that you'd be just as happy to spend hours there as you would lounging at home.
The problem is that most of those concepts, like the Cadillac InnerSpace or Mini Urbanaut , have depended on the availability of self-driving technology, something that still only exists in the limited circles of Waymo , Zoox and their ilk. We're still years away from you or I being able to buy a car that can drive itself unsupervised, but that isn't stopping Mercedes from releasing what could be the most compelling of the rolling living spaces.
It's called the VLE, and while it requires a human behind the wheel, passengers in the second row will be treated to reclining, massaging seats, a 22-speaker Dolby Atmos sound system and a 31.3-inch ultrawide 8K display. It's an amazing package, but is it enough to shrug off those minivan preconceptions?
Tim Stevens Visually, the VLE fits the silhouette of countless family-friendly minivans that have been handling kid-hauling duties in the United States since the Dodge Caravan planted the seed way back in the early '80s. Ask Mercedes, though, and they'll tell you this is a different beast.
The VLE is what the company calls a Grand Limousine, and while that sounds pretentious, it's actually perfectly appropriate. At 216 inches, the VLE is 10 inches longer than a GLS SUV. It also has an internal ceiling height of 49 inches, making it easy for me, at six feet tall, to move around.
And it is certainly at least as luxurious as your average limousine, with seating to match. The VLE can be configured with room for up to eight across three rows, but it's best with fewer, specifically configured with the two-seat captain's chair arrangement you see here.
Two powertrains will be available. The VLE 300 offers front-wheel drive and 272 horsepower, while the VLE 400 4MATIC steps up to a dual-motor, all-wheel drive configuration with 416 hp. Both rely on the same, sizable, 115-kilowatt-hour usable battery pack that spans the floor of the van. Mercedes says it will provide enough range to cover 435 miles on the European WLTP test cycle. On our more challenging EPA test, expect a rating somewhere around 350 miles.It's an 800-volt system that charges at a maximum rate of 300 kilowatts. That means adding about 200 miles in 15 minutes.
Tim Stevens As much as I love to drive, the best seats in the VLE are in the second row. From there, you can recline and gaze up through the glass ceiling, or deploy the 31.3-inch ultra-wide screen and whittle away at your YouTube queue.
You can also stream Disney+ directly on the display, but sadly those are the only two video streaming partners of note. Neither Chromecast nor AirPlay streaming are supported. There is an HDMI port if you want to BYO content, but running wires across the cabin doesn't feel particularly luxurious to me.
You can also pick from a few basic games to play on the system, and if you have two kids who can never agree on anything, you can split the TV into dual, 15-inch 4K displays. The 32:9 ratio means that after splitting, you're effectively getting a pair of 16:9 displays, which is honestly better for viewing most content anyway. A pair of Bluetooth headsets means a pair of passengers can also get their own dedicated audio.…