11 Oct 06
Given that even cows play a more destructive role than cars in the production of those dread greenhouse gases, and that the exhaust of the average new car is often cleaner than the particulate-laden inner-city air inhaled by the engine in the first place, it has always struck me as somewhat ludicrous that politicians and environmental tub-thumpers should continue to persecute the car as the single most wanton polluter and resource consumer on the planet.
The truth is, of course, it's simply a soft target and a ready source of revenue. Why even bother to try to persuade the emerging industrial giants of the far east to stop their relentless evisceration of the environment, or the Japanese to desist from hauling 2,500 tons of seafood out of the Pacific every single day, when it's so much easier to stay at home, levy a tax on vehicle carbon dioxide emissions and slap another few pence on a litre of petrol?
The latest victim of this woolly-minded thinking is the 4x4 or Sport Utility Vehicle. The Corduroy King of London's Congestion Charge is determined to penalise punters for their freedom of choice here and Ive even noticed a tendency of late for a number of my motoring colleagues - despite continuing to eulogise with undiminished ardour each new Ferrari - to accompany the launch of any new four-wheel-drive behemoth with half-hearted mitherings about wasted resources...
In the face of such ever-increasing gas-guzzling grump, then, car manufacturers have adopted at least three wildly divergent stances. One: do absolutely nothing at all (America). Two: produce vastly expensive-to-manufacture hybrid vehicles which, to date, struggle to live up to the Grail of undiminished performance allied to lower emissions and significant fuel savings (Japan). And three: simply disguise your latest 4x4 SUV as something altogether less inflammatory (Germany).
Into which latter camp the new R-Class falls with an enormous thump; 4922mm long in standard form, and stretching to 5157mm in long-wheelbase guise, this is an absolutely vast motor car. However, despite the allegiance of permanent four-wheel drive to a gentle increase in ground clearance, the R-Class cunningly presents itself rather more as acceptable people carrier-with-attitude than vilified off-road monster. And it's a tribute to the Mercedes' very nearly entirely elegant styling that you dont actually realise just how truly gargantuan it is until you see it parked alongside a conventional estate such as Audi's A6 Avant or, indeed, a passing Quentin Crisp-pink Nissan Micra C+C...
