Category: Large MPV 
Price Range: £36,970 to £53,630
Passenger space, refinement, easy to drive, high power and equipment levels, Mercedes badge
Not much luggage space six-up, looks like an MPV, very expensive
It's essentially a very posh MPV with four-wheel drive, but as yet, it's the only one of its kind
Don't expect this to be cheap: how does fuel economy of 20.3mpg (R 500) or up to 24.1mpg (R 350) sound? That's just the optimum official estimates...
The R 320 CDI manages better, returning 32.5mpg and 122g/km of carbon dioxide - respectable for a vehicle this size - and will be the most cost-effective and tax-efficient to run.
Mercedes servicing doesn't come cheap. Nor does insurance, but then you knew that anyway: by the standards of the luxury car market, it isn't bad.
Residual values are an unknown quantity as yet, but we'd advise cautious investors to steer clear of the R 500 - even if the R-Class develops a strong following among second-hand buyers, this model is likely to lose a very large chunk of its value, very quickly. Used buyers will undoubtedly prefer the R 320 CDI.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Mercedes R-Class
wrote on 01 05 2007