You Scratch Maybach and I'll Scratch Yours
Nobody asked me but . . .
I started out planning to describe what it’s like (What’s not to like?) to drive the new Maybach 57 S model on 17 Mile Drive, the series of roads on the Monterey Peninsula where the Pebble Beach Lodge is located and where my driving took place. But as a started paging through the voluminous press kit, I realized that some amount of background would be important for setting the stage for the driving impressions.
When it was introduced in 2003 the Maybach brand revived a practice of building and selling grand luxury automobiles in a way that disappeared more than 60 years ago. It is a return to the true commissioned car built precisely to a customer’s specifications.
Those are Mercedes’ words, as are the four paragraphs that follow. I could have paraphrased the M-B material, but why reinvent the wheel?
As with luxury yachts, the model nomenclature denotes vehicle length in meters. The Maybach 57 models are 5.73 meters (225.3 inches) long on a 133.5-inch wheelbase. The Maybach 62, which accounts for about 25 percent of sales, measures 6.17 meters (242.5 inches) long on a 150.7-inch wheelbase, making it the longest production automobile in the world. All models provide an extraordinary driving experience, although the Maybach 62 has been designed with chauffeur driving in mind.
The brand name honors Wilhelm Maybach, one of the most important engineers of the automotive age. Maybach worked closely with Gottlieb Daimler in the late 19th century to build the first internal combustion-powered automobiles and went on to design the first Mercedes car in 1901. A tremendous leap ahead of “horseless carriages” of the day, that first Mercedes became the basic blueprint for all cars to follow. Wilhelm’s son Karl was also an engineering mastermind who, from 1921 to 1941, developed and put the Maybach name on 1,800 of the world’s finest custom-built luxury cars.
Customers commission a new Maybach at Mercedes-Benz dealers that have elected to sell and service the vehicles in the U.S. As of early 2005, 70 Maybach studios are operational. In a special commissioning studio, the dealership’s Maybach Relationship Manager (MRM) helps the customer design a Maybach using an interactive computer simulator with a 50-inch plasma screen, along with samples
It takes approximately five months to construct and deliver a Maybach, and the production facility will complete just one or two cars per day. This deliberate production pace allows Maybach to accommodate individual customer choices, such as special interior fittings and trim, as well as extensive handcrafting.
Okay, so let me get this straight. Mercedes-Benz is actually calling the Maybach a land yacht. And at 6050 pounds for a 57 S, that’s more than three tons (2.7 tons if you’re into metrics). Or about 300-400 pounds heavier than a Chevy Suburban. So it ain’t a lightweight. And to put its 5.73-meter length into perspective, that’s nearly seven feet longer than a Mini.
The Maybach 57 S’s AMG-tweaked, 6.0-liter V12 is rated at 604 Clydesdales at 4800 rpm and the torque is a tire shredding, pavement ripping 738 lb-ft at 2000 rpm. The mind boggles.
Abuse the throttle with impunity and the 57 S’s estimated city mileage of 11 mpg is surely going to bust into the low single-digit range. But if you’ve got the $369,750 (plus $2750 destination charges) required to purchase a base 57 S, you’re probably not the sort who flinches at 4 buck a gallon petrol.
I’m beginning to hyperventilate just thinking about how much fuel is being sucked through that engine, so maybe now is a good time to stop and for me to compose myself before attempting to describe the adrenalin rush of a 0-100 acceleration run down 17 Mile Drive.
I started out planning to describe what it’s like (What’s not to like?) to drive the new Maybach 57 S model on 17 Mile Drive, the series of roads on the Monterey Peninsula where the Pebble Beach Lodge is located and where my driving took place. But as a started paging through the voluminous press kit, I realized that some amount of background would be important for setting the stage for the driving impressions.
When it was introduced in 2003 the Maybach brand revived a practice of building and selling grand luxury automobiles in a way that disappeared more than 60 years ago. It is a return to the true commissioned car built precisely to a customer’s specifications.
Those are Mercedes’ words, as are the four paragraphs that follow. I could have paraphrased the M-B material, but why reinvent the wheel?
As with luxury yachts, the model nomenclature denotes vehicle length in meters. The Maybach 57 models are 5.73 meters (225.3 inches) long on a 133.5-inch wheelbase. The Maybach 62, which accounts for about 25 percent of sales, measures 6.17 meters (242.5 inches) long on a 150.7-inch wheelbase, making it the longest production automobile in the world. All models provide an extraordinary driving experience, although the Maybach 62 has been designed with chauffeur driving in mind.
The brand name honors Wilhelm Maybach, one of the most important engineers of the automotive age. Maybach worked closely with Gottlieb Daimler in the late 19th century to build the first internal combustion-powered automobiles and went on to design the first Mercedes car in 1901. A tremendous leap ahead of “horseless carriages” of the day, that first Mercedes became the basic blueprint for all cars to follow. Wilhelm’s son Karl was also an engineering mastermind who, from 1921 to 1941, developed and put the Maybach name on 1,800 of the world’s finest custom-built luxury cars.
Customers commission a new Maybach at Mercedes-Benz dealers that have elected to sell and service the vehicles in the U.S. As of early 2005, 70 Maybach studios are operational. In a special commissioning studio, the dealership’s Maybach Relationship Manager (MRM) helps the customer design a Maybach using an interactive computer simulator with a 50-inch plasma screen, along with samples
It takes approximately five months to construct and deliver a Maybach, and the production facility will complete just one or two cars per day. This deliberate production pace allows Maybach to accommodate individual customer choices, such as special interior fittings and trim, as well as extensive handcrafting.
Okay, so let me get this straight. Mercedes-Benz is actually calling the Maybach a land yacht. And at 6050 pounds for a 57 S, that’s more than three tons (2.7 tons if you’re into metrics). Or about 300-400 pounds heavier than a Chevy Suburban. So it ain’t a lightweight. And to put its 5.73-meter length into perspective, that’s nearly seven feet longer than a Mini.
The Maybach 57 S’s AMG-tweaked, 6.0-liter V12 is rated at 604 Clydesdales at 4800 rpm and the torque is a tire shredding, pavement ripping 738 lb-ft at 2000 rpm. The mind boggles.
Abuse the throttle with impunity and the 57 S’s estimated city mileage of 11 mpg is surely going to bust into the low single-digit range. But if you’ve got the $369,750 (plus $2750 destination charges) required to purchase a base 57 S, you’re probably not the sort who flinches at 4 buck a gallon petrol.
I’m beginning to hyperventilate just thinking about how much fuel is being sucked through that engine, so maybe now is a good time to stop and for me to compose myself before attempting to describe the adrenalin rush of a 0-100 acceleration run down 17 Mile Drive.
posted by The Carmudgeon at
10:24 PM
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