Luxury Merc V-Class is packed with features

Mercedes-Benz will add another 'letter' to their alphabet of car names in March next year with the arrival of the V-Class, writes Trish Whelan.

Known previously as the Viano, it has had a thorough makeover to give it a more distinctive and more stylish exterior appearance, improved interior spaciousness, a host of technical and safety enhancements, plus a number of high-class features that raise it into the realm of luxury that you expect from Mercedes-Benz cars.

V-Class is aimed at large families with active lifestyles, the outdoor adventure-types at B&Bs, or even as an office space.

Seating is practical and versatile as the V-Class comes with three body lengths; Compact, Long and Extra Long (6, 7 and 8-seats). All are luxury seats and can be moved around on tracks to suit a family's needs - with fore/aft swivel adjustment and full clip-in/clip-out seat removal plus 4-way lumbar support; the middle two rows can face each other, all can face frontwards. Rear seats can be fully removed for van-like space.

Options will include a scratch-resistant folding table and a seat arrangement that allows for comfy overnight sleeping.

The V-Class will have numerous comfort features including active seat ventilation and a system that adjusts automatically according to the position of the sun, and kicks in automatically to eliminate fumes and odours that can come in heavy traffic and when driving through tunnels (most V-Class sales will be in the 'home' markets).

A fully integrated infotainment and multimedia system with 80GB capacity includes optional surround sound, DVD player, internet access, apps usage, photorealistic mapping and real time traffic info.

The three 2.0 4-cylinder diesel engines have already proven their worth in nearly all their car model series as well as in the Sprinter LCV (V200 CDI, V220 CDI and V250 BlueTEC in automatic transmission only). Now they have been further developed for the V-Class. Mercedes-Benz CEO Dr Zetsche said at last week's launch, that they had wanted an engine 'with the power of a six-cylinder and the fuel consumption of a four cylinder'.

A boon for parents keeping control of the little, and not so little, ones in the rear is that a microphone transmits what they say from the front of the car to the rear loudspeakers, so they can 'keep an eye' on the kids without having to take their eyes off the road.

Pictured below at the World Premier of the V-Class in the arena at the Olympic Village in Munich last week is Ciaran Allen, Mercedes-Benz passenger cars sales manager in Ireland.