New 2016 Metris van will be the most affordable US Mercedes-Benz | Autoweek

And RWD, so it might have some towing capacity and a decent turning radius. Win! Sounds almost like a newer Aerostar or Astrovan.

Interesting. I wonder when/if we'll see the heavy trucks over here.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

You already do in the form of Sterling ( Was Ford heavy truck, now discontinued ) Western Star , Freightliner , Fuso ( formerly known as Mitsubishi Fuso )

MB brought mid range trucks to the US in the 80's

Sweet, hopefully we will get it in the diesel.

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Jim

I was resigned to the fact that I'd probably be buying the Mrs. a new (ok, year or two old) Odyssey, which for a minivan I really like, in the next year or two as the family vehicular trickle-down took place, this is an interesting option.

I wonder what the towing capacity will be or how hard the 4 cyl. and 7 sp. auto would have to work? I see the carrying capacity is expected to be 700 lbs. more than the Ram C/V with almost a 1/3 more interior volume. Give us the diesel!

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1980 300TD-China Blue/Blue MBTex-2nd Owner, 107K (Alt Blau) OBK #15
'06 Chevy Tahoe Z71 (for the wife & 4 kids, current mule) '03 Honda Odyssey (son #1's ride, reluctantly) '99 GMC Suburban (255K+ miles, semi-retired mule) 21' SeaRay Seville (summer escape pod)

Great heads-up post/thread!

I agree. I did some looking at the Euro versions and found you can get this in front wheel drive or real wheel drive. I guess someday you could get a four wheel drive.

In Europe they also have an electrical version and several diesels. From the looks of it all of the US vans will be gasoline.

But I could not find any info on if we are getting the front or rear or both drive set-ups. I guess we will have to wait until October to find out.

This looks to be the same size as a Dodge Caravan. The Caravan is 202.8 inches in length. The Mercedes 202.4.

It's rated for 208 HP/258 lb-ft, so I would guess that it should be able to keep up, especially if it reaches peak torque down low.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

RWD: Mercedes V-Class-Based Metris Confirmed For U.S.

Shame they don't plan on bringing the V class in.

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Jim

It's odd that Mercedes usually brings higher-spec models to North America. Here, they're doing the opposite.

I wonder if they are doing this primarily to sell commercial vehicles and are doing the minivan as a sideline. That would explain why we are getting the lower-spec model.

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"Senior Luna, your sense of humor is still loco... but we love it, anyway." -rickymay ____ "Your sense of humor is still loco... " -MBeige ____ "Señor Luna, your sense of humor is quite järjetön" -Delibes

1982 300SD -- 211k, Texas car, tranny issues ____ 1979 240D 4-speed 234k -- turbo and tuned IP, third world taxi hot rod

2 Samuel 12:13: "David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die."

That's fine -- a durable, tough, RWD van would make a perfect vehicle for modifiers to mod into a small camper. Since the interiors come out anyway, high-spec is sort of a waste.