Mercedes have finally annouced the facelift of the R class, and again have a decent 7 seater vehicle to replace the old ML with Family Pack.

I have always said that the new GL is just to big for Europe, and at a cost of 25% more than the old ML it has never been a replacement for the old 7 seat ML.

The facelift makes the mid row 3 seats wide, where the centre seat can be folded down to make an armrest, and Mercedes say there is enough room for 3 child seats across. The outer two seats have ISOFIX.

The rear 2 seats now become optional, and you can still order the R class without the centre bench seat, i.e in the original configuration with 3 rows of 2 seats.

The entry price is now lower with the introduction of the V6 petrol R280 and it is available as 2 or 4 wheel drive.

Sadly the lovely large diesel '420CDI' with about the same amount of torque as the SL55 isn't available. Lets hope it is sometime !

If you order the 7 seat version or the R500 4Matic then you get air suspension and level control, other wise it is an option over the standard steel suspension. AIRMATIC is available as an option on all models.

The V6 versions come with 18" alloys, the R500 with 19" wheels. There is a new bodystyling package at front and read and new circular fog-lamps. There are also 3 new paint colours.

There are now 7 models available in Europe:-

R280CDI (V6 2987cc diesel, 190HP/140kW@4000rpm)

R280CDI 4Matic (4WD version of above)

R320CDI 4Matic (4WD V6 2987cc diesel 224HP/165kW@3800rpm)

R280 (V6 2996cc petrol 231hp/170kW@6000rpm)

R350 (V6 3498cc 272hp/200kW@6000rpm)

R350 4Matic (4WD version of above)

R500 4Matic (V8 5461cc 388hp/388kW@6000RPM)

Apparenetly there will be no R63 AMG because the R500 has the 5.5l engine.

Here are pictures of the inside and outside (courtesy of Daimler Chrysler media):-