You are going to look twice. And the second time you see the Mercedes-Benz Shooting Brake you’ll have an opinion.
It’s one of those cars that attracts attention wherever it goes and people will either take to it in a hearbeat, or just shake their head.
I liked it, one or two of my mates didn’t and surprisingly, among the female fraternity, it received a big thumbs-up.
But what is a shooting brake? It’s a term traditionally used to describe carriages which hauled hunting parties of men, guns and dogs. A brake was initially a chassis used to break-in horses. It has evolved along with the internal combustion engine to what we tested here.
From the side, the shape of the windows makes it look a bit like an aeroplane wing; mated to a 3.5-litre V6 with 225kW and 370Nm it goes a bit like an aircraft as well.
Mercedes somehow always manages to get just the right combination of power, gearbox, weight and handling. Even in fairly high-speed cornering this big car never felt as if it was going to get out of shape and, as always, there was barely any audible road or wind noise.
CHERRY ON THE FLOOR
The Shooting Brake’s piece de resistance, though, is the optional wooden luggage-compartment floor. It’s made of American cherry wood with oak inlay and aluminium rails, to a standard my perfectionist carpenter grandfather would have envied despite the use of modern laser technology. In a black car, such as the one we tested, it really looked fantastic and with rubber inserts to prevent things from sliding around, a couple of cased shotguns would not have looked out of place.
Despite being fairly low slung, it boasts 590 litres of luggage space, expanding to 1550 litres with the seats folded. Not bad considering the roof height.
And, speaking of roof height, there was one slight problem.
Being just over 1.82 metres tall I had to duck fairly low to prevent my head taking a pounding, and on our way to visit friends one night – with no functioning street lights – I went over a speedbump a bit too fast, and smacked the side of my head against the eyewear holder above the driver’s door.
Like I said, a minor gripe that doesn’t take anything away from the otherwise pleasant driving experience.
There are more than 10 driver assistance aids to keep it safe and you’re going to have to do something really silly to cause any major mishap.
Consumption wasn’t too bad, and on a combined cycle I averaged just more than 10 litres per 100km.
The Shooting Brake is aimed very much at a niche market; I doubt it’s going to sway the average Mercedes customer away from the more conventional models. - Sunday Independent