A decade ago I treated myself to a new S Class to soothe away my long commutes from Norfolk to Yorkshire. With a little care and perhaps a following wind, I would see a figure of about 47mpg for that journey.
Spool forward ten years and I’m again at the wheel of a silver Mercedes with similar levels of power, comfort and performance on a similar journey.
But this time it has the load space for the biggest of barkers, 4WD, a commanding driving position and the frontal area and aerodynamics of a town hall!
The figure below I saw yesterday on a mainly congested motorway run.
I never got to within 10 mpg of this in a Strange Rover
9-speed gearbox? Gliding mode? Merctech? ……I love it!
It is, perhaps, a good illustration of the technical advances made in automotive over a decade.

Spool forward ten years and I’m again at the wheel of a silver Mercedes with similar levels of power, comfort and performance on a similar journey.
But this time it has the load space for the biggest of barkers, 4WD, a commanding driving position and the frontal area and aerodynamics of a town hall!
The figure below I saw yesterday on a mainly congested motorway run.
I never got to within 10 mpg of this in a Strange Rover
9-speed gearbox? Gliding mode? Merctech? ……I love it!
It is, perhaps, a good illustration of the technical advances made in automotive over a decade.
