Mercedes Vaneo is an innovative newcomer
The Cold War that has been waged for many years between the greatest powers of the modern globe is officially long over, but in the last decade it has flared up in the automotive world with a redoubled intensity. Almost all manufacturers compete in the creation of not only new models of their cars, but also in the expansion of body terminology. A pioneer in the automotive industry played a special role in this art, i.e. Mercedes.
The A-Class, which debuted in 1997, opened a completely new chapter in the history of the Stuttgart brand. An innovative approach to the car design process led to the creation of a car that, despite its small external dimensions, had an impressive amount of interior space. Despite the fact that the market debut of the car was far from the manufacturer's expectations (the memorable "elk test"), the A-class was still quite successful.
The next step after the A-Class was to be the Vaneo, one of the few Mercedes cars that doesn't have the word "Classe" in its name. The name "Vaneo" was created by combining the words "van" and "neo", loosely translated as "new van". The specific minivan of the "Stuttgart Star" debuted on the market in 2001. Built on the modified floor slab of Vaneo's younger brother, it surprised with its spaciousness. A body measuring just over 4 m, equipped with a pair of sliding doors, could accommodate up to seven people on board. True, in this configuration, the narrow body and micron-sized seats in the luggage compartment, designed for the smallest, caused claustrophobia among passengers, but it was still possible to transport a large family for short distances.
The car was addressed to a certain group of buyers already at the initial stage of its existence on the market. Young, active, dynamic people looking for a bit of individuality and luxury should have found a great traveling companion in Vaneo. For a childless family with a passion for weekend trips outside of Vaneo's big city thicket, this turned out to be a great deal. A spacious luggage compartment combined with a high body (more than 1.8 m) made it easy to take skis, snowboards and even bicycles on board. The impressive load capacity (about 600 kg) also made it extremely easy to transport large loads in the "small" Mercedes.
Under the hood, three gasoline engines and one modern turbodiesel in two power options could work. Gasoline power units with a volume of 1.6 liters and 1.7 CDI diesel engines provided the car with meager performance, while being content with not sensational amounts of fuel (the high body is to blame for this). The exception was the most powerful gasoline version (1.9 l 125 hp), which not only decently accelerated the car to 100 km / h (11 s), but also consumed less fuel than the much weaker 1.6 l engine!
As shown by sales statistics, Vaneo did not achieve a spectacular market success. On the one hand, the price of the car, which was very high and the shape of the body, were to blame for it. So what if the equipment turned out to be quite rich, since customers discouraged by the experiences with the A-Class were most likely worried about their safety in an even taller Mercedes. It's a pity, because Vaneo is, as the users themselves point out, a very functional urban and recreational car.
However, “functional” in this case, unfortunately, does not mean “cheap to maintain”. The specific design of the vehicle (of the "sandwich" type) means that any repair to the actuator requires dismantling nearly half of the vehicle to get to the damaged assembly. Maintenance prices are also not low - any repair in a car requires a lot of time, and this is very valuable in a Mercedes service (a man-hour costs about 150 - 200 PLN). Adding to this a high degree of technical complexity of the car and a small number of workshops willing to repair the car, it turns out that Vaneo is an offer only for the elite, i.e. those who will not be unduly upset by the high cost of repairs. And since we have few such people in Poland, we don’t have too many Mercedes Vaneos either.
