A big chunk of the premium car segment can be divided into two categories: German German cars and non-German German cars. Sounds a bit strange, we know, but think about it for a second. BMW makes some pretty high-tech stuff like the i3 or the M5 in Germany, but most of its SUVs are made in Spartanburg, which is in South Carolina.
It's the same story with Mercedes-Benz. Their largest SUV, the 3-row GL-Class SUV, being assembled in Alabama.
The latest car review from Russian hottie Anastasia Tregubova takes a look at Alabama's export and how it fits into the lifestyle of your average Moscow motorist. Our resident Russian editor is missing for today, but we're pretty sure that the blonde beauty says Alabama is a state known for its cotton plantations and the movie Forest Gump.
That's only the beginning of what turns out to be a very weird car review. The GL-Class is put to the test on slalom course by a professional driver and exhibits some weird handling characteristics. Just like the Porsche Macan recently subjected to the moose test, it plows forwards instead of turning due to electronic systems that are trying to stop it from rolling over.
Another funny thing we learned is that Steve Mattin is the man who designed the first generation GL. Care to guess where he works now? Yeah, he's the Chief Designer at AvtoVAZ and penned the recently revealed crossover concept "Lada XRAY".
But what really attracted us to this video is the novelty value of the car. Sure, the GL has been available since 2012 in its current form, but this is the all-new GL 400 which they just launched. It shows that like Porsche, Mercedes is having to downsize its engines. Under the bonnet is a 3-liter twin-turbo V6 that produces 333 PS to all four wheels via a 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox. Performance is not really inspiring, with 0 to 100 km/h taking 6.7 seconds and its top speed being 240 km/h.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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