Falling head over heels for Mercedes-Benz’s Dream Car collection
As we climbed into our first car – a scarlet Mercedes-AMG GT S Edition 1 – my co-driver turned to me and said, “You know what? I’m not feeling very well. Kind of sick. Why don’t you drive all the way and I’ll just enjoy the ride.”
Music to my ears, mate.
The task was simple and the venue was balmy Langkawi. We had three quarters
of an hour to drive to a pre-determined spot, at which point we would switch cars, and drive to the next pre-determined spot. This would repeat, and then culminate in a free drive with only time as the constraint. The GPS provided suggestions; the route was entirely in our hands.
The cars were part of Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s Dream Car collection, a loosely-defined label that generally includes all the German marque’s coupés, convertibles and roadsters. In Malaysia, it specifically refers to a quintet of immaculate cars – the Mercedes-AMG GT S, the Mercedes-AMG S-Class Coupé, the Mercedes-AMG C 63 S, the Mercedes-Benz CLS Coupé and the Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé – built to fulfil everything a driver could ever want in a car.
With that lining of extraordinary driving as the common thread, the Dream takes a few different forms. The Mercedes-AMG GT S Edition 1 (from RM1,145,888) is the classic vision of an ideal sports car, sinuous and sexy as it makes the century sprint in 3.8 km/h. The Mercedes-AMG C 63 S (from RM 698,888) cool things down slightly – and only slightly – with plushness and sumptuousness inside and outside, propelled by a vicious V8 engine.
The Mercedes-Benz CLS Coupé (from RM598,888) in its CLS 400 guise is a sedan in coupé form, a growling V6 model that was the first Dream Car to debut in Malaysia. A diesel-option, the CLS 250 d, was also announced, with the same Multibeam LED headlamps that illuminate the way forward impeccably. The Mercedes-AMG E-Class Coupé – specifically the E 250 variant (from RM428,888) – slims the executive E-Class down to a 2-door form, losing no power or passion in the process.
And finally, the Mercedes-AMG S- Class Coupé in the form of the S 63 Coupé (from RM1,493,888). Voted as the World Luxury Car of the Year 2015, this was the model’s Malaysian debut, completing the Dream Car quintet. The 47 Swarovski crystals in the headlamps are just a hint of how special the car is; an abundance of roaring V8 power curled up in a lithe, sleek body that is breathtaking.
It’s amazing how that power can invigorate. As we flashed our way along beaches, killing time until the next changeover, my co-driver’s spirits and constitution improved.
It was the S 63 Coupé that proved the ultimate panacea. After terrifying several herds of placid cows lolling in their paddy fields, the co-driver turned to me and said: “When we get into the next car, can I drive?”
Loathe as I was to give up a minute behind the wheel, if driving one of the Mercedes-Benz Dream Cars would revive my friend, I was all for it. And by the end of the day, when we stepped out of our final car, he walked with a spring in his step. The rejuvenation was complete.
A perfect recovery.
