Being one of the most celebrated car brands in the world, we thought it would just be about time to muster, discuss and write up the top five cars that Mercedes-Benz have ever produced. Although it is quite impossible to rank which is the best, as we do not want to start any ferocious debates, we thought that we could narrow it down to at least the top five. With some of these fine and fabulous cars available from Inchcape Mercedes, why not tempt yourself for something out of this world?

Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren

Probably one of the most recognisable Mercedes-Benz cars in the last decade, the SLR McLaren also happens to be one of the fastest and most luxurious vehicles on the roads of Europe. After being unveiled in the closing months of 2003, the SLR, although majestic and powerful in every way was discontinued to the woes of the motor vehicle world after underachieving sales. For anyone who knows but a crumb of information about the world of motorsport, they will recognise not only the name of McLaren but also the prestigious design of the car which symbolises the unity and encompassing treasures of the partnership; that is why the SLR finds itself upon the list of our top five cars. Although there will be no new SLR’s finding themselves on the production line of Mercedes anytime soon, you can still find yourself a nifty second hand vehicle from credited dealers around the United Kingdom.

710 SSK Trossi Roadster

Quite possibly the sports car with one of the most dramatic and alluring bodies in the world, and the very last Mercedes designed by Ferdinand Porsche, no Mercedes list would be complete without the Trossi Roadster. Although quite something that Batman may have ridden around in during the late 1920s’, this only gives the vehicle extra credibility as the light glistens through its chic and wonderful frame, giving off not only an eloquent sense of prestige, but also sheer enchantment in the eyes of anyone who views it. With over 300bhp under the engine, the car beholds enough power to entrance any speed demon with the car in his possession. Although there are only five now left in the world, one owned by Ralph Lauren himself, quite sadly, catching a glimpse of the car may be the best that any of us can hope to achieve.

Mercedes Benz SLSAMG

After plunging through the annals of history, it is time to come back up to speed and consider a car introduced only a couple of years ago. After being unveiled to an appreciated crowd back in 2009 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the car is distinctive thanks to its fashionably retro gullwing doors which pay homage to its forbearer, the 300 SL. Though one of the initial attractions to the car, once you discover the growling 6.2 litre V8 engine beneath the bonnet and after familiarising yourself in the spaciously luxurious cockpit, the only thing that you’ll be thinking about, is how fast you can go. Due to this, explosive bolts are found in place just above the gullwing doors, meaning during a rollover situation, you can find yourself standing outside the car within seconds, an achievement James Bond would be proud of.

1937 Mercedes-Benz 540 Special Roadster

Rolling back the years again, any list forgetting the glamorous and era defining 540K series would be a list not worth reading. Unveiled during the 1936 Paris Motor Show, the 5401cc car was to be an instant hit with its state-of-the-art independent coil spring suspension and unlike the cars of today, the vehicle was made to order once that the customer had paid the full amount. Before long the special saloon edition was introduced to the line which introduced an extended chassis and bullet proof armour during the Second World War. Although as rare as the Trossi Roadster, the historical significance of the 540 places it firmly within the ranks of the top five.

2012 Mercedes SLK 55 AMG

With a 5.5 litre engine accompanied with a V8 configuration, there really isn’t any other car this year that will compete with the magnitude and power of the SLK 55 AMG. With enough acceleration to reach 60mph in just over 4 seconds, the car is perfect for couples just wanting to cruise the world during the splendid summer months. Although only a two seater, the car is surprisingly spacious and the dashboard inhibits everything that a gorgeous sports car of the 21^st century should.

So, which car do you think should come in at number one? Of course, which car would you take away or add to the list? With hundreds of choices out there, there’s sure to be something that we’ve overlooked.

With fossil fuel supplies dwindling and the price of car insurance spiralling out of control; the running costs required to keep a vehicle on the road have never been higher.

This is beginning to have a significant effect on motorists, with research by MoneySupermarket suggesting that 65% of drivers would now consider purchasing a more environmentally friendly vehicle in order to address these rising costs.

Manufacturers have therefore been investing increasing resources into the investigation of alternative means of fuelling vehicles. With multiple different alternatives currently being looked into, what is likely to emerge victorious in the battle for supremacy in the green market?

Electric vehicles

Nissan became the first major manufacturer to produce a vehicle to hit this developing green market in 2010 with the launch of the all-electric Nissan Leaf. The Leaf is capable of a top speed of 92mph and has a range of 100 miles between charges. This combined with the fact that both the space inside the cabin and the cars exterior appearance are not compromised by the requirements of the lithium-ion batteries have resulted in it becoming the first electric vehicle to pick up the European Car of the Year Award at the end of 2010.

Nissan is not the only manufacturer who is seemingly basing its future on electric vehicles. Mitsubishi launched the i-Miev model at a similar time; a vehicle which has equally impressive performance levels and is priced similarly. Renault is planning to go one step further by releasing a whole fleet of electric vehicles, with the smallest being the Renault Twizzy city car and the largest being an electric version of the Kangoo van.

The major advantage which comes with electric vehicles is obviously the running cost savings, with owners needing only to pay the cost of charging the vehicle using mains electricity rather than forking out for expensive and tax laden petrol at the pump. Nissan estimates that the average motorist would spend just £350 per year charging the Leaf through this method; a saving of close to £1,000 per year. When it is considered the electric vehicle owners are also not required to pay road tax, are exempt from congestion charges and also eligible to a 5% discount on their car insurance premiums through most insurers, it becomes clear that there are real savings to be made; particularly if you live in a congestion charge hit zone.

However, critics claim that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits. The fact that the electric charging point infrastructure in the UK is so limited renders journeys of more than 50 miles away from home almost impossible. Nissan is believed to be planning on launching a 2^nd edition of the Leaf at some point in the future which has a range of 200 miles between charges; but even when this technological advance is taken into account the limited recharging station network will still be a significant handicap.

The time it takes to recharge electric vehicles is also an area of concern. Even the quick recharge function on the Leaf which enables the battery to recoup 80% of its power still takes half an hour. This could well be a feature of electric vehicles that will never fully be eradicated.

Hydrogen vehicles

Honda seems to have recognised this as a fatal flaw in terms of the future of the electric car market, and has therefore ploughed significant resources into the development of hydrogen fuelled vehicles. The first example of these efforts is the FCX-Clarity which is now available for lease in parts of America, Japan and Europe.

Hydrogen vehicles are also powered by electric motors, but unlike fully electric designs source the required electric energy from the energy emitted by the fusion reaction in the fuel tank between the hydrogen and oxygen gases. The advantage of using this method instead of charging lithium-ion battery packs is the reduced recharging times; with hydrogen tanks taking no longer to fill up than vehicles being filled with conventional fuels.

The only hang-up at the moment is of course the rather limited number of filling stations that sell hydrogen gas. Nevertheless, this is a problem which Honda is confident will be addressed as more hydrogen fuelled vehicles are sold. Let us not forget that adoption of petrol vehicles faced a similar problem when they were first launched.

Who is the winner?

There is little doubt that the future is green, with our current levels of fossil fuel consumption being completely unsustainable. Before too long the vast majority of motorists simply won’t be able to maintain their current motoring lifestyles and will be forced to opt for a more sustainable means of transportation or give up driving altogether.

For the foreseeable future, unless there is some major technological development in terms of battery recharging times; electric vehicles will always be seen as being a poor second to conventional vehicles. Hydrogen fueled cars meanwhile have real potential to almost seamless slip into our households, requiring us to make very few adjustments to our established motoring habits.

With the numerous campaigns to combat global warming and due to the recent nuclear plant accident in Japan, the UK government will be launching in 2012 a program called Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which aims to:

• Reduce carbon footprint by encouraging homeowners and commercial establishments to generate central heating and water heating from renewable sources of energy like solar thermal instead of using gas or fuel.
• Help people and communities save on energy bills by using alternative energy sources.

The RHI program is a government initiative which will be manage by Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC). It has two phases:

1. The first phase started last July 2011 where the government allocated a quarter of the first year’s budget for RHI Premium Payments. RHI Premium payments are given to homeowners to fund the cost of the purchase and installation of renewable heating system to domestic establishments. The exact amount to be paid to homeowners varies depending on the type and size of installation but the amount ranges from £300 to £1250. This aims to install 25,000 domestic green heating systems across Great Britain.

2. The second phase of the program will commence on October 2012 where those who received an RHI Premium payment are eligible for Renewable Heat Incentive Tariff. These tariffs are payment given to owners of renewable heating system on a quarterly basis depending on the size and the amount of heat generated by the installation. The government pledge to support this program for a period of 20 years. The tariff rate has not been established yet but is estimated to be:

• 8.5 pence per kilowatt hour for solar thermal
• 6.5 pence per kilowatt hour for biomethane
• 4 pence per kilowatt hour for ground-source heat pumps

All other renewable heating system that pass the eligibility criteria and which has been installed from July 15, 2009 onwards are also entitled to receive the RHI Tariff.

The government has initially allocated £860 million to support this project with the hope of increasing the usage of renewable sources of energy to 12% by 2020.

To enjoy this benefit and to support the government’s drive in going Green, homeowners must start consulting contractors for the installation of renewable heating system in their establishment. The following are the eligible energy sources for the RHI Program:

• up to 200kWth for Solar Thermal
• up to 200kWth for Biogas combustion
• Biomass boilers
• Deep Geothermal
• Ground Source Heat Pumps and Water Source Heat Pumps for heating water

The contractors must be certified by Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) and all the products to be used should also be MCS certified.

Once the green heating system has been installed, registration to the program is required to avail of the RHI Tariff benefit. Since the payment of RHI tariff will not start until October 2012, the government is yet to release announcement for the registration.

The Renewable Heat Incentive program is a very good project so UK will catch up with the other European countries that are successful in launching Green projects like the Feed-In Tariffs to encourage its population to resort to alternative sources of energy to save on energy bills while helping save the environment too.

The key facts:

-It costs as little as 1p per mile to run a car on electricity compared with around 10p on petrol.

-Electric cars are EXTREMELY QUIET with ZERO tailpipe emissions.

-Electricity is most suited for use in city-based cars and vans with set journey patterns requiring limited range (up to 50 miles), though it has also been trialled in some urban buses.

-Electric vehicles can be fully recharged from any 13 amp socket in up to seven hours. Vehicles can be effectively part-charged when they are stopped for shorter breaks which can significantly increase range. Fast charge facilities are technically feasible but expensive.

-New generation electric-petrol hybrid vehicles offer significant emissions benefits without the range disadvantage traditionally associated with electric vehicles. The latest hybrid vehicles do not require external recharging and are capable of running up to 60 miles, or more, on a gallon of petrol.

-The extra cost of buying an electric car varies from zero to £5,000 (before any grant). In many cases, batteries are leased rather than purchased outright at a cost of £60 to £100 a month.

The Electric or Hybrid Option

-Electric vehicles produce no tailpipe emissions. Most life-cycle analyses (including electricity generation and transmission) also suggest they contribute less in terms of carbon dioxide; the main global warming gas.

The key facts:

-Fuel cells are catalytic devices which convert the energy stored in a fuel directly to electrical energy.

-A fuel cell provides the conditions for a catalytic energy release as opposed to combustion. This occurs through the use of an electrolyte which allows the passage of ions, but acts as a barrier to the chemical reactants.

-Fuel cells were devised in the 19th century and were used to provide on-board electrical energy and water for the Apollo spacecraft.

-Fuel cells are capable of high conversion efficiencies which compare very favourably to the thermal efficiency of petrol and diesel engines.

-Fuel cell vehicles are not yet commercially available but the New Vehicle Technology Fund may offer funding for innovative demonstration projects

-Fuel cell vehicles have similar or improved performance as compared to a vehicle with an internal combustion engine. They are not as range-limited as are most battery electric vehicles.

-Fuel cell vehicles can be either ‘pure’ or ‘hybrids’. The hybrid design incorporates the use of a battery for peak power loading. This also enables the vehicle to use regenerative braking which can recover up to 20% of the fuel energy utilised.

-ZeTek Power has a demonstration project involving a fuel cell taxi which has been operating in London.

-Six fuel cell buses have been operational in North America for over two years. Ballard Power Systems (Canadian market leaders) aimed to commercialise fuel cell bus engines by 2002.

-The New Electric Car (Necar) range of vehicles has been developed by DaimlerChrysler, Ford and Ballard.

What fuels can be used by a fuel cell vehicle?

-Fuel cells operate most efficiently if fuelled by pure hydrogen. However, in practice, hydrogen can be delivered to the fuel cell using several fuel routes and air is sufficient to provide the oxygen to the cell. The method for on-board fuel storage is another system consideration. Three fuels (and storage methods) are being actively considered by most fuel cell vehicle developers.

These are:

-Pure hydrogen fuel (stored on-board as a compressed gas). The hydrogen is delivered as required to a fuel cell to provide motive power via an electric-drive train.

-Methanol fuel (stored on-board as a liquid). The hydrogen is generated from the methanol using an on-board reformer as required to provide hydrogen for a fuel cell to provide motive power via an electric drive-train.

-Petrol fuel (very low sulphur formulation; stored on-board as a liquid). The hydrogen is generated from the petrol using an on-board reformer as required to provide hydrogen for a fuel cell to provide motive power via an electric-drive train.

The pure hydrogen option operates at the highest efficiency but requires the development of a new hydrogen infrastructure. The reformer options benefit from existing fuel infrastructures, but are less efficient and more costly than the pure hydrogen option.

Current vehicles available

-No PEM fuel cell vehicles are currently available. However, Ballard and partners have publicly announced bus and car engine launches for 2002 and 2004 respectively. In the UK, ZeTek (formerly Zevco) have developed an alkaline fuel cell taxi and park utility vehicle. This operates in Westminster and is supported by Westminster City Council, Air Products, Shell Hydrogen and TransportEnergy. ZeTek is currently engaging in an international scheme (ZeTek Approved Systems Integrator Programme, ZASIP) to encourage technical and commercial partners to participate in the business opportunity provided by ZeTek’s fuel cell technology.

Why Switch To Cleaner Fuels?

-A vehicle which runs on cleaner fuel produces fewer harmful emissions and can be cheaper to run than on petrol or diesel.

-Did you know that in 6,000 miles a car will produce roughly its own weight in CO2?

-Or that transport is responsible for about 25% of the UK’s output of CO2, the main gas implicated in global warming?

-Up to 24,000 early deaths per year result from poor air quality in Britain’s cities and there are a similar number of hospitalisations – almost wholly as a result of vehicle emissions.

-There are cleaner alternatives to traditional petrol and diesel engine vehicles. These include vehicles running on LPG, natural gas, electricity, fuel cells and Biofuels, as well as hybrid vehicles.

The key facts:

-A very cheap fuel due to the much lower fuel duty imposed by the Government. Using natural gas as a vehicle fuel can lead to significant running cost savings.

-Natural gas is abundant and delivered to most parts of the UK by a sophisticated network of pipelines thus reducing transport requirements to the point of use.

-To get sufficient volume of energy into a conventional size fuel tank requires that natural gas be compressed, or cooled to liquefy it.

-It has proved particularly popular as a fuel for trucks, buses and larger vehicles. The extra weight and cost of on-board fuel tanks makes conversion to natural gas normally more expensive than LPG for smaller vehicles.

-There are a limited number of public refuelling points for natural gas. Many fleets have chosen to install depot-based refuelling facilities.

-Refuelling options for natural gas range from cheap, slow-fill compressors which can refuel a vehicle overnight to high-tech stations which can refuel a vehicle in a similar time to petrol. Installing a larger refuelling station can be expensive which means the economics work best when 15 or more larger vehicles are involved to spread the cost.

-Natural gas is currently the cheapest of all the fossil-based fuels (including LPG) when fuel costs alone are considered. It costs under 6p per mile to run a smaller vehicle on natural gas (compared with 10p or more on petrol).

-Natural gas engines are far quieter than diesel engines making these vehicles suitable for overnight deliveries and in noise-sensitive locations.

-Most types of vehicle can be built, or converted, to run on natural gas. It is easier and cheaper to convert a vehicle with a petrol engine than one running on diesel.

-The cost of building a larger vehicle to run on natural gas starts from around £10,000. Smaller vehicles can be converted to run as bi-fuel from around £2,000.

What is Natural Gas?  

Natural gas is predominantly methane, mainly found in underground (or undersea) fields and often associated with oil. In Britain it comes mainly from large fields in the North Sea and is the same fuel as used by many people for cooking and heating in their homes. Current Vehicles Available   Natural gas vehicles can be set up to run  either as ‘Dedicated’ vehicles which have natural gas as their only fuel and are spark ignited – like petrol – or ‘Bi-fuel’ vehicles which have two separate fuel systems and can switch between petrol and natural gas at the flick of a switch. Bi-fuel vehicles are sometimes (confusingly) described as ‘dual-fuel’ vehicles. However, strictly speaking, these are vehicles that run on a varying mixture of two fuels, usually diesel and natural gas.   Dedicated vehicles will usually offer the best combination of emissions, performance and efficiency, though bi-fuel capability may be the most practical option where vehicles do not always return to their home depot for refuelling.   Some dedicated natural gas products are available, particularly amongst the heavier vehicle options.   In all cases, gas is stored on the vehicle in special fuel tanks; it is then piped to the engine via special high pressure pipes and introduced into the engine intake tract, controlled by a regulator.

The key facts:

-A very cheap fuel due to the significantly lower fuel duty imposed by the Government. A litre of LPG currently costs less than half the price of petrol or diesel on the forecourt.

-A litre of LPG allows a vehicle to travel around 80% of the of the distance it could travel on a litre of petrol.

-LPG refuelling points are being introduced all over the country. There were approximately 1295 in the UK as at 19/Dec/2003 – and the number is still increasing fast.

-Most types of vehicle can be built, or converted, to run on LPG. It is much easier and cheaper to convert a vehicle with a petrol engine than one running on diesel.

-LPG has proved particularly popular as a fuel for cars and vans, most of which are bi-fuel; they carry both petrol and LPG and can change from one to the other at the flick of a switch.

-LPG is sometimes marketed as ‘Autogas’.

The typical cost of converting a passenger car or light vehicle to run on LPG is around £1,500. More vehicles with an LPG option are now available direct from the manufacturers.

What is LPG?  

Liquefied petroleum gas is mainly comprised of propane. It is a by-product of oil refining and is also associated with natural gas (methane) fields. It is often used as a bottled gas for cooking and heating where there is no natural gas pipeline nearby. LPG vehicles can be set up to run either as ‘dedicated’ vehicles which have LPG as their only fuel and are spark ignited (like petrol), or ‘bi-fuel’ (sometimes known as ‘dual-fuel’) vehicles. These are vehicles with petrol engines converted so that they can operate on LPG or petrol. In all cases, gas is stored on the vehicle in special fuel tanks; it is then piped to the engine and introduced into the engine intake tract, controlled by a regulator.