Horsepower (hôrs’pou’ər)-A unit that is used to measure the power of engines and motors. One unit of horsepower is equal to the power needed to lift 550 pounds one foot in one second. This unit has been widely replaced by the watt in scientific usage; one horsepower is equal to 745.7 watts.
Coined or invented by Engineer James Watt, it’s basically the work that a single horse can do in minute. The term “horsepower” itself is used to measure output of engines, machines and electric motors among other things. It sounds simple but not really. It doesn’t necessarily follow that the higher the horsepower the faster the car. An Abrams tank has a Honeywell AGT1500 C multi-fuel turbine 1500 hp engine yet has a top speed of only 45mph while a Mercedes CLK 550 has a 5.5L V8, 32 valve, 382hp and is electronically limited to 155 mph.
So what gives? This is known as power to weight ratio which is the power output of the engine divided by the car’s curb weight. So going back to the example above, though the Abrams has a 1500hp engine, it weighs 61.4 metric tons while the CLK 550 with its 382hp engine weighs a mere 3720 lbs. Mercedes has invested a lot in R&D to maximize the power to weight ratio. Due to this, Mercedes has some of the best performing vehicles on the road today. So before you go off to see your General Dynamics dealer, you may want to think about this. By the way, MSRP of an Abrams? $4.35 million.

The other day a friend of mind emailed asking for help in choosing a vehicle. He already decided on the brand- Mercedes. I replied asking him the following:
1. Where do you plan to use it? City? Off road? Cross country?
2. Do you plan to haul cargo or bulky stuff in it?
3. Will your decision be function over form or the other way around?
4. What’s your budget like?
5. Are you particular about mileage and the cost of maintenance?
6. How long do you intend to keep it?
7. Will this be for the family or just for you most of the time?
As he mentioned, he isn’t much of a techie so I listed the above KISS simple guidelines to help him decide. If for example the answers to items 1 and 7 were city and primarily just for him, I’d suggest a sedan, coupe, a convertible or a roadster.
Mercedes has a good line of sedans starting with their “entry” level C Class (MSRP starts at $32,900) all the way up to their S Class (MSRP Starts at $89,350). Engines and naturally power varies from model to model. The C300 series (Sport sedan, Luxury sedan and 4Matic sedan) come equipped with the 3.0 liter V6 24 valve engine, producing 228 hp. Only the C350 and C63 AMG come with bigger engines-The C350 has a 3.5 liter V6 24 valve engine and the C63 has a whopping 6.3 liter, 32 valve V8 that pumps out 451hp, 0-60 in 4.3 seconds! Not bad for a sedan. Later on, I’ll discuss the other body styles.

I’m in Hong Kong and was driven around in a fire opal Mercedes SLK 55 AMG driven most probably by Schumi’s long lost sister.
65mph isn’t too fast but on a two-lane, two way winding road? (on the wrong side of the road even)!

My back was pinned to the Flamenco Red, Nappa leather, upholstery all the way to Stanley Market a famous tourist attraction.

Times like these are when you really appreciate Mercedes Benz’s attention to detail. T

he SLK 55 comes with Active Body Control System.

What happens is hydraulics eliminate excess body motion thereby improving the SLK 55s’ cornering performance.

Thanks to the great suspension, I barely noticed the bumps (or were we simply flying over them?).

On the way back, we brought the top out. It’s stored in a section of the boot or trunk which if I may add is quite spacious for a convertible.

With the top up, it was extremely quiet with barely little road and/or wind noise.

According to my friend, Mercedes Benz is doing a lot of business here.

In an area of only 415 square miles there are 8 Mercedes Benz dealers.

Great choice! Who wouldn’t want one?

The Mercedes SL600 Roadster is a turbocharged 5.5 liter, v12, 36 valve engine, 0-60mph in 4.4 seconds plant-you-firmly-in-your-seat rocket!

Though it may be slower (155mph) as compared to the Mercedes Benz McLaren (202mph), fact is how many times have you ever put the pedal all the way down to see how fast your car can go (and not getting written up for it)?

It may not be the McLaren Roadster but are you really willing to shell out another 370,000 clams for .6 seconds?

The MSRP is listed at 139,975 but with the market the way it is nowadays there’s a good chance you can get a better deal if not off the price but on the accessories and trimmings.

Leather seats, multi adjustable power seats for the driver and passenger and Tele Aid Vehicle Location System are just some of the standard goodies that come with it.

Take it for a test drive at the San Antonio Mercedes Dealership

The word coupe  is derived from the French verb couper, to cut.
In the 1800’s a coupé was a closed four-wheel horse-drawn carriage with a single seat inside for two persons. The front, rear-facing passenger seats had eliminated or cut (coupé) from the two seat, four person version of the carriage.
The driver was positioned on a box outside.
Typically, a coupé had a fixed glass window in the front of the body, with a dashboard to protect it from dirt and other road items.

As was the case with the 19th cetury carriage, a landau roof is a coupé with a folding top.In the 1950s opening-roof convertible automobiles were sometimes called convertible coupés, but since the 1960s the term coupé has been applied almost exclusively to fixed-roof models.

Coupés generally have two doors, however there have been three and four-door coupés and five-door hatchback coupés.
Modern coupés often have frameless doors, with the window glass sealing directly against a weather-strip on the main body.which distinguishes a coupé is from a two-door sedan by the lack of a “B” pillar to support the roof.

The Society of Automotive Engineers distinguishes a coupé from a sedan primarily by having a rear interior volume of less than 33 cubic feet  / 0.93 cubic meters.

Mercedes coupes are offered int the 3 “C” classes

CLK-Class
CLS-Class
CL-Class

Here are the 8 Mercedes Coupe Body styles that Mercedes offers

• CLK350
• CLK550
• CLS550
• CLS63
• CL550
• CL63 AMG
• CL600
• CL65 AMG

Click the image near the top of the page to get current prices for these Mercedes coupes.