They epitomize “if you know, you know” cars. In other words, their revered status among aficionados stems partly from the fact that they may look (relatively) ordinary on the surface, at least to Luddites, while secretly, under the hood, they are anything but.
They’re also a rare class of maximalist vehicles that offer nearly everything one could want from a daily driver – room for five passengers and cargo, responsive handling, a comfortable ride, and neck-snapping speed and acceleration, with little obvious compromise. That’s assuming, of course, you can afford one and find one sitting on a lot.
Despite fans b*tching to the contrary, scarcity is also a feature and not a bug of the performance wagon’s mystique. Traditionally, only a handful of models ever make it to U.S. shores each year, if that, in very limited quantities.
But 2025 was already shaping up to be a bumper haul for American buyers, thanks to releases like BMW’s M5 Touring edition and the 2025 Audi RS6 Avant GT.
Now, Mercedes’s surprise announcement adds yet another option that should be more affordable and perhaps easier to find than either.
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