Sadly, the new Gullwing was not available to test. And I just missed snagging the keys to the E63 AMG (you can read my friend Muamer’s take on this beast at Benz Insider). So I had to “settle” for a bright red SL 500 Roadster.

We don’t get this one over here. I think Mercedes understands that we Americans love our horsepower, so they send over the 382 hp SL 550. But the 302 hp V8 was plenty for this car. Not tire melting or anything, but definitely a solid and smooth performer.

In general it seems that all Mercedes cars are incredibly well-engineered and sorted out. Personally, I prefer my cars to be a bit more rude and crude. But it’s hard to complain when driving such nicely composed vehicles, and I really enjoyed taking the gorgeous red roadster on the back roads of Germany. Before going back to the hotel I also got a chance to drive the 231 hp turbocharged V6 diesel E350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY Coupe. Definitely the nicest diesel I’ve ever driven, and it was smooth as hell at 200 kph on the Autobahn.

Overall, the whole experience was a blast (I’m not even gonna brag about all the food and wine I got to consume along the way). Thanks to the great folks in Stuttgart for having me out. Hope I can do it again some time!

We started out with an up-close look at the current E-Class range, then went on to discuss some of their more recent concepts. If you dig the shape of the F800 below (revealed last month in Geneva), you’ll be happy to know that much of the design language will show up in the next version of the C-Class, due in 2014.

Next they took us into a darkened room where they showed off their Autodesk Showcase software and the huge screen capable or presenting 3D concepts in 1:1 scale in various colors and with different backgrounds. A light table with mini color-coded models allows you to rotate and zoom the renderings on the screen to your heart’s content. Pretty cool! There was quite a bit of discussion about design process, which takes four to five years for new models. Mercedes futurologist Alexander Mankowsky told us that they see themselves as the “ambassadors of European style.” I wonder how the Italians feel about that…

Finally we went over to the interior design area, where they showed us what goes into creating their dashboards, seats, door panels, etc. Throughout the morning there was a lot of talk of the environment and sustainability, which seemed funny to me when we’re talking about luxury cars. For example, Mercedes even has their own dedicated farms to raise bulls for the leather (not cows–they get pregnant and their skin stretches too much!). However, Mercedes cars are definitely built to last, which is a good thing.

Lots of pics after the jump!

Benz three wheeler from 1886!

This 1936 Mercedes-Benz 500 K Special Roadster is a knockout. Check out the walk-around video on StreetFire!

Ultra cool 1955 300 SLR with matching transporter. Check out the walk-around video on StreetFire!

Mercedes developed a 300 SLR coupe for the 1956 racing season, but then they decided to get out of motorsports for a while. So the head of the Test Department got to use it as his daily driver! Check out the walk-around video on StreetFire!

The Races and Records section was super cool. Check out my epic walk-around video on StreetFire!

And here’s a quick peek into the future.

I’ll post about my visit to the Mercedes-Benz design studio tomorrow, so stay tuned!