First Time at Mercedes me

The other day, I visited Mercedes me on the first floor of Grand Front Osaka and test drove the new A180. Mercedes me is an information hub run by Mercedes-Benz, centered around a café and restaurant lounge. In Japan, there are two locations: Tokyo Roppongi and Osaka Umeda.

When I was in Osaka for work, I often passed by Mercedes me, so I had known about it for quite some time, but I had always thought of it as just a Mercedes-Benz café and merchandise shop.

One day, while casually browsing the Mercedes me website, I discovered a service called TRIAL CRUISE, which allows you to test drive various Mercedes-Benz models.

*Image source: Mercedes me “TRIAL CRUISE”

The test drive lineup includes about 10 models such as the S-Class, E-Class, C-Class, GLA, A-Class, G-Class, and AMG models. Since these are mostly new models, I thought, “This sounds interesting, I should try it once.” and signed up casually.

After some thought about which car to test drive, I felt it was a bit intimidating to jump straight into an AMG, so I decided to test drive the A-Class (A180), a rival to the Volkswagen Golf that was recently in our household.

Booked a Test Drive for the A180!

Mercedes me’s Trial Cruise requires advance reservation. You create an ID on the site, fill in the necessary details, select the model and time slot, and your booking is complete. On the reserved day and time, you go to the Mercedes me reception to start your test drive.

On the day, my prior meeting ended quite early, so I arrived an hour ahead of schedule. I worked at a nearby café and about 10 minutes before my slot, I thought, “Maybe I’m a bit early…” but when I went to the store, they smoothly checked me in.

First, they checked my driver’s license and had me fill out a simple questionnaire on a tablet, including how often I drive and my experience with left-hand drive cars (since some test cars are left-hand drive). While I was entering the info, a staff member asked,

“At this time slot, highway driving is possible. Would you like to try that?”

Wow! I hadn’t expected to be able to test drive on the highway! I eagerly said, “Absolutely, yes please!” and they explained,

“Only the 12:00 and 14:00 test drive slots for the A180 allow highway driving. (Information as of June 3, 2019) I thought you knew this and booked accordingly, but it was a coincidence. That’s great!”

I had no idea, so that was lucky!

While waiting after finishing the questionnaire, I looked around at the merchandise and video displays inside. The centerpiece that really stood out was the Mercedes AMG GT63 on display. Its matte blue body color was striking, with a beautiful silhouette and very cool presence.

Soon, the test car was ready, so I headed with the staff to the underground parking at Grand Front. While walking, I asked, “The AMG GT on display has a matte finish and looks amazing, but is it okay to wash it normally?” They replied,

You can wash it normally, but because of the matte finish, it can’t be coated, so it needs frequent washing.

I see… that’s not for me… and besides, it’s way too expensive for me to buy (-_-)

Taking the elevator down to the basement parking, there were rows of Mercedes-Benz test cars.

There were about 15 cars, all shiny and cool. I was going to test drive the A180, but the staff asked,

If you like, we can show you a demo of the Remote Parking Assist feature found in the S-Class and others. The driver can get out of the car and operate it from their smartphone to park the car.

Of course, I wanted to see anything I could, so I agreed immediately.

When parking in a narrow space, it can be hard to open the doors and get in or out of wide cars like the S-Class. In such cases, the driver can operate the vehicle from outside using a smartphone to park or retrieve the car.

After installing the app and registering the vehicle, you control the car by tracing a circle on the smartphone screen, and the car moves accordingly…

The car’s sensors detect obstacles and automatically handle acceleration, braking, forward/reverse, and steering. The driver just watches the car move and waits until there’s enough space to open the door before getting in.

They also showed me a demo where the car remembers a parking space (it recognizes the space automatically when you pass by) and handles the entire parking process automatically. I even got to operate the smartphone myself, and it was truly amazing.

But it felt a bit spooky, like a ghost was driving (-_-)w

Of course, the driver must do the final safety check, but the sensors work at a very high level and park almost perfectly. It’s truly an incredible feature.

After being impressed by Mercedes’ latest safety tech, it was finally time for my A180 test drive. So, in the next article, I’ll share my test drive experience and impressions of the A180.

↓ I wrote a follow-up article about the test drive.

メルセデス・ミー（Mercedes me）で新型Aクラスを試乗してきた！