MERCEDES-BENZ VIANO 2.2 CDI Trend 5dr (2010)

Mercedes Viano - Not as great as it could be.

The Mercedes Viano looks like someone crashed a milk float into a bus, which is kind of why I bought it - its boxy, practical look really appeals to me. And practical it is, up to a point. There are lots of different positions for the seats and some of them provide a lot of room for storage etc. However, the seats are very heavy indeed, and this kind of restricts the versatility in a way that you don't see in some other (cheaper) MPVs.

It does seat eight people so the Mercedes Viano is by no means a bad MPV. But it's really pretty expensive for something that really isn't anything special at the end of the day. It's reliable, of course, and I've had next to no problems with it, but I was disappointed to find out that it doesn't have deadlocks, which quite surprised me from a safety point of view.

Performance wise the Mercedes Viano is sturdy in both handling and engine terms, it gets the job done in a big, van-ish kind of way. But for the money that I paid for it, basically because I wanted a Mercedes, I'm slightly annoyed by the Viano's frustrating little quirks.