• Just because Daimler and Chrysler are one big, happy if bilingual family, don't think for a moment that there's any shared DNA between the now three-year-old Chrysler Pacifica and the new-for-2006 Mercedes-Benz R350 and R500. About all these people movers have in common are engines in front and 3 x 2 seating configurations inside. The R is a genuine and roomy luxury vehicle -- and that even applies for those sitting way back there in the third row of seats.
  

Just because Daimler and Chrysler are one big, happy if bilingual family, don't think for a moment that there's any shared DNA between the now three-year-old Chrysler Pacifica and the new-for-2006 Mercedes-Benz R350 or R500.

About all these people movers have in common are engines in front and 3 x 2 seating configurations inside.

Here's just one dissimilarity that might take you by surprise. The so-called American Chrysler is built on a minivan assembly line in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 'ay, while the so-called German Mercedes is assembled in a sport utility vehicle plant in Vance, Alabama, U.S. of A.

Work on the Pacifica and R-Class began before their respective automakers merged and they are as different as Canadian curlers (those who participate in the sport of curling, not the sport of hair dressing) and Bear Bryant-believing, Roll Tide football fanatics.

For example, the Pacifica has a V6-powered, front-wheel-drive platform but offers the option of all-wheel drive. The R-Class shares its underpinnings with the Mercedes M-Class SUV and comes only with 4Matic all-wheel drive - and a seven-speed automatic transmission -- and up to 302-horspower from a 5.0-liter V8 engine.

Even in its six-cylinder guise, the R-Class is a luxury vehicle through and through. That's reflected not only it the materials used but in pricing. The R350 starts at $48,000 and the R500 at $55,500. Meanwhile, the Pacifica has a base sticker of less than $26,000.

As a bonus, the D pillars - those at the far rear of the car - in the R-Class were designed so, unlike its Canadian cousin twice removed, you can actually see where you're going when you put the transmission into Reverse and turn your head toward the rear window.

While it shares stuff you can't see with the M-Class SUV, the R-Class rides and handles like a sedan, or maybe we should say like a station wagon, though its maker would prefer that we say "cross-over," because Mercedes-Benz already makes a wonderful station wagon in its E-Class line.

Actually, Mercedes wants us to call the R-Class a "sports tourer" because it wants you to think of this as a wonderful way to tour the countryside with more sporting dynamics than you'll find in most so-called sport utility vehicles.

We got to explore the R350's dynamics on the famed Pacific Coast Highway as it makes its way south from Monterey Bay to Cambria, where we made a pit stop to watch elephant seals - males battling for domination while the females lounged on the beach awaiting the winners - and then enjoyed lunch before switching into an R500 for the drive inland, where what we appreciated was not only the V8's horsepower, but its air conditioning system on a day where the exterior temperature readout indicated 107 degrees.

Otherwise known as California's Highway 1, the PCH rides the edge of the bluffs as they dip and turn through coves above some of the most scenic of Pacific shoreline.

The driver can manipulate the R-Class's seven-speed automatic transmission by using toggle switches on the dashboard side of the steering wheel crossbar. Because the switches are placed horizontally, not vertically as on other vehicles, it takes some getting used to, but once you figure out where they are and how they operate - toggle toward the rim for an up shift and toward the steering column for a downshift - they are usable if not quite ergonomic.

We thought the R-Class pushed a little through turns when we left the gearbox to shift for itself, but using the paddles for downshifts after just brushing the brakes to set the nose for turn-in, we were delighted with the wagon's dynamics.

The R-Class exhibited dexterity we didn't expect - but we did enjoy.

In fact, the R-Class was full of surprise and delight.

For example, we actually rode in both the second row and the way-back seats, where even an adult has room. The car's interior spaciousness is enhanced because the second-row seats slide fore-and-aft as much as six inches, and the third-row seems even less claustrophobic roomier when you order the optional panoramic sunroof with its 5-foot, 7-inches of glass overhead.

That's a long piece of glass, but this is a long vehicle - stretching 203 inches on a 126-inch wheelbase. Not only is the R-Class longer than Mercedes' own S-Class luxury sedan, it's five inches longer than a Cadillac Escalade SUV.

Though the R-Class is big on the inside, and long on the outside, it also is aerodynamically efficient. It has a steeply raked windshield and its coefficient of drag is 0.31, the same as a 2005 3 Series BMW sedan.

Each R-Class seat adjusts - from many ways in the front row to seat-back angle in row three - and has its own cup holder, arm rest, air vents and lighting.

Those sitting in the second row can avail themselves of their own DVD-based entertainment system monitors mounted in the back of the front-seat headrests.

After driving both the six- and eight-cylinder, our recommendation would be to buy the six and equip it with the optional Premium package, which for $5,500 includes the entertainment system, panoramic roof, power rear lift gate and navigation systems.

Air suspension also is available, as is an AMG-engineered sport package. A full-blown AMG version of the R-Class should arrive as a 2007 model.

Even at launch, however, there's at least one more surprise and delight feature we have to mention. The front upholders are huge - at last, a European automaker understands America's need for real cup holders. But what makes the cup holder in the R-Class special is that the center divider section can be lifted off and underneath it has two kinds of bottle openers. One end handles twist-off tops, the other soda-bottle style metal caps.

Road trip: 1500 miles in an R500.