(Having light in that area *is* kind of handy when creeping along rutted logging roads at night, but that's kind of irrelevent to a Mercedes sedan.)
You, sir, don't have enough MB sedans! Something like the Frankenheap is _very_ suitable for rutted logging roads. Especially if you have a chain and a friend with a 4wd in caravan.
It was somebody in Car and Driver, or some such, that once said that the very best off-road vehicle was one which you cared absolutely nothing about. I remember the article where they'd procured some rare and desirable engine that happened to reside in some old US land yacht. Before they pulled it out for their project they flogged the old sled through the weeds just to see how it would do. Surprisingly well, and some of the most fun they'd ever had. (Or so they said.) I don't _think_ they quite broke the car, but it was kind of surprising they didn't.
I've experimented with my fogs in heavy rain/spray situations at night, and it seems like they make it a little easier to see the lane markings with my peripheral vision, requiring less concentration to follow them. YMMV.
If conditions are so bad that the lights are actually useful, then they're probably right for turning them on. I've noticed the one or two times that I saw normally-offensive fog lights on in _fog_ they weren't a problem. (Though without an upward cutoff I'm sure they don't work as well for the driver as they could.) -- Jim
