Mercedes S Class review (18/12/2013)
The S-Class is — and always has been — a symbol of automotive greatness and it stands on its own as an icon not alone of elegance and class, but also of the highest design and engineering standards. For as long as I can remember Mercedes’ range-topper has beaten off every pretender to its crown in the luxury segment by some considerable margin.
And this fact might just explain why so many people have — and continue to be — infatuated by the S-Class down the years and why Mercedes continues to spend incredible amounts of money to keep the car in the vanguard of a market which has naturally grown more sophisticated.
Not alone is the car an icon for the people who buy it — or who would aspire to owning one — but also for the people who make it, people who simply because of the car’s legendary status, bear perhaps a heavier burden of responsibility than any other single group in the automotive industry. Indeed, it is rumoured that nowhere in the Mercedes organisation are the people more stressed than those in charge of bringing a new S-Class to the marketplace because it is they who are in charge of the evolution of a legend.
You might say that Rolls Royce or Bentley might produce a more luxurious product, but those companies are culturally tied up in a different realm than Mercedes and that is why the S-Class has always been at the peak of its own food chain.
Certainly Mercedes tried to leverage itself into the stratosphere occupied by the aforementioned brands with the brilliant but ill-conceived and ultimately doomed Maybach, but times have changed now and because of that the S-Class is now even more important for its makers than ever before. It has resumed its place at the head of the Mercedes table — and rightly so too.
The old axiom about ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies particularly to the S-Class, because for Mercedes to truck unnecessarily with a formula which has brought such success and acclaim to the brand would almost be treasonable.
However, as a car which has for so long defined its market segment and outshone each and every pretender that has dared oppose it, there is still massive pressure on those who conceive, design and built it to keep making it better; to keep pushing the boundaries.
With the new S-Class they have undoubtedly managed to achieve just that — and they would have done a lot more with it has the laws allowed them.
Indeed, at the launch of the car in Dublin recently the Mercedes personnel made much of the fact the car was only a step away from one of the automotive industry’s holy grails — the autonomous car. It may be that they have actually achieved that, but as far as I’m aware the laws don’t allow for such a thing yet.
Nevertheless, the fact this machine has adopted so much technology it will stop you from having pretty much any sort of an accident and, even if you’re rear-ended, will still stop you ploughing into the car in front is all madly impressive.
And, even in the event that it actually allows something calamitous to happen to you, it will call the emergency services, tell them where you are, lower the front windows, put on the hazard lights and, in all probability, mop your sweaty brow as well.
Indeed, as one smarty pants at the launch remarked, the S-Class may not yet be able to give you a blood transfusion, but you can be sure the Mercedes people have looked into the possibility.
While a majority of you may never experience the S-Class in all its glory, that does not mean you won’t want to. Simply because it is the preserve of royalty, statesmen, billionaires and despots alike, doesn’t mean Mercedes is blind to the sheer magnetism of the brand it has created and that is why the arrival of a new one creates
excitement among the masses like few others.
So what is like? Well is does not so much drive as waft and its magic carpet ride will soothe your progress over even the most punishing surfaces, leaving you simply to marvel at its class and sophistication. It may be that the three litre V6 turbodiesel is something we are already familiar with, but that does not in any way lessen its abilities, which are many and virtuous.
There is some 258 bhp on tap and a massive 640 Nm of torque; this in turn translates into a governed top speed of 250 kph, a 0-100 kph time of 6.8 seconds, a 5.5 l/100 km (just over 50 mpg) consumption figure and CO2 emissions of just 151 g/km (resulting in an tax bill of just 390) and you’d have to say that adds up to a convincing package.
You’ll just have to trust me when I say that once more Mercedes has shifted the boundaries of automotive accomplishment and produced a car which will leave the majority of its opponents once more scratching their bewildered heads.
S-Class S350 BlueTEC — 98,225 (111,271 as tested).
‘Only’ the entry level three litre turbodiesel in this car has to be one of the quietest ever made. It’s punchy too and if you don’t lean on the loud pedal too much, it’s economic too.
Don’t go there; just don’t.
The most
sophisticated, quietest, most comfortable mass-produced luxury car in the world.
*****
