The new S-Class from Mercedes-Benz gives one a feeling of a sprawling mansion made with the finest of material. Do you have your chequebooks ready?
The international media is echoing with praise for the all-new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, pronouncing it to be the best car in the world. In the new year, as the S-Class prepares to make a grand entry into India, we test the limousine to see if it really lives up to the hype. The condition in our country is so drastically different from that in Europe that many cars which have been best-sellers there have failed to impress us. Fortunately, the S-Class isn’t one of them. It’s a splendid luxury limo which smartly packs opulence, space, brute force and convenience. It has everything you could expect from a car, and some that you haven’t yet thought of.
The designers have been clearly briefed to downplay the whole styling. From the outside the new S-Class has multiple layers that delicately flow into each other and form smooth curves. It seems as if an artist has skilfully smoothened the surface of the Merc’s clay-model with his hands, leaving just softly flowing lines all around. While most designers display their ultimate creativity on the headlights, Merc’s LED-equipped lamps fail to leave an impression. Unlike the pronounced headlights of the new E-Class, you’ll struggle to recall the ones on the ‘S’. The idea is clearly not to draw unnecessary attention.
However, the oversized chrome grille is 30 per cent larger, which simply cannot be ignored. The long bonnet announces its entry, while the higher and dome-like roofline helps aerodynamics. Its fluent shape gives the new car better aesthetic appeal and impressively brings down the drag coefficient to 0.24. Inspired by the wings of a phoenix, the tail-lamps have LED which adjust themselves according to the light outside. Its stubby boot has softer lines and resembles the CLA’s fastback style. Big 19-inch five-spoke alloy wheels shod with low-profile tyres (front: 245/45 R19 and rear: 275/40 R19) look nice and the massive ventilated discs hint at the exciting performance in store.
Like most modern cars there’s rampant use of aluminium in the S-Class too. By using the lightweight material on the doors, roof, bonnet, boot-lid and even the suspension, and high-strength steel on places like the passenger cell and B-pillars the Mercedes maintains a fine balances between lightness and rigidity. It’s longer than before and has also stretched its wheelbase. The lightweight doors open to a wider angle, use soft close system to shut with minimum effort. The company claims that the new car has shed 100 kg and gained 50 per cent torsion stiffness, but with the innumerable features and gadgetry weight benefit could well have been neutralised.
The overall design is conservative, almost tipping towards bland, but the proportions are great. The design doesn’t leave a lasting impression, and may be intentional so that it offers the car’s high-profile occupants the disguise they often seek.
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