THE Mercedes-Benz flagship S-Class will arrive in South Africa
later in 2014 and Wheels24.co.za readers had their say.
Reagan Hendricks posted: “Beautiful! Makes the Panamera, bm and
audi look ugly. Maserati quattroporte good looking and better interior but
engine, ride and technology can’t match this cathedral on wheels.”
Albertus Lombaard commiserated in his post with the government.
“Shame, the poor minastas and premiers cannot waste tax payer money on these
cars anymore, they must stick to a modest R750 grand budget cars.”
The S600 was
launched at the 2014 North American International auto show, Detroit.
While actually a few centimetres shorter, narrower, lower and also
considerably cheaper than the Rolls Royce Wraith, “cathedral on wheels” is a
fair enough description of the 5,2-metre long S600.
A 6.0 V12 bi-turbo capable of 390 kW (up from 380 kW) and 830 Nm is
matched to a 7G-tronic auto. Fuel consumption is in the doule cab range, with
Mercedes-Benz claiming about 8 km/litre.
Its V12 bi-turbo pushes the car from 0 to 100 km/h in under five
seconds.
To stop, the S600 comes with the same adaptive braking as in the
S-Class, which uses radar technology that has its roots in Durban to prevent
collisions at more than 6,5 km/h and autonomously brake the car from 200 km/h.
Getting the car to do the braking is much quicker than relying on human
reactions and each milli-second lessens the impact of a collision.
The system can also brake in response to stationary vehicles at
speeds of up to 55 km/h and is able to prevent a rear-end collision at up to
40 km/h.
At night, an LED intelligent light system lights up the road, the
adaptive suspension system scans the road surface ahead to soften or stiffen as
the driver wants it and for busy highways there is active lane keeping assist,
active blind-spot assist and cross-traffic assist.
A head-up display shows speed
limits and other information and the boom box is built into the hollows of the
door frame, giving what Merc says is concert hall quality.
Or should that be cathedral quality?
