Mercedes S Class 350L
Maxabout Review
The Best Just Got Better!!
Tuesday, April 14, 2009With 270,000 units sold world-wide since its launch, the W 221-series S-Class is the world's most successful luxury sedan, and seamlessly continues the success story of the flagship model in the Mercedes-Benz lineup. Since 1951, when the model 220 began the direct lineage of the S-Class, Mercedes-Benz has delivered around 3.3 million passenger cars from this model series to customers. New S-Class features new LED lamps and new chrome jobs here and there, nevertheless it can re recognized by the slightly bigger grille, integrated LEDs in the revised bumper and more LEDs in the Bi-Xenon headlights. From behind, the major change is the newly designed rectangular exhaust pipes and LED tails lights.
The modified design reflects the effortless superiority and power of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class Saloon. It is characterised by the more pronounced arrow-shape of the radiator grille, plus a new front bumper with a discreet light-catching contour and a chrome strip below the cooling air intakes. In future the exhaust tailpipes of all S‑Class variants will be visibly integrated into the rear bumper. The headlamps have bi-xenon technology as standard. Inside the S-Class showcases some pretty cool new technology with a front LCD 'split-view’ screen developed with Bosch. Basically driver and passenger can be looking at the same screen but they can be viewing something entirely different.
The multifunction steering wheel of the S-Class has also been modified by the Mercedes-Benz designers: the rim and airbag module are lined with soft premium leather as standard. The new, flatter airbag module also lends a sporty touch to the multifunction steering wheel. Mercedes-Benz engineers have also implemented specific aerodynamic measures to reduce wind noise, which also contributes to greater traveling comfort. The driver can see the satnav while the passenger can watch TV. You also get fancy illuminations for the cabin and new multimedia entertainment system with SD memory, USB and even a hard disk plus monitors in the headrests. Mercedes S-class has always been the showcase of latest technologies and the new one is no exception. For instance in terms of safety features you get an adaptive beam-assistant, a lane keeping assistant, an assistant speed limit and with the distance radar associated Pre-Safe braking and a fatigue detection, an automatic crosswind stability. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class's traditionally exemplary standard of safety is further enhanced by a unique combination of innovative camera- and radar-based driver assistance systems which turn the luxury saloon into an "intelligent" partner on the road.
These systems include Adaptive Highbeam Assist, Lane Keeping Assist, Speed Limit Assist and the advanced Night View Assist PLUS facility. Other innovations are the ATTENTION ASSIST drowsiness detection function and automatic crosswind stabilisation. The engineers have also enhanced Night View Assist, which is now equipped with a special pedestrian detection function: as soon as the system detects pedestrians ahead of the car, they are highlighted on the display to make them more readily noticeable. Lane Keeping Assist is another system that "looks ahead" for even safer driving. The system's computer is able to recognise lane markings by evaluating the contrasting images of the road surface and the markings. If the vehicle leaves the lane identified by the Assist function unintentionally, the driver is warned by short vibrations of the steering wheel. Unlike conventional systems of this kind, the Mercedes system is able to evaluate the driver's activities as well, and can reliably ascertain whether the car is leaving its lane intentionally or not. There is therefore no warning if the driver accelerates before overtaking or joining a motorway, brakes heavily or enters a bend, for example.
The images supplied by the windscreen camera are also used by the new, optional Speed Limit Assist system, which identifies speed limit signs in passing and shows the relevant speed limit in the central display. Mercedes-Benz developers have also added a crosswind stabilisation function (standard for S600) to Active Body Control (ABC). For this purpose ABC uses the yaw rates and lateral acceleration sensors of the Electronic Stability Program ESP to vary the wheel load distribution via the ABC spring struts, depending on the direction and intensity of the crosswind. This enables the effects of crosswinds to be compensated, or reduced to a minimum in the case of strong gusts. The Torque Vectoring Brake provides the 2010 Mercedes-Benz S-Class with added safety in critical conditions and even greater agility by specifically braking the inner rear wheel in bends so as to enable precise cornering by the saloon without compromising on driving dynamics.