European Driving Impression: Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The best all-around luxury car in the long history of Mercedes-Benz brings new style, new engines, new air suspension and the traditional solidity of the Rock of Gibraltar.

It has been eight years since the introduction of the last Mercedes-Benz S-Class, one of the best luxury sedans ever built. In those eight years, the engineers and designers have worked tirelessly to create a new flagship for Mercedes and to address all the things that many European and some American critics thought was wrong with the old car.

The gestation period for the new S-Class was a long 52 months, including 29 months from design approval to production of the first car at Sindelfingen, and the project cost DaimlerBenz DM1.6 billion. DaimlerBenz car boss Jurgen Hubbert said the new car will have 30 technical innovations, will have the best safety equipment in the world, will be the quickest and fastest car in the class, and will get a whopping 17-percent improvement in fuel economy, largely due to the changes in the engines, both of which use the new three-valve, two-plug technology.

The S-Class currently holds a 42-percent worldwide market share in the high-luxury segment (cars costing more than $55,000), which has more entries than ever, and Hubbert predicts that the market share will rise higher still and the unit production will rise significantly to 250,000 units a year. U.S. sales are expected to rise from 15,000 to 25,000 a year almost immediately--and why not? The amazing new S-Class is the very last piece in the DaimlerBenz five-year product offensive that has been going on since the introduction of the new C-Class in 1993.

The S-Class line as it will exist here in the States has been slimmed down. While most of the world will get an S320 and a short-wheelbase model, too, we will get only the V8-powered S430 (275 hp, 295 ft-lb of torque), and the S500 (302 hp, 339 ft-lb of torque) and only in the long-wheelbase body style. The S500 will have xenon headlamps and heated seats, Nappa leather upholstery and burled walnut as standard, while the S430 will have most of the same stuff available as optional equipment and eucalyptus instead of walnut trim.

No S-Class diesels will be exported, at least not for a while, and the S600 V12 will be along next year with more displacement and more power, based on the same three-valve, two-plug combustion chamber design used on the 3.2 six and the 4.3 and 5.0 V8 engines.

What we will also get next year are S-based CL430 and CL500 coupes that will have real, honest-to-God, fully active suspension, not just fast-acting adjustable shock absorbers. But that's another story for another time. For now, let's tell you everything we know and everything we experienced with this fabulous new S-Class attack sedan.

The zoomy new S-Class is lower, shorter and narrower than the previous model, yet it has more usable interior room than the bigger predecessor and more room than either the BMW 740iL or Jaguar long-wheelbase competition, even with the lower, more rounded C-pillar.

It goes without saying that every S-Class will have a V8 engine, a five-speed automatic transmission, ABS, traction control, the ESP selective-braking anti-skid system, electronic brake assist that provides maximum brake force in panic stops, electronic brake proportioning that prevents rear-wheel lockup, the Baby Smart child seat detection and airbag deactivation system, front and side airbags (including rear door side airbags) and the new side airbag curtain that debuted on the E-Class cars a few months ago. It deploys out of the headliner and stretches from the A pillar to the C-pillar to protect outboard passengers' heads.

The S-Class safety package includes a front passenger airbag that deploys in two stages, low and high, depending on the severity of impact, laminated side glass, (an industry first), seat belt pretensioners, belt force limiters, and automatic rear head restraints that rise up out of their nesting places when rear seat belts are buckled up. That's just the beginning of what you get for your money, though--and less money than you ever dreamed, according to Mercedes-Benz sources, who said the company's aggressive pricing policies will continue with the introduction of the S-Class in the U.S. in March of 1999 as a 2000 model. Of course, we're probably still talking north of $70,000, but not as far north as before.

- by Jim McCraw