Agility, efficiency, elegance, habitability, sportiness… There are several paths an automaker can follow while creating a new vehicle. Deciding for one of them helps to define on which characteristics to invest more, therefore avoiding to spend too much on the others – achieving reasonable prices demand dealing with short-blanket situations like that. But when the considered car doesn’t need to be reasonable about costs it’s possible to afford “Super King” strategies. Just like what was used with the sedan you’re about to meet.
Looking at this car from any external angle will give a strong déjà vu to whoever has seen any other recent Mercedes-Benz. The Germans have been making S-Class look nimbler and sportier every phase, dropping the limousine feeling in favor of smoother stylings. So if the intention was to stay elegant and discreet but still modern, the inspiration this time came from the younger siblings rather than older luxury cars: the very first impression is that the car looks like a large-scaled CLA, although with reprojected proportions. That pair of strong side creases combined really well with S-Class’ longer hood and wider front grille, resulting on a very nice highlight to the engine area.
The third volume preserved the sedan shape instead of four-door coupes’ typical slant, but using more fluid lines just like its previous generation, rather than E-Class’ clearer transitions. Looking like the entry-level line is usually bad for flagship cars, but S-Class’ example manages to achieve good results. It’s already a fact that Mercedes’ latest design language was very well-accepted by press and public for representing a more modern look to a high-standard automaker, but also for being very efficient: having a 0.24 cd makes this one the most aerodynamic S-Class ever produced.
Talking about such low drag coefficient is actually a good start for Mercedes’ outstanding attention to technology. It was already known that this sedan needed to take the extinct Maybach’s buyers, but every expectation seems to have been exceeded. For the very first time it was projected as the long-wheelbase version, to have the shorter one derived afterwards. Such strategy enabled to attend the chauffeur-using owners as good as the ones who prefer to drive their cars themselves. The intention is to have the best car of the decade, which motivated an astonishing interior. There are slight dimension increases and excellent-quality materials, combined on a very elegant design composed with wooden accents and two-tone leather.
There will be two options for the SWB’s rear seat and five for LWB’s, with up to 43.5° of maximum inclination and items such as additional air outlets and Peltier thermo-cup holders. Every seat also offers the Energizing massage system, which uses 14 individual backrest air cushions on six programs, two of them combined to the heating function to simulate the hot stone massaging techniques. There’s a whole new infotainment system with two 12.3” touchscreens (one of them working as the dashboard), whose functions include Internet connection and full cell phone access, not to mention a ten-speaker audio system: the latter can be upgraded with two Burmester premium options.
Mercedes has made huge improvements at aluminum using since the 1990s, which managed to compensate S-Class’s weight increase due to having more and more comfort and safety equipments – such advances have also improved the torsional stifness by 50% compared to W221. And when it comes to safety, you must’ve already figured this car’s list is almost endless. Pre-Safe was improved to prevent accidents by detecting pedestrians and city traffic. The seatbelts have their own airbags, and Distronic system almost drives the car by itself in monotonous situations, such as highways and traffic jams – not to mention the extensive package of airbags, 360° cameras, braking assistances and electronic alerts.
W222 was released in four powertrain options, which won’t take long to be followed by bi-turbo V8s and V12s. There are S400 Hybrid’s 3.5L V6 (302 bhp of power, 270 lb-ft of torque, 44.8 mpg consumption, 147 g/km emissions and 6s8 0-60 mph acceleration) and S500 4.7L V8 (448, 511, 32.8, 199 and 4s8) with gasoline and the turbocharged S350 BlueTec’s 3.0L V6 (254, 453, 51.9, 147 and 6s8) and S300 BlueTec Hybrid’s 2.2L 4-cyl (201, 365, 64.2, 115 and 7s6) using diesel – all top speeds limited at 155 mph. The new S-Class is expected to go on sale on a few months.
Lançamento no Brasil (14/11/2013)
Qual lançamento seria melhor para fechar o ciclo deste ano que o recém-renovado topo-de-linha dos alemães? A variação escalada para o Brasil é a S500L, que como você pode conferir no texto acima, utiliza o entre-eixos alongado para agradar ao grupo fiel de consumidores que a Classe S vem mantendo no país há tanto tempo. Um detalhe interessante é que seu preço é cotado em dólares, assim como os demais Mercedes-Benz mais caros no Brasil: US$ 265.900. Mas a marca também vai atender à parcela desses clientes que prefere deixar o motorista particular de lado: o primeiro semestre do ano que vem terá a chegada das suas versões AMG, naturalmente com o entre-eixos padrão.
Seu principal destaque é o uso dos mais variados tipos de tecnologia para compor um carro que a marca define como “perfeito”, seja quanto a requinte, performance ou habitabilidade. Ele se destaca por ser a fase mais nova de um modelo que acumula décadas de tradição em todo o mundo, o que certamente lhe dá imagem melhor que a de alguns concorrentes diretos. A versão que acaba de chegar ao país usa um 4.7 V8 biturbo que produz 455 cv e 71,4 kgfm e é associado ao câmbio automático 7G-Tronic Plus. Seus 5,24 m de comprimento podem receber ainda mais equipamentos do que os presentes na lista convencional, mediante solicitações especiais do cliente.