cawimmer430

I copied and pasted the stuff into this thread on Carspin in case you want to see their responses. Didn't bother posting it on C&D itself since those forums are full of trolls and extremely biased Japanese car fanboys.

The review is very positive though Casba Csere's comments at the end somehow make me wonder "HUH!? It's a luxury car Csaba not a sports sedan!"

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2007 Mercedes-Benz S550

Where else can you get the Aktion Gesunder Rücken's seal of approval?
BY JOHN PHILLIPS
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GREG JAREM
February 2006



Tally all the engine possibilities and it’s accurate to say that Mercedes-Benz currently offers—whoa!—43 models. Ask the average schmo on the street to name the most famous, and he might say, “McCambridge,” or he might say, “Gullwing,” but he’ll probably say, “S-class.” For more than 50 years, S-class Benzes have been the most succulent sausages in the Teutons’ tray of vehicular sauerkraut.

For 2007, the S-class lineup has been simplified. No more short- and long-wheelbase cars, just the 124.6-inch edition, 3.1 inches more majestic than its predecessor. The lineup now comprises the S550 tested here, whose $86,175 base price is actually $1650 shy of its S500 forebear’s, followed in April by a 510-horse V-12 S600, with a sticker close to $130,000. An all-wheel-drive S550 4MATIC should arrive in November, and the inevitable AMG variants will manifest when AMG and every F1 driver on the planet are damn well ready.

Apart from the S550’s swollen fender haunches—reminiscent of those hockey-puck shoulder pads that Larry King jams into his suits—what you notice first about this car is its seats. Really. They’re sumptuous without being saggy and offer 14-way “multicontour” adjustments that can even change the distance the cushion extends beneath your thighs, and there are optional multilevel fans blowing cold or hot winds up your keister, and there are side bolsters that suddenly stiffen in reaction to cornering forces, and there are center lumbar chambers that expand and contract to change your position twice per minute, and there’s even a vigorous Magic Fingers option that feels like small pine logs rolling slowly down the sluiceway that is your spine. We drove this S550 from Manhattan to Ann Arbor, stopping only to replenish 23.8 gallons of premium unleaded, and felt as if we should have continued on to Iowa. Similar praise can be heaped on the vast and comfy rear chairs, where you can tuck your loafers beneath the tall front seats, spread out, and fully open the Times’ Arts & Leisure section. These new seats are so good that they bear the seal of approval of the Aktion Gesunder Rücken, which is either a German outfit that rates products for spine-friendliness or a bunch of guys who look for life forms under rocks.

In the past, Mercedes expended a moderate load of warm air hyping its SOHC three-valve-per-cylinder V-8s but now has fast-forwarded to the world of twin-cam four-valvers, with superlative results. This new variable-valve-timing V-8 purrs out 382 horses at 6000 rpm but stockpiles all 391 pound-feet of its peak torque right there on the bottom shelf, ever accessible from 2800 to 4800 rpm. The engine is as smooth as a poetry major on Ambien—more than once we tried to start the bugger while it was running. Unlike your average poet, however, it is practically mute. In fact, the S550 is quieter at idle, at full throttle, and at a 70-mph cruise than a Bentley Continental GT and is exactly as quiet at 70 mph as that perennial exemplar of soporific tranquillity, the Lexus LS430.

Which somehow makes the S550’s accelerative thrust—right on the city limits of hot roddom—all the more thrilling. Apply a little brake torque and you can paint five unholy feet of Continental rubber on the deck. The S550 legs it to 60 mph in 5.3 seconds—0.8 second quicker than the last S500 we sampled and 0.1 second quicker than the new BMW 750i, the car die Benzkinder most fear. To 100 mph, the S550 lags behind the big BMW by only a tenth, but its quarter-mile ET is two-tenths quicker. Top speed for S550s fitted with M+S-rated tires is choked to 132 mph, 23 mph shy of the fun available with the optional Z-rated rubber.

Despite its aluminum hood, trunk, doors, and front fenders, the S550 is a 4688-pound luxury meteorite with handling to match. Which is to say, not much. On slippery surfaces, you can rotate the tail a Chihuahua wag or two until the unflappable stability control imposes discipline, but this Benz is otherwise hard-wired to plow like an Oshkosh H-series snow blower. The upside is a ride so plush that even the deepest potholes induce just a distant thump-wump, as if someone had dropped a tennis ball on the bedroom carpet. It’s wonderful: one soft compression, one soft rebound. And the wallowing body motions we’d normally associate with a ride so compliant are almost wholly extinguished by the optional active body control. At $3900, the ABC is dear but should be regarded as mandatory.
You’d think that any automatic with seven forward gears would be busier than the Starbucks at Sea-Tac airport. Instead, you’re almost never aware of its ministrations—one Benz dealer in New Jersey actually thought it was a CVT—and the transmission can skip as many as three gears as it downshifts. On the back of the steering spokes are rubber rockers that allow manumatic control. The pads are small and imperfectly placed, but it doesn’t matter because you’ll never use them. On its own, the automatic proved more prescient about gear selection than we ever were.

Brake feel is terrific, and the onset of ABS is subtle yet predictable. From 70 mph, the S550 stops in 11 fewer feet than an Audi A8L W-12 Quattro. The speed-sensitive steering is a tad heavy at all velocities. Tracking is fine, and effort builds in proportion to the load on the front tires, but the few road textures that are transmitted feel synthetically processed and puréed.

Speaking of beefs, we judged the side-view mirrors to be about two-thirds the size they should be, and the four window-lift switches are so flush and crammed together that you can’t operate them without looking. At tollbooths, we regularly opened the left-rear window. The overhead-light switches suffer the same fate, and Benz’s new column-mounted shifter demands that you push up for reverse, a “half push” down for neutral, and a “full push” down for drive. Yet to put the transmission into park, you must depress a button at the tip of the shifter, and none of these movements is accompanied by the slightest tactile or audible clue, so you dare not set off without first scanning the IP to determine what gear digit is aglow. Even the standard six-CD changer is tucked into a deep, dark cave whose entrance is guarded by a hinged door that, when opened, bangs into your drink in the cup holder. Why?

Thankfully, all of the S550’s HVAC functions can be controlled by 11 small chrome toggles arrayed in one horizontal lip across the pregnant bulge in the center of the dash. We say “thankfully” because other vital functions—turning on the radio, for example—must be summoned via the COMAND system.

And that’s just the tip of the electronic iceberg. There’s an optional infrared system (part of a $6500 package) that delivers a crisp black-and-white image of what’s in front of you at night. It’s good at highlighting drunken pedestrians on the berm, but you can’t use the screen alone to drive because there’s so little depth perception. So it serves as an amusing novelty for a month and then is of the same value as the dusty NordicTrack stored in your basement. There’s also an optional color camera to reveal what’s lurking behind your S550. It frames the view with blue, yellow, and red hash marks that predict where the car will go with any given steering input. Stare at it long enough and your inner ear will explode. And then there’s the $2800 Distronic Plus double-dog super-duty triple-throw-down cruise control that accelerates and brakes as it paces the car in front. Should that driver come to a complete halt and start up again, so will your S550, all of this without your ever moving a single leg muscle, although all the muscles in your face will twitch the first time you try it. It works fairly well except in moderately heavy traffic, where it lags just far enough behind the lead car that the resulting hole becomes too tempting, and adjacent motorists dive in like penguins off a berg.

The average S-class buyer lays out $10,000 in options, which strikes us as an as-yet-unnamed mental condition, because the list of standard gear would nearly fill the greater-Chicago Yellow Pages: 14 speakers, a global positioning system, eight airbags, “waterfall” lights leaking out from seams in the dash, power rear sunblind, sunroof, walnut inserts, xenon headlamps that may be the world’s best—and that ain’t the half of it. Pop for the $3900 ABC and call it a day.

Like its S-class progenitors, this ninth-gen cruiser induces more contemplation and serenity than hot-blooded enthusiasm. It coddles, protects, and isolates. It eats interstate miles like a bullfrog eats flies. And its ability to gather felonious speeds remains magical. But the S550 is otherwise not hugely involving—you might be just as pleased to let a chauffeur seize the wheel, an arrangement not uncommon on the Continent.

This is the best S-class ever, still a stately and aristocratic institution, the automotive equivalent of the Budweiser Clydesdales in the Rose Bowl parade. But unless you absolutely need the fat-CEO back seats or the seductive pretense of that chrome “S” on the rump, well, uh, a 469-horse $84,575 E55 AMG comes rapidly to mind.

STEVE SPENCE
What we have here no long qualifies to be just a car anymore. It’s something ... grander, like somewhere on it in tasteful chrome there should be a NASA badge. Call it a freeway module. Or a highway capsule. You just cannot make a car ride any more smoothly, any more comfortably, any more cozily, any more warm and fuzzily. Game over. So what will Mercedes do with the next generation. S-class, since its ride is all improved-out? Possibly add more services and edges covered in fur? A coffeemaker? Or more dashboard buttons? There are eight involving the radio, which I am afraid of since I can’t find the on switch. It’s a stupendous thing, whatever it is.

ANDRÉ IDZIKOWSKI
BMW started the revolution with its iDrive single-knob control system, and others have tried their own approach. All have been complicated and annoying to use, up until now. Mercedes has it right with its updated COMAND system; unlike BMWs infuriating and complicated iDrive, COMAND is simple to use. I hopped in the car and, without an owner’s manual, had everything programmed and preset to my liking in 10 minutes. No cursing or tantrums, no having to look up stuff. I’m not smitten with the exterior styling—the heavily flared wheel arches are a bit over the top—but everything else about the S550 makes it a perfect 10 on my scorecard.

CSABA CSERE
By objective measures, this S550 is a fabulous car. It easily runs the quarter in the 13s. It corners and stops like a sports car. Its suspension smothers bumps. And the big Mercedes is supremely quiet and comfortable. I’ll even allow that the Mercedes version of the grand German control knob works better than any that came before it. But somehow, the car still fails to make my mouth water. Perhaps I’m put off by the overly styled sheetmetal, which lacks the grace of its predecessor. I’m also not taken with the synthetic feel in the major driving controls and the electronics-heavy interior. Even in a luxury sedan, I’d like more driver involvement.

Dude, Who Stole Your Radio?

We’re not gonna launch into a red-faced rant about the complicated COMAND system. For one thing, we don’t have enough pages. But it does strike us as risky to force the average S-class owner—he is, after all, 61 years old—to corral the cognitive courage necessary to wend his way, via an aluminum mouse, through approximately as many computer programs as are required to launch an ICBM from the USS Alaska. To summon music, for instance, you must:

a. Tilt the mouse forward to get to the top of the computer screen’s main menu.

b. Twist the mouse left or right to place the cursor on “Audio.”

c. Push the mouse straight down to say, “Yes, I do want to view the audio menu.”

d. Repeatedly tilt the mouse backward to toggle through your options: FM, AM, Satellite Radio, CD, DVD, MP3, or Audio Off.

e. Poke the mouse straight down to select the mode you desire.

f. Twirl the mouse left or right, now that an FM radio dial has magically appeared, to advance from channel to channel. (Note: You’re in seek mode only. If you wish to listen to weak stations, prepare to start all over again.)

g. Direct your attention away from the computer and away from the mouse and to the top-right spoke of the steering wheel, where a five-function rubber pad the size of a silver dollar will allow you to hear the station you’ve so diligently pursued.

h. Should that prove too complex, direct your attention to a small knurled wheel on the passenger side of the center console, where volume can alternately be adjusted.

Up, down, sideways. Twist, turn, poke. Hands for some functions, fingers for others, eyes continuously scanning the steering wheel, dash, screen, and center console. Exactly where is the radio? It’s everywhere. And nowhere. Can the COMAND system be mastered? Of course. Just not today.


2007 Mercedes-Benz S550

Vehicle type: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

Price as tested: $104,175

Price and option breakdown: base Mercedes-Benz S550 (includes $775 freight), $86,175; Premium 3 package (consists of heated, ventilated, and massaging seats; electronic trunk closer; rearview camera; Keyless Go; night-view assist; dynamic rearview mirror; dynamic multicontour seats), $6500; active body control, $3900; radar cruise control, $2800; 4-zone climate control, $1200; panorama sunroof, $1000; power rear seats, $750; power side-window blinds, $700; Sirius satellite radio, $600; wood steering wheel, $550

Major standard accessories: power windows, seats, locks, and sunroof; remote locking; A/C; cruise control; tilting and telescoping steering wheel; rear defroster

Sound system: Harman/Kardon AM-FM-satellite radio/CD changer/DVD player, 14 speakers

ENGINE
Type: V-8, aluminum block and heads
Bore x stroke: 3.86 x 3.56 in, 98.0 x 90.5mm
Displacement: 333 cu in, 5461cc
Compression ratio: 10.7:1
Fuel-delivery system: port injection
Valve gear: chain-driven double overhead cams, 4 valves per cylinder, variable intake- and exhaust-valve timing
Power (SAE net): 382 bhp @ 6000 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 391 lb-ft @ 2800 rpm
Redline: 6400 rpm

DRIVETRAIN
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with manumatic shifting
Final-drive ratio: 2.65:1
Gear, Ratio, Mph/1000 rpm, Max test speed
I, 4.38, 6.7, 43 mph (6400 rpm)
II, 2.86, 10.3, 66 mph (6400 rpm)
III, 1.92, 15.4, 98 mph (6400 rpm)
IV, 1.37, 21.5, 132 mph (6150 rpm)
V, 1.00, 29.5, 132 mph (4500 rpm)
VI, 0.82, 36.0, 132 mph (3650 rpm)
VII, 0.73, 40.4, 132 mph (3250 rpm)

DIMENSIONS
Wheelbase: 124.6 in
Track, front/rear: 63.0/63.2 in
Length/width/height: 205.0/83.3/58.0 in
Ground clearance: 5.3 in
Drag area, Cd (0.27) x frontal area (25.8 sq ft): 7.0 sq ft
Curb weight: 4688 lb
Weight distribution, F/R: 51.5/48.5%
Curb weight per horsepower: 12.3 lb
Fuel capacity: 23.8 gal

CHASSIS/BODY
Type: unit construction
Body material: welded steel and aluminum stampings

INTERIOR
SAE volume, front seat: 53 cu ft
rear seat: 53 cu ft
luggage: 20 cu ft
Front-seat adjustments: fore-and-aft, seatback angle, front height, rear height, lumbar support, upper and lower side bolsters, thigh support
Restraint systems, front: manual 3-point belts; driver and passenger front, side, and curtain airbags
rear: manual 3-point belts, side and curtain airbags

SUSPENSION
Front: ind; 1 control arm, I lateral link, and 1 diagonal link per side; coil springs; 2-position cockpit adjustable, electronically controlled hydraulic springs and shock absorbers
Rear: ind; 2 lateral links, 2 diagonal links, and
1 toe-control link per side; coil springs; 2-position cockpit adjustable, electronically
controlled hydraulic springs and shock absorbers

STEERING
Type: rack-and-pinion with variable hydraulic power assist
Steering ratio: 17.8:1
Turns lock-to-lock: 2.8
Turning circle curb-to-curb: 40.0 ft

BRAKES
Type: hydraulic with vacuum power assist,
anti-lock control, and panic assist
Front: 13.8 x 1.3-in vented disc
Rear: 12.6 x 0.9-in vented disc

WHEELS AND TIRES
Wheel size/type: 8.5 x 18 in/cast aluminum
Tires: Continental ContiTouringContact CH95, 255/45R-18 99H M+S
Test inflation pressures, F/R: 29/29 psi
Spare: high-pressure compact

C/D TEST RESULTS
ACCELERATION: Seconds
Zero to 30 mph: 2.0
40 mph: 2.9
50 mph: 4.1
60 mph: 5.3
70 mph: 6.9
80 mph: 8.7
90 mph: 10.7
100 mph: 13.2
110 mph: 16.1
120 mph: 19.3
130 mph: 23.4
Street start, 5–60 mph: 5.7
Top-gear acceleration:
30–50 mph: 2.9
50–70 mph: 3.6
Standing 1/4-mile: 13.7 sec @ 102 mph
Top speed (governor limited): 132 mph

BRAKING
70–0 mph @ impending lockup: 172 ft

HANDLING
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.85 g
Understeer: minimal moderate excessive

PROJECTED FUEL ECONOMY (mfr’s est)
EPA city driving: 16 mpg
EPA highway driving: 24 mpg
C/D-observed: 16 mpg

INTERIOR SOUND LEVEL
Idle: 45 dBA
Full-throttle acceleration: 69 dBA
70-mph cruising: 65 dBA

NevadaJack

Thanks for posting wimmer. A very positive review for sure. I am planning an order in the next week or two...the S430 is a great car but I have to experience this one now! I will post details as they become available.

BTW...have you seen the new color for the S? It is called Andorite Grey and is described on MBUSA site as "a light grey with blue and green hues." Sounds like Alpine Rain derivative to me but I am leaning toward it.

Vivaki

I thinks its darker than alpine rain. Alpine rain is very silvery with a touch of light sky blue. Andorite (although ive not seen it IRL) looks like a dark grey silver...kinda like the BMW 5 series type of silver grey...

Thats quite a switch Jack...from R class to W220 S class to W221 all within a year? wow! lol!

NevadaJack

I love it...might as well sample them all while I have the chance...:-)

On the paint...MB says a light grey and their BYO show a more predominant blue/green color. But the S minisite shows it more grey and darker with just a hint of color. I think I am going to chance it...

NevadaJack

Here is a copy from the MBUSA site of Andorite Metallic with Standard Wheels

Beemer B773ER

Seems like pretty positive review on the car, which are good signs that the S hasn't lost its way.
It even looks quite nice in that picture, although the rear wheels seem a little too small for the size of that large rear end.

Also, I'm glad that the magazine was fair and criticize the COMAND system. I was getting sick of the I-Drive only getting grilled, so go to see some consistency in criticism.

Thanks for the post cawimmer.

EDIT: NevadaJack... damn that color looks beautiful on the new S... wow..

cawimmer430

No problem at all Jack. I loved driving W220 S-Classes when I worked for MB, but the W221 feels so much more advanced and handles better, even though that's not really a priority for most buyers in this class. When you get it, post pics!

Say, you ever visit Car and Driver? We need more MB supporters over there.

cawimmer430

Anytime.

Personally, I don't believe what magazines say about cars navigation systems. I'm sure I-Drive or MMI or COMAND is easy to use once you're "used to it". These guys test cars for a short time and can't begin to understand the whole systems on day one.

yomomwhat

is this the same colour? its got green in? it was in another thread...