Mercedes-Benz S 350 CDI

There is a special place in the heart of every auto journalist for large German sedans as they epitomise everything that we aspire to see in cars and none is more famous than the Mercedes-Benz S-Class which is now in its 60th year of production. The S-Class has always been a moving demonstration of what kind of features and luxury options you can expect in your car within the next 10-15 years and it seems that the latest generation has donned the mantle pretty well.

The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (codenamed W222) was unveiled at the German automaker’s Sindelfingen factory in May 2013 and was launched for the Indian market in the S500 guise in January. This car, the S 350 CDI, was launched in June and is the more affordable version, mind you, the term affordable is quite relative when you are talking about a car like the S-Class.

The S-Class is the choice of transport for many heads of state, VIPs, VVIPs and many ultra-rich Ps, so its road presence and street credibility are only secondary to its massive size. The front of the 2014 S-Class sports the classic slatted grille and chrome three-pointed star logo, a defining trait of the range since its inception. The only thing missing from our S 350 was a small national flag fluttering on the side but that is a very unlikely happening.

The previous generation of the car was the first to adapt LEDs into the headlight assembly but this takes it one step further by having the entire headlight assembly made out of LEDs (56 in each headlight to be precise). While this is not a new thing among luxury carmakers, it does give this car an imposing and regal presence thanks to the angular shape of the assembly. This car loses out on the front camera that is present in S500 so the grille which still chrome laced is a bit smaller. The bumper is exactly the same one on the S500 and is a combination of sporty with a bit of elegance thanks to the chrome bits in the fog lamp recess.

The side profile of the 2014 S-Class brings out the classic lines that have defined the range. It has been divided into two horizontal parts in a rather subtle manner. The first section comprises the top half, down to the door handles. While the former gets a full chrome strip running all around, the latter has chrome inserts in the middle to add to the bling factor. It is separated from the middle section by a subtle crease that runs just below the door handles and strangely dips towards the rear, when most cars today opt for a rising crease to emphasise sportiness. The second part of the side profile is the rest of the door which ends in a large chrome strip that run along the length of the side just above the side skirt.

The wheel arches are softly flared in the rear but much louder in the front leading to the impression that the front of the car is much heavier and a more significant place than the rear (a polar opposite what happens inside).

Mercedes-Benz appears to have retained the design of the rear end from the previous car but has added just a little more chrome thereby allowing the premium factor to move up just a little further. The major change at the rear is that the tail lamp assembly is now a full LED unit and the reversing lamps have moved to the bottom of the stack.

The S-Class S 350 CDI is a direct rival for the BMW 730Ld, Audi A8L 3.0-litre TDI Quattro and Jaguar XJ L 3.0-litre V6 diesel. From this formidable pack of luxury limos the A8L looks quite futuristic while the 730Ld (as is the case with most Beemers) looks rather sinister and business like. The XJ L seems to give off the sporty credentials thanks its low slung design and massive wheels leaving the S-Class to do what it does best-be the car for those who want to climb out of the back when there is luxury and prestige to be shown off.

If you have figured out by now or used Google translate to decipher that Sonderklasse means special class in German, then I’m pretty sure that you have also figured out the interiors of this car are something that has emerged out of the imagination of a modern day landed gentry’s living room. It is a leather, wood and brushed metal filled space that you climb into to experience moving luxury at one of its best.

However, since this is a road test, I will begin with the front. The overall layout of the driver’s section has been carried over from the previous generation of vehicles but now there is less emphasis on wood and more on the metal bits which provide youth to the design.

The instant you slip into the driver’s seat the first thing that catches your attention are the two LCD screens that serve as the displays. The right side one provides the gauges and driver info while the left side screen serves up things like the media, navigation and ambient lighting colour selection.

The steering wheel is a two-spoke unit covered in leather and adorned with a 1950s era Mercedes-Benz badge. It does not get the wooden inserts like the S500 but is still very exclusive and feels very comfortable to use. The gear selector is behind the wheel but Mercedes-Benz has also included paddle shifters as a part of the deal.

The centre console comprises the COMAND control system rotary dial and buttons for the both the media systems as well as to control bits like the Airmatic suspension and driving modes. It also has buttons to access various menus like vehicle settings and media navigation in the COMAND system directly.

The music system is a bespoke unit developed by Burmester for the 2014 S-Class. It loses out on a few speakers and the pop out mechanism as compared to the S500 but the sound is still phenomenal and very clear. This was made clear to me when I turned on the radio and was treated to a rather dramatic version of Sunil Shetty’s ‘Jhanjhariya’ from the movie Krishna. The German automaker has also included two sets of Bluetooth enabled headphones to use in conjunction with the media system; these can be used independently at the rear. What this means is that the driver can listen to his favourite Sunil Shetty songs while the rear seat occupants can watch his movies.

One of the new additions to the features available in the car is the ambient lighting system in the cabin. There are seven colour options and can be adjusted for intensity separately in the back and front. Depending on your mood you can adjust the intensity and shade; personally we found the orange shade very peaceful and it was our ambient light for most of the drive.

One of the little things I found that added to the premium factor are the knobs to control the intensity of the air flowing from the vents. The knobs are chrome bits that pop out of their recess when pressed providing for a minimalistic yet elegant design. The climate control switches have pretty much been carried over from the previous design.

The rear seats is where the S-Class’ interiors come alive. This version of the S-Class gets a bench as compared to the two individual seats found in the S500. The back of the centre seat flips forward to form an armrest with cup holders and a cubbyhole that houses the remote controls with which you can operate all the functions at the rear via the screens mounted behind the front headrests.

Both the rear seats have massagers installed and you can select from five different types of massages with varying levels of intensity. The seats also have a heating function and this can be used in connection with the seat massagers to provide the occupant with a hot massage. This is possibly the best feature of any car ever invented for the backseat babu – when we say the rear seat is relaxing in an S Class, we mean it… literally!

The passenger seat can be pushed forward completely to provide the left side occupant with additional leg room; this will only be necessary for NBA centers and WWE wrestlers, though. The S 350 CDI loses out on the fold out tables provided with the S500 but retains the dual zone climate control system. Included in the package is the glass roof, of which only the front is a sunroof and the rear half, a moonroof. The media component in the COMAND system can play a large variety of formats on the rear screens and be controlled from the front and rear seats.

The NVH levels in the cabin are minimal and for anyone getting into the car for the first time, it would be impossible for them to even guess that the power plant is a diesel unit lurking under the hood. Potholes and bumps feel almost negligent and it is only when you really unsettle the car do you get a muted thump from where the wheel dived into the pothole or over the bump.

The S-Class in the interior department loses out on just a few features as compared to the S500 like the rear bumper sensor to open the boot, night vision and 360 degree cameras as well as the rear seat tables but they are things you will hardly miss when you consider the sheer number of features already available.

However, the S 350 CDI as compared to its direct rivals-the BMW 730Ld, Audi A8L 3.0-litre TDI Quattro and the Jaguar XJ L 3.0-litre V6 diesel- emerges in first place just ahead of the Audi A8L with which it shares an almost similar feature list. The Jaguar XJ L, the most expensive of the lot has the least number of features but appears to make up for it in terms of performance figures. Each of the cars as compared to S-Class loses out one or two features giving the three-pointed star an upper hand in this regard.

The S 350 CDI is powered by a 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine that produces 254bhp and a whopping 620Nm of torque. Power is sent to the rear wheels via the German automaker’s 7G-tronic gearbox. This is the same engine found in the GL 350 CDI and the ML 350 CDI.

Torque is available from as low as 1400rpm ensuring that you have sufficient grunt to navigate such a large vehicle in heavy traffic without having to put in a lot of effort. Consequently, the engine steadily climbs the torque curve when you floor the throttle and will get you from 0-100kmph in 6.8 seconds which is pretty quick when you consider that it is 5.24 meters long and has a kerb weight of 2.13 tonnes. The S 350 CDI has an ARAI specified fuel efficiency of 14.27kmpl.

The S 350 CDI is not the most powerful car among its competitors with that honour going to the Jaguar XJ L which is also powered by a 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine but tuned to produce 271bhp and 600Nm of torque. The Audi A8 L is the least powerful as its engine produces 257bhp and 580Nm of torque but is the only one to offer 4WD in this quadruplet of cars in the Indian market.

The S-Class is a car in which you arrive at your destination rather than hurtling towards it at mind bending speeds. Mercedes-Benz has fitted it with large 18-inch 10 spoke wheels and 245/50 section R18 tyres which in combination with the raised ground clearance (for India) would have made for quite a hard ride on our roads but thanks to the Airmatic suspension, it almost feels carpet like and only when you go really fast over a pothole or bump do you feel a rather muted thud inside.

The ride could have been much softer had Mercedes fitted the S-Class with tubeless tyres. However, the run-flat tyres are a global standard and come with the S-Class in whichever market it is sold in and is not something that will change from market to market.

It feels big when you drive it and takes a while to wrap your head around the proportions of the car. The car will take corners at decent speeds and there is a certain amount of body roll but it is manageable. Its large size and heavy kerb weight make it feel very heavy under braking.

The Mercedes-Benz S-Class S 350 CDI is an affordable version of the more premium S-Class S 500. You lose out on a few features but there is still enough to keep you floating in luxury in this car. Its major advantage is also that it is a completely new car when compared to the other three who have all undergone just major facelifts.

If you are someone who spends most of their time on the road in the back seat then the S 350 is a better bet as compared to the S 500, as you get a similar feature list, design and ride quality with the added benefit of a diesel engine. However, if your are the kind who rides in the back during the week and likes to take the wheel on the highways and weekends, the S500 is a better bet as it handles far better.

At Rs 1.09 crore (ex-showroom Delhi) it is the second cheapest car among the group but seems to be the only one that offers an exhaustive feature list both on the inside and outside making it a VFM package for those who want a luxury limo.