The 2006 S600 Sedan
Featuring a twin-turbocharged V-12 and Active Body Control (ABC), the S600 delivers world-class power and performance. It's the undisputed leader in the luxury sedan segment. According to MB USA.
MSRP $128,725* US
Engine5.5L 36-valve V-12
Net Power493 hp @ 5,000 rpm
Net Torque590 lb-ft @ 1,800 - 3,500 rpm
Puntiki: A very very fast automobile. It is capable of 0- 100Kph in under 5 seconds. It is a huge vehicle and after you drive it you really wonder what the S65 with 604 hp would drive like. The S600 spins the wheels with the traction control on if you dont watch it. I think that the suspension could do with a bit of a tweek, as it does not feel as good in my opinion as the 7 series BMW. Wouldn't want to get a second hand S600 out of warranty, as it is expensive to fix.
Pablo: Hmm - an iron fist wrapped in a silk glove is the metaphor that springs to mind. With every conceivable electronic gadget that the Krauts could invent stacked either under the bonnet or in the cabin, the S-Class is a technological tour de force.
It is, as Rob points out, a VERY large car, meaning that it is hideously impractical for the streets of Parnell and Remuera, where the car is likely to be found in greater numbers once it reaches the shores of NZ. The S Class makes no apologies for its size - rather, it dares the owner to think larger instead. However, despite it's impractical size, it's actually a very good looking German tank, and a far better looking S-Class than the obese and slab sided early 1990s S-Class (which was also light years ahead of its competition in size and technology).
So then, why choose an S-Class over the BMW 7 Series, the Jaguar XJ12, the Audi A8 and other luxury cars like the Rolls or Bentley? Well, maybe because its better looking than the Bentley or Rolls (less ungainly for such a large car), and maybe it's better looking than the unusually shaped 7 Series (with that god-awful ass and the even worse I-Drive system), and maybe because it's more prestigious than the Audi (a luxury car for people who don't want the neighbours reporting you to the IRD out of jealousy). But for me, I would save $100k in NZD, and a lot of bother and hassle in owning a car THAT big by going for the Mercedes tour-de-force that is the E Class 55 AMG. I have heard a story of NZ bigwigs all lunching over several bottles of wine having a big discussion on what was the best car in the world. They all disagreed on their number one pick, but could all agree on their number 2 choice. The E55 AMG has the power, the size and space, the image and the engineering excellence that a Mercedes owner aspires to own. The S600 is an impressive car, but it is not a car that you drive to work in - rather, it is the car that you are driven to work in.
5 comments:
The current S-class sedan is, dare I say, much more svelte than the previous Panzer-like behemoth it replaced. However, with the rapid acceleration of technology implemented into this car as well as its ilk, it would be difficult to say whether it is actually the "best" sedan in the world. The "best" of any product, be they a watch or a dishwasher, will always have the words "reliability", "dependability", and "durability" attached to it. It would be fair to say that you two and myself grew up at a time when a brand and a badge stood for the whole philosophy of what a company believed. You buy a Mercedes-Benz in the '70s, and you just know, that even the bolt holding the front license plate was indeed superior in some way to the "common bolt." You know that when you buy even a humble Merc 200, if you service it properly it will never fail on you, the water pump will last twice or three times as long, and the car was not a consumable. Unfortunately, if you check the reliability reports of many Mercs from the '90s, their absolute reliability has come down. Regardless of which survey -- UK, USA (Consumer Reports), and even Germany (ADAC -- which rated Merc almost at the bottom of a list of 23 brands). Merc has started to address this, but it will take time before those who bought Mercs for decades and got betrayed with expensive repairs, can be brought back to the fold. At best, Mercedes will still be vulnerable to the fact that solder on PCBs do fail with time, and just hope that the hairline solder crack on your then 8-12 year old car doesn't appear on your radar-controlled braking system's main computer. BMW, deemed as playing second-fiddle to the three-pointed star in decades past, has proven to be reasonably reliable. And yet, the Thai finance minister got trapped in a new 7-series when the car broke down, set the deadlocks, shut down the aircon, wouldn't let the windows down -- a security guard had to break the rear glass to let him out. Auto Motor und Sport reporters have also had problems with the 7. If BMW, which has been consistent with reliability, has started having problems with this bucket of silicon chips, then it may be the nature of the beast. It'll trickle down all the way to the Daewoo Matiz within the next 10 years.
Now, given that the S-class and its competition are probably of the same level of complexity anyway and expensive repairs are inevitable, I guess the other qualities are to be taken into account. First, the look. Among the S-class, 7-series, A8, and Jag XJ, I like best the look of the A8 (yes, I've had a few Audis), then the S-class, and the Jag. I just don't like the look of the 7. But I don't like the dash of the A8 (and the new A6), and prefer the Merc one. Ride and handling, well, although in extremis I'm pretty sure the BMW will win, all of them give a reasonable balance of handling and comfort, each with a bias towards one or the other. I'd pick the car which, if necessary, I could comfortably drive from Auckland to Taupo on a Friday afternoon at 5 pm in heavy rain while not feeling too well. But regardless of the car, especially if a Merc, I will not want a silver, black, navy blue, or forest green car. Pleeeeease, give me something a little different -- say, diamond blue metallic, signal red non-metallic, or, say, graphite, and please, no gray interiors.
A very good point Tony - the NZ herald had a big article about German build quality (and its decline) this morning (Friday 1 July)
Tony, That was a large reply..... You put some thought into this car. YOu are right. The BMW handles the best.
Antarctic Lemur, Your friend's problem may have more to do with age than Mercedes quality of the '80s. I've had Audis of varying ages ('81 Coupe GT-S, '85 GTE, '88 80 1.9E, '92 80 2.0E, and currently now a '96 A4 1.8i), and found that despite being NZ-new with a full service history, items WILL fail eventually. There comes a time in a car's life when reliability becomes a function of durability.
I had a steering rack done on my '85 GTE, and when I asked the mechanic if it was normal, he said they've had cars (not necessarily Audi) with racks worn at 5 to 8 years old; mine was 13 years old at the time, and I just happened to be the owner. I've reconditioned driver's power windows on my '81 Coupe and the GTE, but both were already well over 10 years old at the time, and didn't cost much (about $150 at Swanson auto electrical). I've had bad starting problems with the GTE, which turned out to be a hairline solder problem on the main relay (fixed by Civic Auto Electrical fellows within 10 minutes with a soldering iron), hence my comment about the hairline solder cracks on new cars. The answer might be,proactively, change all relays at a certain time. Fine if they were just $10 horn relays, but these ones can cost from $75 each. There were about 15 relays on my fuse box....
Mercedeses used to be engineered with an open checkbook, and launches can be delayed by months if an engineer said it was not ready yet, and something was not perfect. According to a magazine, Merc started designing cars to a strict budget and timeframe in the '90s, so there has been a compromise. Fact is, there is a way of doing things right first time, and it needs reasonable resources of money and time. "You can't hurry love." Worse, they bought Chrysler and Mitsubishi and inherited problems which they did not forsee, and are currently throwing money to those two,money that is NOT going to Mercedes' technology/perfection budget. The last REAL Mercedeses, over-engineered to last, were the 190E and 260E bodies (W201 and W124), plus the JR Ewing S-class sedans.
Mercedes was always the standard of the world. BMW never claimed to be. But the surveys are showing BMW as being pretty dependable. My mate's '93 320i, Japper, bought with 129K, almost has 200K on the odometer now, and he admits they do not maintain the car very well, and yet has not had a breakdown -- not even for that dreaded plastic-impeller water pump! VW/Audi can be spotty depending on the car model and where it's built (absolutely rubbish in Nth America, the Golfs and Jettas, built in Mexico), but given that Audi's crash test results, performance, galv body, etc are pretty similar to equivalent Merc's these days, and their parts suppliers are pretty much the same, unless Mercedes goes back to being rock-dependable, I'd save myself a few tens of thousands (and spend them on the odd repair) and get an equivalent Audi over a Merc.
Perhaps I feel more like the kid who found out Santa didn't really exist, but Merc doesn't seem as hollowed a name to me now, doesn't make me feel "humbled" in its presence anymore. But I still hope they recover, because I guess deep in my heart I'd still like to believe there just...might be a Santa still...car-wise, that is. Mercedes was the main symbol of so-called German Quality, and in these days of corporate profit priorities over company philosophy, one can only hope they can once again be where they used to be -- beyond fault.
Would I buy a Merc today? Well, second-hand as a well-priced import, yes -- but I'd stick to simpler models, and scan the 'net for common problems which have been discovered and can be rectified. I just want a car with a rigid body incase I get smacked on the motorway, not necessarily very fast, but dependable enough and comfortable, for a reasonable price. (That's how I ended up with Audis -- equivalent BMWs were $10K more expensive, and I'm on the average Kiwi income). I don't believe that these days exists a perfect car anymore -- sure, you could buy a Lexus and have the legendary Toyota reliability (damn), but somehow I can't bring myself to drive a well-made refrigerator. Well-built they may be, but I just wish they could discover how to give a car a soul of its own. I thought they were on their way there with the IS200/Altezza, until the new one was launched in Japan. Yep, they have no idea, the new car screams "Camry Prominent" or "Cresta!!!" from all angles.
A problem with the Germans is that they source their parts from suppliers like Bosch - a company which has had numerous QC issues. So when a Bosch part fails in a car, Mercedes get blamed for someone else's sub-contracted mess.
I understand that MB is looking to recoup money from Bosch as a result of the parts failures.
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