S-Class star tops the tree

There are barely two shopping months left to Christmas -- just enough time to put in an order for a new S-Class and take delivery.

Mercedes-Benz is hoping that Santa delivers enough units of the S-Class for the importer to secure sales leadership in the VFACTS upper large car segment this year.

Over the year to date, the Mercedes S-Class (190 units sold), has fallen behind its nemesis, the BMW 7 Series (222 units). The gap between the two German prestige cars remains quite close -- particularly when this year's 7 Series is an altogether new design, built on a different platform. Hence, MB has brought out an upgraded S-Class for local buyers.

With effectively three months of sales still to be tallied for the year, Mercedes-Benz could yet pull a blinder and overtake BMW's 7 Series score. Indeed, local MD Horst von Sanden is banking on that.

"We have managed to hold up very strongly in S-Class [sales], even though we were competing against a brand new product, but S-Class is almost market leader. We're very confident that with the new S-Class... we'll be able to claw back our deserved position there."

According to von Sanden, the next all-new generation of S-Class is due in 2012, but the feeling within the company is that the new model needn't change too much, because "S-Class has always been the benchmark".

"Our customers have always liked it," says von Sanden, "and that's why Stuttgart didn't change too much."

For the new model year, the S-Class is safer, more efficient and provides added features for little extra cost. The model hierarchy remains unchanged, although the former S 320 is now marketed as the S 350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY.

Mechanically, the new models benefit from changes that eke out additional kilometres from the one tank of fuel. Benz has specified aerodynamic styling tweaks, lower-rolling-resistance tyres and more efficient steering mechanism, fuel pump and 7G-Tronic automatic transmission. The company claims reductions in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions to the tune of seven per cent.

Revised consumption and emissions figures for the V6 diesel are 7.7L/100km and 202g/km respectively -- stemming from underbody aero styling and the modification of the auto transmission to shift to neutral automatically when the car is standing at traffic lights for a while. The transmission shifts back to Drive as soon as the driver lifts the foot from the brake pedal.

The S-Class is not a major facelift, but those in the know will spot the new car by its LED lighting, principally. From a distance though, it's hard to pick from the pre-facelifted W221 introduced to Australia in 2006.

Other distinguishing features for the upgraded model range include: revised bumpers, deeper grille, fully-integrated exhausts and the day-running lights. Diamond White Bright is a new paint option.

Inside, the steering wheel has been redesigned, seats have been modified, auto seatbelt adjustment has been adopted and ambient lighting can now be switched between three colour selections ('solar', 'neutral' and 'polar').

The 2009 S-Class introduces 'Splitview', a facility in the centre fascia, providing alternating information displays for driver and front-seat passenger. A passenger can continue to watch a movie on DVD, but the driver sees nothing other than the map for a satnav system, for example. Benz has upgraded the multi-media infotainment system to permit downloading content from an SD memory card.

Other changes to the in-car infotainment systems pertain to the Linguatronic voice-recognition command system, 'Gracenote' music register which can display information concerning songs being played and a 40-gig hard disk with the ability to handle 3D map data scheduled to come on line late this year.

A number of standard or optional safety features are new or revised. These include: Adaptive High Beam Assist with camera technology, Night View Assist Plus (with pedestrian detection), Lane Keeping Assist, Attention Assist, Direct-Steer, Active Body Control with crosswind stabilisation and Torque Vector Monitoring.

According to the maker, Attention Assist monitors 70 different parameters in order to determine whether a driver is too fatigued and should be awoken by means of an audible alert and a message in the instrument binnacle.

Lane Keeping Assist can plot the car's optimum course relative to a centre line and alert the driver the car's heading off the road or out of the lane, even if there are no markings at the side of the road -- as is often the case on Australian country roads.

Active Body Control relies on stability control to adjust the car's stance in a crosswind and the ESP also provides the necessary means to nip an inside rear brake for the Torque Vectoring Brake facility. This ensures that the car turns in with what Benz describes as 'targeted one-sided braking' for neutral handling.

With the introduction of the upgraded model range, the S-Class has risen in price, but Benz believes that the car represents a 7.8-per cent increase in purchase price, for a 15-per cent adjustment in value.

Prices are now as follows:
S 350 $214,900
S 350 CDI BlueEFFICIENCY $214,900
S 350 L $232,900
S 500 $289,900
S 500 L $307,900
S 63 AMG $380,900
S 600 L $402,900
S 65 AMG L $482,900

The upgraded S-Class range is in dealerships now.

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