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Sedans Mercedes Benz S-Class Sedan Mercedes-Benz S-Class
2062 messages, Last post on Nov 23, 2009 at 5:43 PM
You are in the Mercedes Benz S-Class Sedan Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens
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...Well, I just got home from a wonderfully stimulating afternoon of gawking at and driving cars. Here's some of my thoughts. First off, Lexus did a wonderful job and had enough cars that the lines to drive them weren't excessively long. The entire affair was handled with polish and class. Kudos to Lexus for an entertaining and informative afternoon. Lexus LS 460 - Very much the "big brother" to our car. Nice but not drop dead "holy cow, I can't believe it" nice. Very fast, nicely balanced and pretty flat through s-curves. On the negative side, the throttle is still very non linear with small changes corresponding to either no change in power or massive "throw you back in the seat" acceleration; the brakes, too were very notchy and "grabby" with small moduations in pressure causing unpredictable and overly aggressive braking. All in all the drivetrain was a major dissappointment in it's lack of harmony and linkage. As this is clearly present in our cars (the ES) one begins to think that Lexus just can't get engines and tranny's to link together properly. M-B S 550 - WOW!!! Both inside and out, this car radiates class and elegance. Literally everything about it pretty much screams "in this car you have reached the pinnacle of automotive sophistication and refinement." Everything looks like quality and radiates good taste. Awesome, simply awesome. The engine is incredibly torquey (sp?) and it feels like the ability to accelerate is limitless. Power delivery is entirely linear with the degree to which the accelerator is pressed and there is no hesitation whatsoever when you push the gas pedal. Power delivery is immediate with your right foot, the accelerator pedal and the drivetrain all feeling as if they are governed by one mind. Very impressive! The transmission is as smooth as fresh butter and you never feel any shift points at all. On the negative side, the car is heavy and the front end doesn't respond to rapid direction changes as nimbly as the Lexus. There is very little body lean, however and the car maintains a nice neutral posture thru s-curves. The steering is positively awful. The steering wheel is too big and feels like a Mack truck it's so heavily weighted. All this comes at a price (what doesn't?). $86k is what you'll need to bring one of these home. BMW 750 - This is one seriously ugly car. And you know what? It gets even worse (if that's possible) when you get in. The interior looks cheap and as if it's ergonomics (I admittedly use the term loosely) were designed by a psychotic, retarded person. Buttons and knobs are strewn everywhere with little or no apparent planning. The button to adjust seat position is mindlessly placed on the side of the center stack by your right knee. Buttons are everywhere and you don't even want to get me started on the mind nubbingly dumb-assed "I-Drive" system. It's all a design and ergonomic nightmare. Chris Bangle should be shot for the exterior but whoever "designed" (again, I use the term loosely as this thing doesn't appear so much designed as thrown into some cosmic blender and put together based on whatever spilled out) the interior should be given to Saddam Hussein's kids (if they were still alive, but I guess you get my point). Now onto something a bit more pleasant. The car drives like a dream. As with the M-B, there is total harmony between the engine, transmission and accelerator pedal. Power delivery is immediate and the thing is a rocket ship. There is essentially no body lean and it handles like a slot car. Pretty impressive for a 4500 lb. vehicle. There is simply nothing bad to say about the driving dynamics of this champ. If you could get by it's "Ugly Betty" appearance and hideous interior, this is a killer car. And a steal at "only" $74k. Lexus SC 430 - Ughhh! Who buys this thing? It looks like an upside down bathtub. It's proportions are all wrong and it's cramped inside. It's not terribly fast and it handles like a Cunard ocean liner. I simply don't know what to say. This baby is just a joke. Lexus GS 450h - OK, I'm on record as saying that I despise the hatchback appearance of the GS and I stick to that. And the interior is cramped. I couldn't car less about any dimensions that Lexus publishes that say that this is as roomy (or roomier) than the ES...it's not! You feel confined and claustrophobic. It's interior is quite spartan, perhaps taking its lead from it's target demographic, the BMW 5 Series. It's instrumentation is very nice, however and thankfully there are just enough buttons and knobs to control everything that needs to be controlled on a regular basis. You say you want power? Well, let me tell you, have you come to the right place! If the BMW 750 is a rocket ship (and it is), this thing is an anti-missile missle. This thing is frighteningly fast. This must be what driving a Ferrari is like (well, maybe not quite, but close). In very unLexus-like fashion, power delivery is pretty much immediate and the car feels like it could take off with another millimeter or two of accelerator travel. The chassis is as flat as a carpenter's level and it handles s-curves with complete composure and confidence. This thing is like driving a go cart at a carnival. Except it's much bigger, has a roof and goes a whole lot faster. Oh, and it costs just a little more too ($62k). The brakes are a little notchy in reassuringly Lexus-like fashion (what's the problem here guys, you can get this right...you really need to work on this..."Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" huh?...well you have some work to do here) and you have to be very careful modulating them or they grab way too hard, a characteristic seen on just about every Lexus vehicle. If Lexus wants to know how to do brakes right, they should just copy whatever M-B is doing because, let me tell you, they have it dead solid perfect. OK, end of rant, er, I meant review. Flame away! |
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| My MB brakes are rock solid with a firm feel on the pedal. Have ocassion to drive Lexus--usually LS. Brakes are "soft" and go down pretty far on the pedal. Keep your foot on the LS brake and it will go towards the floor pretty quick. | |
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Replying to: mbnut1 (Jun 06, 2003 2:12 pm) |
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Among the vehicles predicted to be least reliable by Consumer Reports, a total of eight Mercedes-Benz vehicles made the list, the most for any one brand. These are the S-Class (2006), CLS, E-Class Sedan, SL, CLK, SLK (V6), M-Class, and R-Class. The redesigned M-Class SUV and new R-Class crossover wee especially disappointing, with between 129 percent and 202 percent more problems than the average vehicle.
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| My '97 S420 has 109K miles. Noticing a little change in feel of transmission. Anyone know appoximately what the replacement cost is? New or rebuilt or is rebuilt the way to go? Had a 1978 450SEL years ago and put in rebuilt transmission. It never felt right after that. Would really appreciate advice. Thanks! | |
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S550 Sport, pretty loaded Sticker $103 got for $100. IMHO, there's nothing like a big sedan like the S class. Still questioning the logic of buying a first generation S, given all the issues MBZ has had with prior years but I just love the car and took a bit of a leap of faith (along with an extended warranty for $5,995 on it after the trade in). I loved it so much, wanted to upgrade and a month after buying it, I just traded it in for the S600 (That's the car to get.) Sticker, $143675'ish, and they took $500 off, not a good deal but at least I am done shopping and pining away for it. I got $92,500 on the trade in. The S600 is what I got the ext warranty on. Loan rate 5.99% Two small complaints, the sticker on the inside of the flip of vanity mirror and the ones inside the gas cap door were stuck on crooked. Why can't they get the easy stuff right. I hope they got the complex stuff done. Why bluetooth is not standard, I have no idea. For those deciding on options - Distronic Cruise is great & Back up Camera is handy too. Will keep you updated as isssues arise.
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Replying to: esuomm (Nov 13, 2006 4:07 pm) |
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Replying to: ctsang (Nov 10, 2006 11:35 am) Too bad, Mercedes used to have such a strong reputation. I hope they get it back with the new generation but I remain skeptical. |
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Developed a small squeek. Told me that it's coming from the power stearing pump and the part's back-ordered and once they get it from Germany they can replace it (Only be a week or so. No big deal). Found a cool looking little fan under pas side seat. They tell me it is from some blower motor (Same deal as PS pump). Computer doesn't show some of the seat config options, they have to research that further. Also I love the free loaner car. Sales guy tells me to call him ahead of time so they get me a good renta and I do. You turn in a $140+ car for warranty work and they give you a C-Class. When will MBZ learn to treat it's customers better. At least I don't own the stock. Will continue the postings as things occur. 650 miles....looking forward to 1,000 plus so I can begin to really drive it. J
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| I am curious if any S550 owners have had electrical problems, glitches or bugs with their vehicles? | |
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