Intro: The new Mercedes S-Class has made it’s much awaited debut, the W223 a.k.a the S-Class has taken drastic efforts to come out as a technology marvel. To name a few the 2021 S-Class will feature a second gen MBUX system. It also has rear wheel steering and rear seat airbags. The car is expected to be launched in India in the second half of 2021.
Exterior: It will remind you of the face lifted E-class, the LED headlights feature the ‘Digital light’ system. It comes with three powerful LED’s. Other features include a chrome-heavy grille with three horizontal blades, a new front bumper with larger air intakes, flush fitting door handles, and wrap around LED tail lamps. Twin chrome finished exhaust tips gve the rear end of the car a sporty look, and there is option to choose from 18-21 inch alloy wheels. We expect to get the long wheelbase version in India and so it is dimensionally larger at 34 mm in length, 22 mm in width, and 12 mm in height.
Interior: The major attraction inside the cabin is the MBUX system. Inside, you will find a 12.8 inch tablet style OLED infotainment screen, a 12.3 inch 3D digital instrument display and three screens – two mounted on the back of the front seats and one armrest mounted tablet. The MBUX is capable of understanding 27 languages which can be operated via voice control event from the back seat. The new S-class also features fingerprint, voice and face recognition. Another talking point is the ambient lighting system, that houses 263 LED’s, a head up display with augmented reality, and an interior assist function that uses cameras to track movements of the car’s occupants and proactively trigger certain functions. The car also sports a 31-speaker Burmester 4D surround-sound system and a centre airbag to to prevent collision.
Powertrain: Powering the car is a 3.0 liter, six cylinder petrol and diesel engine. The petrol engine churns out 367 hp and 500 Nm in the S 450, and 435 hp and 520 Nm in the S 500. Assisting it is a 48-volt ‘EQ Boost’ mild hybrid system that adds on 22 hp and 250 Nm of torque. The diesel on the other hand churns out 286 hp and 600 Nm in the S 350d, and 330 hp and 700 Nm in the S 400d. All models except S 350 get 4MATIC all-wheel drive as standard. The engine across all variants are mated to a 9-speed automatic gearbox.
Another chief highlight in the new S-class is its rear axle steering system. It turns the rear wheels by 10 degrees in the opposite direction of the front axle. The rear axle turns by 4.5 degrees in the same direction as the front axle at speeds of over 60 km/h. All this ensures that the S-class manages to get a tighter turning radius. Another key feature is the frontal airbag for the rear seat passenger. The car also gets a Pre-safe impulse side function that’s part of the E-active body control suspension that lifts the car by 80 mm when it detects an impending side-on crash. This and the rear steering axle come in as optional extra’s.The S-class also get level 3 autonomous driving ability.
