New Mercedes S-Class diesel price, features, comfort and real world review

2021 Mercedes S 350d: what is it?

Every time a new S-Class will come along, it raises the bar for ease and comfort, luxury and tech, not only for its phase, but for the relaxation of the auto field to observe. This most up-to-date W223 variation (or V223, due to the fact this is the LWB variation), has completed it yet again, but when it was launched in India, it lifted a various bar – selling price. At Rs 2.17 crore (ex-showroom), it was not just much more high-priced than all its rivals, it was just about the similar selling price as the stretched, V8-powered Maybach variation of the previous generation.

The cause was that this was a confined-run ‘Launch Edition’ – anything Mercedes typically does in India – that was a CBU import loaded to the gills with gear and tech. Value notwithstanding, the Start Version was snapped up in report time, and if you want an S-Class now, the auto you will get is a minor little bit various – domestically assembled, lacking a little bit of gear, with a reduce-powered diesel engine and a selling price which is a solid Rs sixty lakh more cost-effective! This is the auto we’re driving right now.

2021 Mercedes S 350d: what all has been eradicated?

The S 400d engine has been replaced by the S 350d – basically the similar OM656 3.-litre straight-six turbo-diesel engine in a reduce condition of tune. Ability is down from 330hp to 286hp, even though torque has gone from 700Nm to 600Nm. Other mechanical improvements consist of a change from 4Matic all-wheel travel to rear-wheel travel for the diesel (the S 450 petrol is nonetheless AWD), and the removal of rear-wheel steering. You nonetheless get adaptive air suspension, of course, which can be lifted to get the S course over tall speed breakers.

You could possibly not miss out on the removal of the AMG Line body package the common S-Class bumpers are nonetheless quite tasteful and get just the ideal volume of chrome garnish to continue to keep points blingy. What you could possibly miss out on, even so, are the 20-inch AMG alloy wheels, which did glimpse seriously superior, but the smaller 19-inch models should have a constructive effect on the ride.

Within, you will notice the common Mercedes open-pore brown wooden trim in put of the substantial-gloss veneer with pinstripe inserts from the Start Version. The open-pore wooden is great adequate, but just doesn’t have the similar wow component and is the similar as you will find in just about each and every lesser Merc. The steering wheel is no for a longer time the 6-spoke AMG Line a person, but the common 3-spoke unit as in the E-Class, which is no bad thing. The ring of dynamic ambient lighting that encircled the cabin with vibrant animations is now just a strip of gloss black trim (you nonetheless get conventional concealed ambient lighting in 64 colours), and the digital dials no for a longer time have the 3D features almost certainly for the best, as it could be pretty distracting.

The relaxation will come down to gear. The place earlier there was Burmester’s 31-speaker, 1,350-watt ‘4D Surround’ system (with speakers inside the seats), it’s been scaled back to the nonetheless-great 3D surround system, with 15 speakers and 710 watts. The entrance seats are nonetheless heated but no for a longer time ventilated, and you no for a longer time get the rear-seat frontal airbags from right before.

2021 Mercedes S course diesel: what has stayed the similar?

In shorter, most of it – this is largely the similar benchmark-location limousine it generally was. The over-all regal glimpse remains, and they’ve been absolutely sure to retain the wow component, with the substantial-resolution LED ‘digital headlamps’ and crystalline tail-lamps. You even get the pop-out door handles that mechanically retract into the doors at the time the auto is locked.

The interior style, of course, remains the similar – a blend of previous-planet and new-age, which can truly feel a little bit incongruous in destinations, like the two substantial-resolution screens docked upright into an otherwise flowing dashboard. The screens on their own, even so, are incredible – the instrument cluster, sans 3D effect, has been simplified and is now quite crisp.

And then there is the twelve.eight-inch pill computer system in the centre. It remains a person of the fastest, best-looking and best-performing models on the market, with superior haptic comments, but a handful of much more physical buttons would have assisted work points on the move the steering-mounted controls truly feel fiddly to use far too. Mercedes Me linked auto tech returns, of course, as do a handful of ADAS options like adaptive cruise regulate and lively lane-keeping assist. However, debuting on this auto and rolling out to other linked styles in the assortment is a new ‘Car-to-X’ system, which detects potholes, accidents, targeted traffic jams, inclement weather conditions and even speed bumps, and then transmits their site, through the cloud, to each and every other linked Mercedes-Benz in the region!

The a person thing they simply could not tamper with was the rear seat working experience, which has returned largely the similar. These seats recline by 43.five levels, are wrapped in leather (albeit not the quilted Nappa leather of right before) and give heating, cooling, therapeutic massage and memory features. They’ve also retained the Chauffeur Pack, wherein the entrance passenger seat can be moved far forward, and an ottoman and foot relaxation fold out for the rear remaining passenger. You nonetheless get the two slick rear touchscreens, which combine with the Samsung pill in the armrest to make controlling rear seat features a breeze.

2021 Mercedes Benz S 350 d: engine, electric power and ease and comfort

That the diesel engine has transformed from a 400d to a 350d is not a result in for pause both following all, this was the similar condition of tune they used in the last S-course. The 400d, for all its quantities on the spec sheet, was not what you’d phone a sporty engine to commence with. It sent its 700Nm in a massive, easy whoosh, instead than a intestine-punch shove. The 350d, in comparison, feels dialled down by about 15 percent – not pretty as easy, but nonetheless enough for a auto of this dimension and fat (north of two tonnes). It is really not what you’d phone a slouch both, cracking out a -100kph of just seven.2sec in our efficiency tests.

By any other common, this is an incredibly refined engine, letting out but a murmur should your chauffeur allow the revs slip north of 2,500rpm. However, this is an S-Class, and as the benchmark for luxury automobiles, which is a murmur much more than we’d predicted. Equally, we truly feel highway sound could have been marginally far better contained far too. 

Need to you acquire the wheel, you will be addressed to an impressively tidy driving working experience from what is a prolonged-wheelbase limousine tailored for those people in the back seat. Visibility is superior, the steering is not extremely mild and, if you swap to Activity or Activity+, body movements are pretty well contained. If you have professional the rear-wheel steering from the Start Version, you will miss out on that uncanny agility it afforded, but if not, then manoeuvrability is what you’d hope from a auto this prolonged.

Ride ease and comfort, of course, is a standout listed here, with the common air springs and adaptive dampers serving up that cloud-like ride top quality you want and hope. Some could possibly find it a minor far too bouncy in Consolation mode, but location just the dampers to Activity in ‘Individual’ mode will form that out. In actuality, this is a person region it improves on the 400d Start Version, mainly because the 19-inch wheels and chunkier tyres used listed here do a far far better job of absorbing smaller bumps and highway imperfections.

2021 Mercedes Benz S 350d: selling price, rivals and verdict

Indeed, the selling price is now Rs sixty lakh reduce, but at Rs 1.fifty seven crore, ex-showroom, it’s nonetheless much more high-priced than its critical rivals, the Audi A8 L and BMW seven sequence. Not by adequate to make a variation at this selling price stage, however. With neighborhood assembly, a whole lot of the gizmos that were being talking factors of this V223 S-Class at its start have been eradicated, like the in-seat speakers, animated cabin lighting, new rear airbags and rear-wheel steering. These are, arguably, points you could dwell without having, however, and at its core, this is nonetheless an S-Class through and through.

It remains the best back seat in the business and ride ease and comfort is all but unparalleled. The tech appears to be like, feels and is chopping edge, and ushers in what we can hope from the next generation of Mercedes-Benz automobiles. Refinement could have been a minor far better, but only mainly because we’re holding this auto to its very own exceptionally substantial common. The peaceful straight-six diesel engine is a superior in good shape for a limousine like this, and doesn’t truly feel like a downgrade from the 400d. As generally, the domestically assembled S-Class maintains the substantial level of top quality of its imported counterpart, and will much more than probable retain its function as the most common auto in the phase.