SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you can get at home.

*To read one of our archived road tests, just select from the alphabetical menu of manufacturers' names on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu that appears.

*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We find ourselves technologically enthralled in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid

Bribe a teenager

Posted: 20 May 2014

How does one describe an S-type Mercedes? As the height of luxury, powerful and supremely comfortable, technologically advanced and filled with innovative safety- and convenience features? All yes. Can be infuriatingly confusing to operate? Yes again.
Free piece of advice number 1: When collecting your new S-class, arrive early to allow lots of time for the salesperson to go through the controls and features.
Free advice number 2: Stay awake and pay attention.
Free advice number 3: Borrow or bribe a tech-savvy (and infinitely patient) teenager to go through it all again. Really pay attention this time.

There’s a printed manual in a plastic folder in the boot. Because Mercedes-Benz knows only too well that the average owner will toss it into a “safe place” and forget it, the manual is repeated electronically in the car’s main menu. That’s just as well, because you will refer to it, no matter how typically male you might be.

Your reviewer needed it to find how to turn the air conditioner on. That’s correct, Earnshaw; no simple on-and-off button. You have to go into the main menu to tick a box that permits it to switch on and then follow some instructions that don’t work too well; until you get it to activate accidentally – just like any other computerised gizmo.

Please understand: We liked this car; we just wish its electronic gadgets weren’t so numerous and beyond the cognitive power of the typical, reasonably tech-savvy, captain of industry who would buy it. Having got that rant out of the way, let’s continue.

Our test car was an S 400 Hybrid. That means it had a 20-kW, 250 Nm, disc-shaped electric motor fitted between the standard 7G-Tronic automatic gearbox and its 3.5-litre, naturally aspirated, V6 petrol engine. In that position, the module is purely supplementary. You cannot use it to crawl to the nearest gas pump when you run out of fuel. To the best of our knowledge, only Toyota products offer that feature. What this one does is provide a welcome boost of energy when accelerating; or when tackling long, steep hills – rather like a silent turbocharger that uses no fossil fuel. It also acts as the automatic stop-and-go restart motor and as a generator to recharge the lithium-ion battery when decelerating.

All you experience is a big, quiet and mighty Mercedes; no raucousness, no plebeian thump of energy to assault your kidneys – just unstoppable, gentlemanly power. A titanium fist in a lamb’s-leather glove, if you like.

The suspension system almost warrants an essay of its own. It’s an enhanced version of Mercedes-Benz’s Airmatic system with continuously adaptive damping control. To begin with, lightweight multiple mechanical arms and links, front and rear, see to it that wheels, steering gear and rear axle are precisely and firmly located to do their jobs properly. Then for the springing, new air suspension bellows with reduced breakaway torque make for even better ride comfort, as they do not stiffen as much at low amplitudes and larger frequencies. Rear axle spring travel has been increased to improve absorption capacity when it’s working hard. To further reduce tyre noise, the air suspension struts on the rear axle are decoupled from the body.

The system allows spring travel to be maintained, whatever the vehicle load, by continuously adapting itself while body levels adjust automatically according to the vehicle’s speed. Dropping by up to 20 millimetres when speed exceeds 120 km/h, aerodynamic drag is reduced and directional stability is enhanced.

To be exact, selecting Sport mode with the switch on the console drops the suspension by 10 mm immediately and it goes down a further ten millimetres when the speed threshold is passed. If you are in Comfort or Eco mode, it drops only 10 mm. As you pass 160 km/h, not that any of our law-abiding readers ever would, it reaches the full settling of 20 mm.

In the meantime, individual shock absorbers at each wheel adjust themselves automatically and continually to provide optimum comfort and handling at all times. That’s not all; a switch on the central console enables raising the vehicle by 30 millimetres for poor road surfaces or when confronted by a tricky gutter, for example.

Some of the original equipment on this car includes reversing camera, parking assistance and Parktronic self-parking; collision prevention assistance; climatised seats; luxury head restraints for those in front; tyre pressure monitoring; a sump shield; media interfaces; the Comand Online satnav and music system with 12.3” screen; thermotronic climate control front and rear; a six-disc DVD changer; soft-touch closure for doors and boot; eco stop and start; runflat tyres and automatic child seat recognition.

Want more? How about cruise control with limiter, ISOFix anchorages, electrically adjustable front seats with Pre-safe positioning for the passenger, speed-dependent and variable-ratio power steering, electrically adjustable steering wheel, ambient lighting in seven colours, headlamp assist with automatic headlamp activation, electric mirrors and windows, all-LED lights, reading lamps and illuminated makeup mirrors for those in the back, rain-sensing wipers, all the electronic safety aids you expect and … You know what? We’re bored with this. Go to www.mercedes-benz.co.za find the letter S in the model overview bar and download a brochure.

The 2014 M-B S-Class has been described as the best car in the world. It quite possibly is and while wearing our gentle-people hats, we loved it. As we noted earlier, it’s big, quiet and mighty. But not exciting. The AMG division does excitement. For best results from your S-Class, bribe a teenager to set it up for you - to your specs, not his or hers.

Test car from MBSA press fleet

The numbers
Basic price including VAT and carbon dioxide tax: R 1 287 401
Petrol engine: 3498 cc, 24-valve, V6
Power: 225 kW at 6500 rpm
Torque: 370 Nm between 3500 and 5250 rpm
Electric motor: 20 kW/250 Nm
Zero to 100 km/h: 6,8 seconds
Maximum speed (governed): 250 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 11,9 l/100 km
Tank: 70 litres
Luggage: 510 litres
Warranty and maintenance: 6 years/100 000 km Premium Drive plan



What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.

Comments?
Want to ask a question, comment or just tell me you thoroughly disagree with what I say? That's your privilege, because if everybody agreed on everything, the world would be a boring place. All I ask is that you remain calm, so please blow off a little steam before venting too vigorously.