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

2021 Mercedes S 350d: what is it?

Whenever a new S-Course comes together, it raises the bar for consolation, luxury and tech, not only for its segment, but for the relaxation of the auto business to adhere to. This newest W223 model (or V223, considering that this is the LWB model), has finished it once more, but when it was introduced in India, it lifted a various bar – price tag. At Rs two.17 crore (ex-showroom), it was not just more expensive than all its rivals, it was just about the exact price tag as the stretched, V8-run Maybach model of the preceding era.

The motive was that this was a confined-operate ‘Launch Edition’ – anything Mercedes normally does in India – that was a CBU import loaded to the gills with equipment and tech. Price notwithstanding, the Start Version was snapped up in document time, and if you want an S-Course now, the auto you’ll get is a tiny little bit various – regionally assembled, missing a little bit of equipment, with a reduced-run diesel engine and a price tag that’s a sound Rs sixty lakh more affordable! This is the auto we’re driving today.

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

The S 400d engine has been replaced by the S 350d – fundamentally the exact OM656 three.-litre straight-6 turbo-diesel engine in a reduced point out of tune. Ability is down from 330hp to 286hp, even though torque has long gone from 700Nm to 600Nm. Other mechanical variations consist of a change from 4Matic all-wheel travel to rear-wheel travel for the diesel (the S 450 petrol is still AWD), and the removal of rear-wheel steering. You still get adaptive air suspension, of study course, which can be lifted to get the S class more than tall velocity breakers.

 

You may well not miss out on the removal of the AMG Line physique package the conventional S-Course bumpers are still extremely tasteful and get just the proper total of chrome garnish to keep items blingy. What you may well miss out on, having said that, are the twenty-inch AMG alloy wheels, which did glimpse really good, but the smaller sized 19-inch models should really have a constructive impact on the journey.

 

Inside of, you’ll detect the conventional Mercedes open up-pore brown wooden trim in place of the substantial-gloss veneer with pinstripe inserts from the Start Version. The open up-pore wooden is wonderful more than enough, but just doesn’t have the exact wow aspect and is the exact as you’ll discover in just about each individual lesser Merc. The steering wheel is no longer the 6-spoke AMG Line a single, but the conventional three-spoke unit as in the E-Course, which is no terrible detail. The ring of dynamic ambient lights that encircled the cabin with colourful animations is now just a strip of gloss black trim (you still get typical hid ambient lights in 64 colours), and the electronic dials no longer have the 3D functionality probably for the very best, as it could be very distracting.

 

The relaxation comes down to equipment. Wherever formerly there was Burmester’s 31-speaker, 1,350-watt ‘4D Surround’ system (with speakers inside of the seats), it’s been scaled back to the still-fantastic 3D encompass system, with fifteen speakers and 710 watts. The front seats are still heated but no longer ventilated, and you no longer get the rear-seat frontal airbags from before.

2021 Mercedes S class diesel: what has stayed the exact?

In limited, most of it – this is largely the exact benchmark-environment limousine it usually was. The general regal glimpse stays, and they’ve been guaranteed to retain the wow aspect, with the substantial-resolution LED ‘digital headlamps’ and crystalline tail-lamps. You even get the pop-out doorway handles that mechanically retract into the doorways as soon as the auto is locked.

 

The interior design and style, of study course, stays the exact – a mix of outdated-planet and new-age, which can really feel a little bit incongruous in places, like the two substantial-resolution screens docked upright into an or else flowing dashboard. The screens themselves, having said that, are remarkable – the instrument cluster, sans 3D influence, has been simplified and is now extremely crisp.

 

And then there’s the 12.8-inch pill personal computer in the centre. It stays a single of the fastest, very best-seeking and very best-functioning models on the market place, with good haptic comments, but a couple of more actual physical buttons would have assisted run items on the go the steering-mounted controls really feel fiddly to use far too. Mercedes Me linked auto tech returns, of study course, as do a couple of ADAS features like adaptive cruise manage and energetic lane-trying to keep assist. Nevertheless, debuting on this auto and rolling out to other linked models in the selection is a new ‘Car-to-X’ system, which detects potholes, mishaps, targeted visitors jams, inclement temperature and even velocity bumps, and then transmits their location, via the cloud, to each individual other linked Mercedes-Benz in the place!

 

The a single detail they simply just couldn’t tamper with was the rear seat practical experience, which has returned largely the exact (save for the absence of fold-down vainness mirrors in the roof). These seats recline by 43.five degrees, are wrapped in leather-based (albeit not the quilted Nappa leather-based of before) and give heating, cooling, therapeutic massage and memory functions. They’ve also retained the Chauffeur Pack, wherein the front passenger seat can be moved considerably forward, and an ottoman and foot relaxation fold out for the rear still left passenger. You still get the two slick rear touchscreens, which combine with the Samsung pill in the armrest to make controlling rear seat functions a breeze.

2021 Mercedes Benz S 350 d: engine, ability and consolation

That the diesel engine has transformed from a 400d to a 350d isn’t a result in for pause possibly right after all, this was the exact point out of tune they utilised in the last S-class. The 400d, for all its quantities on the spec sheet, was not what you’d contact a sporty engine to start with. It delivered its 700Nm in a significant, effortless whoosh, rather than a gut-punch shove. The 350d, in comparison, feels dialled down by about fifteen per cent – not very as effortless, but still ample for a auto of this measurement and fat (north of two tonnes). It’s not what you’d contact a slouch possibly, cracking out a -100kph of just seven.2sec in our effectiveness assessments.

 

By any other conventional, this is an incredibly refined engine, allowing out but a murmur should really your chauffeur permit the revs slip north of two,500rpm. Nevertheless, this is an S-Course, and as the benchmark for luxury autos, that’s a murmur more than we’d expected. Equally, we really feel highway sounds could have been somewhat much better contained far too. 

 

Ought to you acquire the wheel, you’ll be treated to an impressively tidy driving practical experience from what is a extensive-wheelbase limousine personalized for people in the back seat. Visibility is good, the steering isn’t overly light and, if you change to Sport or Sport+, physique actions are fairly very well contained. If you’ve knowledgeable 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 count on from a auto this extensive.

 

Ride consolation, of study course, is a standout listed here, with the conventional air springs and adaptive dampers serving up that cloud-like journey high-quality you want and count on. Some may well discover it a tiny far too bouncy in Ease and comfort method, but environment just the dampers to Sport in ‘Individual’ method will kind that out. In actuality, this is a single place it increases on the 400d Start Version, due to the fact the 19-inch wheels and chunkier tyres utilised listed here do a considerably much better work of absorbing smaller sized bumps and highway imperfections.

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

Yes, the price tag is now Rs sixty lakh reduced, but at Rs 1.fifty seven crore, ex-showroom, it’s still more expensive than its critical rivals, the Audi A8 L and BMW seven sequence. Not by more than enough to make a variation at this price tag level, nevertheless. With local assembly, a great deal of the gizmos that had been chatting points of this V223 S-Course at its start have been removed, like the in-seat speakers, animated cabin lights, new rear airbags and rear-wheel steering. These are, arguably, items you could dwell without, nevertheless, and at its main, this is still an S-Course through and through.

 

It stays the very best back seat in the business and journey consolation is all but unparalleled. The tech looks, feels and is chopping edge, and ushers in what we can count on from the next era of Mercedes-Benz autos. Refinement could have been a tiny much better, but only due to the fact we’re keeping this auto to its have incredibly substantial conventional. The relaxed straight-6 diesel engine is a good in shape for a limousine like this, and doesn’t really feel like a downgrade from the 400d. As usually, the regionally assembled S-Course maintains the substantial degree of high-quality of its imported counterpart, and will more than probable retain its part as the most preferred auto in the segment.