Fast Facts

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Mercedes-Benz’s new flagship comes out tops in the tech stakes

By Nick Syn

HOW MOST MANUFACTURERS approach vehicle development seems to be based on three general assumptions – the first two have to do with the notion that a car should get you where you need to go as quickly and as comfortably as possible.

The third has to do with making sure that you don’t get yourself killed in the process. The latter, safety, is by far the most important aspect but it’s the one that most of us tend to overlook in favour of digital climate control or electric seats.

This is partly because building safety into a car generally involves putting in things you can’t really see or touch, beyond the ‘SRS airbag’ tags at least. Anyway, since we don’t plan on actually having accidents and most of us consider ourselves pretty handy behind the wheel, why bother?

The trouble is that this last bit of thinking is somewhat like leaving a box of matches within easy reach of a six-year old and expecting him not to burn something down. It’s the reason why one school of thought advocates heavy reductions in the demands made on the driver in day-to-day commuting, and it’s also why my room has blinds instead of curtains.

Mercedes-Benz’s latest S-Class is a product of this aforementioned school of thought. It’s all about making life easier, and therefore safer, for the driver. The rationale being that the less stressed out you are, the safer the driver you’ll be.

Each iteration of the S-Class has always served as a showcase for all of Mercedes’ latest technologies and innovations, and this one is no different. The company has been largely responsible for a great deal of the safety innovations found in most modern cars and to expect this new S-Class to drop the baton is virtually unthinkable.

Mercedes had already embarked on a concerted effort to reduce driver stress and up safety with the last generation S-Class, and the new car takes this approach to a whole new level. The car has no less than 12 innovations in total that make their debuts in a volume production context, and with regards to safety, the S-Class can, when appropriately specced, quite literally avoid accidents with little corrective action from the driver.

Physically, the new S-Class gives little away in terms of just how much tech actually sits under its largely aluminium skin. There’s the now de riguer stacked bootlid, flared wheel-arches all round and a much pointier and more aggressive new nose.

The car manages to bear a significant resemblance to the ultra-luxury Maybach while maintaining a strong evolutionary link with the previous car, but the overall effect is actually quite understated. Local dealer Cycle & Carriage will only bring in the long wheelbase model, which is over four centimetres longer than the old car.