Mercedes-Benz S550e

Between instrumented tests and first drives, we’ve published 12 reviews of the latest-generation Mercedes-Benz S-class in the past two years, spanning the bread-and-butter S550 to the opulent S600 Maybach and over to the sinister S65 AMG coupe. Let’s take that to lucky number 13. Enter the S550e, a plug-in hybrid for those who think the Cadillac ELR is a joke and the plug-in Panamera a bit too, well,Porsche. The added electro-tech is a no-cost option: A 2015 S550e will run you $95,325—exactly the same money as the V-8 car.

If we’ve reviewed a car 13 times in the space of two years, there is one of two things going on: 1) We find the vehicle continually newsworthy, or 2) you readers click the high holy heck out of S-class stories. There’s undoubtedly some overlap there. Plus, with all of the amenities thrown into the current-generation S-class, can you begrudge a heap of stooped scribes their turn at the tiller of what is unquestionably one of earth’s great vehicles? Having read installments one through ten (you have, haven’t you?), you know that the S-class will offer you a hot stone massage, perfume the air, magically control both its body and the sky, largely drive itself, and generally treat you like the lord of a 206.5-inch-by-74.8-inch fiefdom.

So the story here is one largely of numbers. Let’s start with 18 miles. That’s the distance from the historic gold-mining town of Auburn, California to Foothill Farms, a census-designated place outside Sacramento. That’s also the distance the S-class carried us at 70 mph, using solely electric power, while steering itself. Our only intervention was to touch the steering wheel every 10 to 15 seconds to make sure the large sedan continued its autonomous, electrified undertaking. We should, however, qualify that accomplishment by noting that those 18 miles saw roughly a 1000-foot drop in elevation. As always, your mileage may vary, but if you have a 10-mile commute to work and a plug at the office, the S550e’s 8.7-kWh battery pack could put you, the VP of finance, on a carbon-footprint par with those quinoa-snorting Tesla drivers over in engineering.

With its turbocharged six-cylinder plus electric motor, the S550e is not exactly a Model S P85D. Still, a 13.6-second quarter-mile at 103 mph puts the plug-in only 0.2 second behind its lighter, twin-turbo V-8–powered sibling. On the drag strip, we found that the abrupt hit of power from the electric motor made it hard to launch, although it was a tad quicker than the standard S550 off the line and recorded an identical 60-mph sprint of 4.9 seconds. In our lateral-acceleration testing, the plug-in suffered mightily against the V-8 car, posting a mere 0.81 g to the regular 550’s 0.87. Sure, the 482-pound weight penalty hurts, but we’d lay blame at the feet of the Michelin Primacy MXM4 all-season tires. Compared with the Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 2 summer rubber on the S550 we tested, the hybrid gives up a big chunk of grip.

Which brings us to the one major luxury bugaboo with this S-class hybrid. Picture yourself in the Savile Row suit of a London banker who works in the city’s congestion zone. As a man of means, you’ve purchased an S550e to be chauffeured to work in, while neatly avoiding the onerous fossil-fuel fees imposed upon you by city officials, thanks to the car’s ability to run solely on electric power. But every time your man Stanislav attempts to modulate the brakes to bring the car to a jerk-free stop, he fails.

You know the old boy’s got it in him. When you picked up your Phantom, you had Stan trained by Rolls-Royce’s White Glove specialists. He does a bang-up job in the Range Rover; not so much of a speck of jam or clotted cream has fallen on your jodhpurs during jaunts to the country place. But this Benz hybrid’s regenerative braking system simply won’t allow it. Certainly, during a spirited romp on a rural lane, they work nicely, but you’ve got Dad’s old XK140 for those sorts of days out. This ghastly old brake business! It’s enough to make a chap contemplate paying the congestion charge!

And unless you’re assiduously plugging in or saving mountains of cash on parking or congestion fees, the hybrid S simply doesn’t make much sense over the V-8 car. The last S550 we tested came in at 20 mpg. This S550e Plug-In? 20 mpg. The car’s EPA numbers suggest 24/30 mpg city/highway, while the nonhybrid S550 posts 17/26. We drove the S550e as if it were a normal car. The full charge we used for our 18-mile freeway cruise came courtesy of charging the battery via the car’s engine, which is a wasteful way of doing things. If you’re religious about plugging in, your numbers could be drastically different (note the car’s 58 MPGe rating from the EPA, which surpasses the plug-in Panamera’s 50 MPGe score while coming far short of the ELR’s 82 MPGe). But if you’re considering an S-class for everyday duty, might we steer you toward the quicker, lighter, and—under our feet, at least—just-as-efficient V-8 model?

Specifications

VEHICLE TYPE:front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan

PRICE AS TESTED:$114,315 (base price: $95,325)

ENGINE TYPE:twin-turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 24-valve 3.0-liter V-6, 329 hp, 354 lb-ft; permanent-magnet synchronous AC electric motor, 114 hp, 251 lb-ft; combined power rating, 436 hp, 479 lb-ft; 8.7-kWh lithium-ion battery pack

TRANSMISSION:7-speed automatic with manual shifting mode

DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 124.6 in
Length: 206.5 in
Width: 74.8 in Height:58.8 in
Passenger volume: 101 cu ft
Cargo volume: 16 cu ft
Curb weight: 5273 lb

C/D TEST RESULTS:
Zero to 60 mph: 4.9 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 12.4 sec
Zero to 130 mph: 25.4 sec
Rolling start, 5-60 mph: 5.1 sec
Top gear, 30-50 mph: 2.5 sec
Top gear, 50-70 mph: 3.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 13.6 sec @ 103 mph
Top speed (governor limited, mfr's est): 130 mph
Braking, 70-0 mph: 190 ft
Roadholding, 300-ft-dia skidpad: 0.81 g

FUEL ECONOMY:
EPA city/highway driving: 24/30 mpg
EPA electricty combined: 58 MPGe 
C/D observed: 20 mpg

2015 Mercedes-Benz Vision Tokyo

The Tokyo Auto Show is about to kick off, and manufacturers aren’t wasting time previewing their latest futuristic design concepts. Mercedes-Benz is bringing something truly unique to the table this year with its Vision Tokyo Concept. Like other concepts such as the Nissan IDS Concept and Nissan Leaf Autonomous Concept, the Mercedes Vision Tokyo Concept is moved by electric motors and is capable of fully autonomous driving.

According to Gorden Wagener, the Head of Design at Daimler AG, “The purity and sensuality of the Vision Tokyo’s styling defines a new interpretation of modern luxury from Mercedes-Benz.” Its design is slated to increase the appeal of the Mercedes brand the younger generations, and give a view into where Mercedes plans to go in the future with self-driving cars. Aside from its unique design and excessive lighting, the Vision Tokyo is also equipped with an advanced artificial intelligence system that is capable of learning and evolving as it learns about passenger preferences, where they go and what they like.

The Vision Tokyo is set to make its first public appearance on October 30th at none other than the Tokyo Motor Show. Until then, let’s take a look at what we already know about it and see just what we can expect when it debuts.

Exterior

The Vision Tokyo is about the same size as most other mid-sized sedans on the road. It measures 189.09-inches long (4803 mm), 82.67-inches wide (2100 mm), and 62.99-inches tall (1600 mm). In place of a traditional windshield, glass wraps around the front and extends down the sides of the vehicle. As we saw on the AMG Vision Gran Turismo, the headlights are angled and set far to the sides. The front grille is backlit by LEDs and can perform various lighting functions like visualizing a sound pattern based on music playing inside the cabin.

The side skirts on each side offer blue ambient lighting that symbolizes the car’s electric drive system.

The concept only has one door that is located on the left side of the vehicle (to accommodate right-hand drive traffic in Japan. According to the press release the side door swings open for passenger entry, but early renderings show the door sliding upward and over the roof for entry. The side skirts on each side offer blue ambient lighting that symbolizes the car’s electric drive system. The side glass panels are screen-printed with the same monochrome Alubeam color as the body paint to provide privacy for the occupants on the inside.

To the rear, the back window is surrounded by red, cube-shaped LEDs that give the perception of a deeply mounted window. To the bottom of the rear fascia is a black trim insert that is surrounded by blue LED lighting with an illuminated QR code in the middle that symbolizes a license plate. There are no taillights on the rear, so it’s safe to assume the red lighting around the back window would also double as brake lights. A single fin that contains a 360-degree camera – used for autonomous driving – is mounted on the roof toward the rear. The concept rides on massive 26-inch, five-spoke wheels that also have blue ambient lighting.

Interior

The interior has to be about the most interesting interior I have ever seen. There isn’t any traditional front or rear seating. Instead, there is a wraparound bench, or couch that can accommodate up to five passengers. The seating design allows passengers to sit and converse or “hang out” while the AI system manages the driving for them.

The single door panel has a large, wraparound LED screen that displays travel information and GPS information

The single door panel has a large, wraparound LED screen that displays travel information and GPS information, and the seating is backlit to help set the mood of this mobile lounge. In the center of the cabin are two holographic projectors (one on the floor and one on the roof) that display different apps, maps, or other 3D content that can be controlled, viewed, or manipulated by any of the passengers. Should the need (or want) to drive manually arise, a jump seat can swing out from the couch that allows someone to face forward and take the wheel. When the jump seat is activated, a steering wheel also moves out of its standby position. No speakers are present in any of the images released by Mercedes, but it’s safe to assume this rolling hangout would have a decent sound system.

Drivetrain

Mercedes hasn’t released official specifics on the drivetrain, but we do know the vehicle has a fuel-cell-powered electric drive system that is based on the F-Cell Plug-in Hybrid of the F 015 Luxury in Motion. This system combines on-board generation of electricity and a high-voltage battery that can be charged wirelessly. In total, the Vision Tokyo has a range of 980 km (609 miles) of which 190 km (118 miles) comes from the on-board battery.

Given the range and the fact that the vehicle was designed to ease the pain of traveling through Tokyo’s crowded roads, I don’t see major horsepower or top speed figures in the works for this concept. A couple 200 horsepower motors should be more than sufficient and I would expect to see a top speed in the area of 120 mph max.

Conclusion

In the end, the Vision Tokyo is an interesting concept, but I think it is a little too much as far as how much we can trust self-driving cars. Thirty years down the road? Sure. Maybe a lounge-type setting will be appropriate. But, when you take into consideration the limitations of artificial intelligence at this time, I don’t see us going this relaxed in a self-driving car anytime soon. I do like Mercedes vision for the future, and there is no doubt in my mind that eventually our roads will be full of self-driving cars zipping around at 200 mph flawlessly, but we have a lot of advances in technology before that happens.

LOVE IT

• Holographic entertainment system
• Lounge-type setting for passengers
• Single entry door

LEAVE IT

• Huge wheels
• Excessive lighting
• Lack of dedicated driver seat

Mercedes AMG E43- The Latest Edition in Mercedes

This autobahn burner is headed for a freeway near you, packing a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 with 396 hp. A fast-shifting nine-speed automatic shoots that power to the road via 4MATIC all-wheel drive. Mercedes estimates a 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds; top speed is 155 mph. The interior has front sport seats and red stitching throughout; red seatbelts make for maximum redness. An air suspension imbues the ride and handling with the right mix of sport and comfort. Look for the E43 in early 2017.

With the 10th-generation E-class an official, legitimate thing now—Mercedes-Benz introduced the car in January at the Detroit auto show—it’s time to start rolling out the variants. The E300 sedan is scheduled for a U.S. launch this summer, and the first announced performance variant, the Mercedes-AMG E43, should hit our showrooms “by early 2017,” according to Mercedes, which will showcase the car at the New York auto show.

The performance model supplants the base car’s turbo four-cylinder with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V-6 engine up front and a full AMG alphanumeric scheme out back. This replaces the old “AMG Sport” moniker that denoted models carrying a few less wild hairs up the wazoo than the beefcake eight- and twelve-cylinder models that carried the AMG line previously. The E43 makes 396 horsepower and 384 lb-ft of torque and is backed by a nine-speed automatic transmission. Other hardware includes AMG-tuned Airmatic suspension and four driven 19-inch wheels running a 31/69 front/rear torque bias. Naturally, the new sedan also gets an AMG body kit.

The soon-to-be-renamed C450 AMG Sport—which fills the same niche in the C-class lineup that the E43 will in the E—is a gol’durn ripper of a thing, even if it trades the violent, swingin’ nature of the 503-horse C63 model for something that, while still shockingly rapid in the real world, is a bit more cushy and wallet-friendly. Expect the E43 to hit a similarly compelling sweet spot. Whether we’ll ever again see an E-class as compelling as the previous-generation E63 4Matic remains an open question.