Test drive Mercedes Benz S-class w220 2002-2005 sedan

Manned device

Have you ever controlled a rocket boat? Front -line fighter? High -speed train? Or here Mercedes-Benz S600 Biturbo?
It was not by chance that I started with these questions. The fact that all these cars of the same order became absolutely clear to me after the MB S600 test drive. Try to tame at least it, and you will get an idea of \u200b\u200bthe rest. Believe the word: I also drove the rest.
Although Mercedes initially disappointed me ...
PICKUP. In the courtyard of Daimlerchrysler’s representative office stood an ordinary, replicated S-Klasse. And in vain the manager of the company, the girl Zhenya praised him - they say, and the equipment is the most complete, and the engine is almost like the Maybach ... I could not hide sour skepticism: Mercedes - he is in Antarctica Mercedes. But suddenly something was discovered that attracted my attention. These were unusually wide rear wheels shod at Michelin Pilot Sport. As a person’s status can be determined by a clock or belt on trousers, so the car (if, of course, they did not mock it), it is recognized by discs and rubber. I learned about how good these wheels are later. When I slowed down in the rain from 180 to 80 km/h. On the asphalt there was water a few centimeters high, but the car showed a fantic slowdown.
The first corporate trick that the car met me met, I called Sim-Sim, open. Mercedes W220 frees its owner from tiring need to poke around in the keyhole of the door and ignition lock. Smart electronic key acts remotely. It is enough to pull the door handle, sit down, press the button on the lever of the box and ... further like in an advertising slogan-the village-i-I went. Having made a circle in the courtyard of the representative office, he went to the Horde. From the habit, everything seemed terribly uncomfortable. At the first overclocking, I completely experienced something similar to shock: low -frequency vile vibrations were clearly felt on the steering wheel. I stopped. He shook the steering wheel, went out to see if everything was in order with the wheels. Everything seems to be ok. Then I suspected that one of the elements of the steering was damaged. Apparently, somewhere the metal is in contact with the metal and the vibrations were not damped, but transferred to the steering wheel. As a result, the palm of the driver, especially it is felt on the upper wooden part of the steering wheel, shake like an alcoholic.
For half an hour on different coatings, I studied an unpleasant phenomenon. Nothing else occupied me. Even with which the MB engine, without exceeding 2000 revolutions, takes me away from the general flow. And suddenly on Kutuzovsky Prospekt, somewhere in the area of \u200b\u200bthe triumphal arch, Tremor disappeared. Because I got into the strip of relatively fresh coating. Five minutes later, he came to a clear conclusion: now I am sitting behind the wheel of the most expensive pickup for roads. It's all about the exclusivity of the design of the car. With the highest level of noise absorption-the level of noise in W220, in my opinion, is about 80 decibels on high-quality asphalt-at the same time, the car is able to catch the most insignificant roads of the road, which it passes to the steering wheel. And with these unpleasant sensations on the palms, dear, you will have to come to terms. Something like this on expensive sounding systems, flakes come out that are masked on a cheap cassette. You can remove the boring of the new S-Klasse only by worsening the steering parameters. In the same form, it should be recommended to verify the quality of the work of Rosavtodor.
Supernarring. I was driving to the house, which is located on the pillow highway, and along the way I allowed myself a couple of decisive accelerations. Formula 1 viewers are particularly impressive for the frames of the passage of the car on which the camera stands, under the bridges. At such moments, the speed of the car is felt almost dramatic. I caught a buzz from the dynamic capabilities of S-Klasse under pedestrian bridges in Krylatsky. The first flew at a speed of 150 km/h, the second - already 200 km/h. Damn fascinating. Two Mercedes tons accelerated so quickly that at first my consciousness was mutating. Either with delight, or indeed blood began to cast from the frontal part. The last time I experienced this on the evolutions of the Su-27, when all 33 tons of traction were involved in the power plant. Still on the vertically upward MiG-29, when the craving exceeds the weight of the aircraft by 3-4 tons. S-Klasse V12 engine with a capacity of 500 hp. And with a torque of 800 HM gives a very real sense of flight. And this is not a metaphor.
The motor is ideally balanced with the rest of the design: the connection between the gas pedal and the engine speed is extremely stiff, directly kinematic. Mida, there is an injection control-matching the aviation Fly-by-Wire. That is, it is completely electronic, it has no mechanical joints. There is no mention of any severity in the work of the Mercedes V12, unlike the Bentley GT engine. He has really in sporting explosive character, with a direct response. In general, this engine is worthy of the ode. Nothing in S-Klasse is compared with its motor. This is a work of the 21st century, the real excuse of Maybach, this kich from Mercedes. In the aviation industry there is a law: there is not an engine built for the aircraft, but vice versa. So, S-Klasse for V12 Biturbo is a much more worthy solution than all the Maybachs, the interest in which will be limited to a narrow circle of Russian and eastern sheikhs.
Suffered loss. Not without difficulty, however, I managed to call into the goal of my own house, without resorting to rear gear. Mercedes swivel is inherited. Only the right front sensor warned warningly that I was about ten centimeters from brickwork.
At home, I finally calmly looked around the car. I figured out the control keys immediately. Unlike I-Drive BMW, everything is clear here intuitively. I will not spread about a spacious salon. It is enough to mention that in his wilds I managed to lose my wallet. It happened on the very first evening. I had to check the urns near the stores and the gas stations, where I threw out the checks, as well as block all credit and telephone cards. And in the morning the wallet was found. Under the rug.
After long attempts to put a chair for myself, I spat on this business. Whatever they are anatomical and multi -contouring, with combat Recaro that are on my impreza, they will not be compared. On the other hand, the seats Pt Cruiser, belonging to my wife, against the Mercedes - stools. This is subjective, but as accurately as with an assessment of theatrical seats. In one, you can sit three actions without getting up, in the other-you wait, you will not wait for the intermission.
I do not smoke, but I need a nest for charging a mobile phone. It was not possible to find it immediately. Only rummaging in the ashtray. And - oh, horror - on the lateral surface of the plastic body of the cigarette lighter, I suddenly saw a scratch from a chrome nest trim. Do not believe it, but this was my strongest negative impression of this car. It scratched me. I literally felt how limit the production of production reached. Well, a car of this level cannot inflict wounds on his own. This means that the infinite quality of Mercedes-Benz ended .. And at his factories, marketers dictate their will to engineers. And there are details that pass by the control of the master.
Confirmation of bitter guesses came in the morning. To leave the ramp, I had to hand over in reverse. I looked in the rear -view mirror and dumbfounded: bright diagonal stripes walked through its surface. These were the reflections of the molding, which, with a certain angle of the sun's ray, glitters and shines directly into the eyes. Therefore, the designers did not work over the molding, limiting themselves only to the shape of the dash glass and the torpedo.
Casket. On this day, I went to the airfield to Zhukovsky, where I had to try the Gzhel plane. For filming, I took with me a special headline with a microphone operating at a high noise level. But for some reason put it on the exit from the village of Pyshkino. What, apparently, even more angry his neighbors. In a few minutes of traveling around the village, I gathered a lot of hateful views. Everything that people usually address to the Gaidars and Chubais were directed at me. In the villages near Moscow, they know how much such a car can cost, so the show off with the headline was clearly superfluous. By the way, it seems to me that this car does not scream about itself. He is for those who love Mercedes, but do not vote about this on every corner. This is a gentleman's ideology. I would say Bentlevskaya. According to it, the inner sensation of its significance is five times higher than it is indicated in public.
I decided to refuel on the way. But, approaching one of the Odintsovo gas stations, he was suddenly confused. Firstly, I did not know how side it was necessary to substitute for the column. I had to go out and see. Secondly, I could not find the handles or buttons to open the gas tank. What to do? I thought: I will search or ask - they will be suspected of theft. I had to put everything on its own. I casually threw the tanker: the 98th, full,-and began to secretly observe. Odintsovo refuela should know how this is done. He opened the hatch ... with his hand. For all the luxury of the car, there are stalls in it, which open simply. This discovery, however, played a cruel joke with me: when I tried to just close the trunk, my operator stopped me and pointed to a button for fools (and at the address), with which the process occurs automatically.
I love good acoustics and sound. With the first in S-Klasse, everything is in order. In it you can even roll serious opera vocalists and enjoy their singing. However, good sound insulation of the salon has the opposite side. When I had to buckle the gazelle, who decided to go around the bus, I did not hear my own signal. It seemed to me that Gazelle was buzzing. The sound of the crax of my Mercedes was completely slurred. He clearly lacks something original. How, if you remember, there were two tuning into the tender of the 21st Volga. I noticed that the parameters of the audio system are shifted under the restrictions: the bass was +9, and the timbre - +10. The taste of people who drove in this car before me left much to be desired. As the best could be the music itself. At one time, gentlemen from Bose deceived the whole world, including partners from Mercedes-Benz, their speakers, albeit correctly distributed in space. For a car of this class, you could also spend money on Mark Levinson.
Experiments. In Zhukovsky, I danced at W220: I turned it off ESP, drove on the steering wheel and began to spin the car from side to side, leaving a whole series of black circles on the asphalt. In this dance, the immense quality of the MB suspension, all its joints, opened me. Few machines of this class and weight are able to endure such loads with such ease.
On the other hand, S-Klasse behaves the same way as the Tu-95 bomber. There, all of Makhin spoke to the movement of the helm only after two seconds. And I always admired the professionalism of carcasses of carcasses, which, nevertheless, subtly feel the car. And they are capable, for example, when refueling in the air, provide a half -meter displacement of a structure weighing 225 tons. Another feature of the W220 management is that it has a runaway, that is, the distance between the center of the application of the forces in the tire contact spot and the projection of the turn of the rotary fist to this stain, almost zero. This is a common thing for comfortable cars. But because of this, you do not feel where the car strives when extraneous forces act on it.
I tested S-Klasse in turns. It's disgusting. At a bend near the Barvikhinsky rest house, where Boris Nikolaevich once loved to rest and where several trees were cut down not so long ago to move the meeting place with the inevitable, I tried to put the car into the skid. 120 km/h. Rubber and ESP kept the car, but I completely felt how Mercedes seeks to break out, and that I can not oppose anything to this. All attempts to remove the car in the center of the turn were in vain. I have not experienced fear at the wheel for a long time, but then he literally covered me. After the second such maneuver, when the car missed the optimal trajectory and crawled out onto the oncoming lane, I threw the experiments. And I realized that the steering wheel on S-Klasse is not to follow the trajectory, but to select the direction. He copes with this task perfectly. Even on the Moscow Ring Road, where monstrous ruts are served in the extreme left lane, he holds himself. And it does not allow you to take aside. Moreover, the higher the speed, the more stable he behaves on the indignant surfaces. So shallow potholes are better to drive at high speed.
Only before accelerating, check the position of the speed limiter lever. Ergonomically, it is extremely unsuccessful. Right on the steering wheel. If you move it and forget about it, that is, a big risk to choke. For example, when separating from a traffic light. Actually, this happened to me. After I almost stuck in the ass near the television center, I wanted to paint the lever in a red color. Like in an airplane. They blush everything potentially dangerous.
Aufiderzein. Once in a cork in the Ryazanka, I relaxed. I caught a pleasant melody on FM. He massaged his back, turning on the desired function. S-Klasse acted better than any antidepressant. Even traffic jams could not spoil the mood. The conceptual meaning of the Mercedes advertising - from home to home, without leaving home - opened to me quite. I looked at the GPS display, showing my movement on the planet in the corner seconds, and finally agreed that Mercedes is really a house on wheels. The best house.
Text Andrey Podbash, photo Maxim Gudkov, Andrey Sivitsky

Andrey Podbash. General producer of the television company View. TV presenter. Born in 1952 behind the polar circle. He graduated from MAI with a degree in radio engineer. Since 1980 - in Ostankino. The producer of the projects guess the melody, the field of miracles, the star hour, the silver ball, the topic ... For several years it realizes the children's dream - it takes a program about aviation wings. Personal cars: Subaru Impreza WRX STI, JAGUAR MARK II.
Mercedes-Benz W220. He made his debut in 1998, replacing the symbol of post -perestroika wealth MB W140. The refresher in 2002 after small cosmetic procedures. Engine - V12, equipped with double turbocharging and intercooler. Volume - 6.0 liters, power - 500 hp. The maximum speed is 250 km/h. Acceleration 0-100 km/h-4.8 seconds. The price in Moscow is from $ 170 thousand.

 

Source: "Autopilot"