History of Mercedes-Benz S-Class (Video)

Mercedes-Benz S-Class is the oldest big luxury sedan on automotive market, since 1951 S-Class introduced milestone technology and safety to industry. Like some people say, what you see in S-Class will be in your car a decade later. S-Class is the projection of future mobility! I did start from a fanatic perspective to S-Class, however I am not a fan of S-Class! It is too big for me and looks too serious, if I need to buy a big size luxury sedan, I would try my chance with Maserati Quattroporte or may be Jaguar XJ or may be BMW 7-Series. The last two options are viable, if the Maserati is not available!

Anyway, I found a nearly twenty-minute long video of S-Class’s history. It is made by Mercedes-Benz for their online TV channel. It is a bit long but worth to watch it. Video narrates the S-Class’s innovative technologies to automotive industry with making you bored of too many technological details.

Even though, I am harsh with S-Class time-to-time, I cannot ignore the fact that, it is the safest sedan on planet. The safety technologies of S-Class always pioneered the industry and will do so. From ABS to infrared night vision camera!

Here is the list of S-Class (Vehicles are represented by their internal codes). Some of the years are collapsing with each other but it was like this on video. Pictures are in historical order!

W187 W180 W111/112 W108/109 W116 W126 W140 W220 W221

1951 – 1954 1954 – 1959 1959 – 1968 1965 – 1972 1972 – 1980 1979 – 1991 1991 – 1998 1998 – 2005 2005 – 2013

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Mercedes

World Car Awards

I am not into too much about World Car of the Year award however, this year I really appreciated the winner! Volkswagen UP. Most of the times, I am not paying very high attention to  this award and sometimes I really don’t agree with their decision. But, Volkswagen is a realy revolutionary car for urban transportation without scarifying ride comfort or ergonomy. I really like the UP and it would be a great solution to tiring and boring urban transportation.

They also awarded, Range Rover Evoque as the World Design Car of the Year, Porsche 911 as the World Performance Car of the Year and Mercedes-Benz S250 CDi as the World Green Car of the Year. I agree with Evoque, they created a new path for the urban SUV market and developed a new design language. 

Mercedes-Benz S250 CDi offers the smallest diesel engine (2,2-lt), the lowest consumption 5,7lt/km diesel and cleanest CO2 level 149g/km on its segment. 

However, I would not award the new Porsche 911. Because, its steering wheel replaced by an electric steering wheel that reduces the connection with the road and McLaren MP4-12C offers much better performance levels than the 911.

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Mercedes, VW

New Mercedes-Benz A-Class

Before I start, this is the best looking aggressive Mercedes-Benz on market and they finally did an amazing interior for A-Class!

Finally we have the press pictures of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Honestly, I was really willing to see the new A-Class, during last two models they did not change the design so much and kept with MPV styling. Eventually, this led some customers to avoid the A-Class and jump to Audi A3.

I think Mercedes-Benz thought the same and finally they totally get rid off the MPV styling and concentrate more on sportier look, in terms of numbers new A-Class is 18 cm lower than the previous one. HMPV cars are boring regardless of their engines; if a car is a MPV it is boring. Therefore, A-Class always perceived as a family car, not entertaining. On the other hand, being MPV provided a huge leg room and head room. I have never seen this amount of extra space at any car on this segment. It has so much space in both front and rear seats, I can’t even describe it. I hope that, this new model will not ruin this.

From the pictures, I can assume that new A-Class will have a younger audience and look really nice and sporty. Especially it looks better than the new B and ML from the back! And front look is very aggressive, it is obvious that Mercedes-Benz is looking forward to capture some of the Audi A3 customers. New A-Class will be offered in three options; Urban, Style and AMG Sport. These options are quite similar to new BMW 1 Series. Thus, it is very clear that A-Class is targeting the 1-Siers and A3!

Now the technical features of the A-Class; it offers diesel and petrol engines as you expected. A180 CDi (109 PS), A200 CDi (136 PS) and A220 CDi (170 PS) are the diesel engines. A180 (115 PS), A200 (156 PS) and A250 (211 PS) are the petrol engines. All these engines have the optional 7G-DCT double clutch auto transmission, this sounds perfect! Also, petrol engines are featuring a new technology called Camtronic. It does this; “CAMTRONIC is an innovation that will be celebrating its world premiere in the 1.6-litre engine: adjusting the valve lift on the intake side restricts the amount of fresh mixture used in the partial load range, so reducing consumption.”

With electronic gadgets, A-Class will be offered with Pre-Safe occupant protection system that can predict a possible crash and takes necessary safety measures. Such as, tighten the seat belts, closing the windows and sunroof, and straights up the seats if they are electrically controlled. It was first introduced in S-Class in 2002 and took ten years to be offered in A-Class. Also, Collision Prevention System is standard on A-Class as well (COLLISION PREVENTION ASSIST system gives a visual and acoustic warning to alert a possibly distracted driver to identified obstacles, and prepares Brake Assist for the most precise braking response possible. This is initiated as soon as the driver steps firmly on the brake pedal)

In future A-Class will offer the 4-MATIC four-wheel drive system, until that time it will be front-wheel drive that destroys the joy. I really wish to see a rear-wheel drive A-Class like BMW 1 Series. I know it will be a bit pointless and expensive but I still want it!

And, these are the standard and optional safety gadgets;

ATTENTION ASSIST (standard)

Brake HOLD function (standard)

Hill-Start Assist (standard)

DISTRONIC PLUS

Adaptive Highbeam Assist

Blind Spot Assist and Lane Keeping Assist

Speed Limit Assist (speed limit sign recognition)

Active Parking Assist

LINGUATRONIC

Reversing camera

Lastly, please don’t take pictures with that blue, it looks really bad.

And I think A-Class deserves this song, 

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Mercedes