RE: 2021 Mercedes-Benz S500 | PH Review
Discussion
I quite like this.
From a styling perspective, it seems that Mercedes have toned down the excess of creases. It's still a touch droopy, but the grille is not as overdone as Audi, and of course, BMW's cocaine-snorting schnozzle, and the character lines are relatively cohesive.
Inside? It's great - or close to greatness. Hurrah for a non-black interior, but the lighting needs to be toned down somewhat. It doesn't sit easily with the particular colour scheme in the pictures, and is in danger of overpowering the look, as has been mentioned in other posts. Colour highlights can be great for creating a look or an atmosphere - see Jaguar and the red lighting meets dark chocolate, in a Revolution Vodka Bar meme. The atmosphere, however, can resemble a fairground if not done well.
The wood finish looks terrific - channeling a little Riva there - and unlike others, I like the tablet. It's not floating, other than the top edge - and that, for me, gives the dash some three-dimensionality, like Volvo's floating centre console in the early 2000s. Critically, this - like Bentley and Volvo - gives a more warm and emotional place to while away the hours on die autobahnen (or the M6; you will be on that for hours, crawling for the most part), and that's a good sign. Audi and BMW still go for the cool clinical black poloneck vibe, which is great, but sterile.
One note of criticism. The perforations in the quilted leather make the seats look dirty, like you have worn jeans too often.
A great wafting carriage, which is its purpose.
I'd take this over a full fat SUV. Cars like this can be elegant. A large SUV rarely is. Chacun a son gout, as they say in Hull.
From a styling perspective, it seems that Mercedes have toned down the excess of creases. It's still a touch droopy, but the grille is not as overdone as Audi, and of course, BMW's cocaine-snorting schnozzle, and the character lines are relatively cohesive.
Inside? It's great - or close to greatness. Hurrah for a non-black interior, but the lighting needs to be toned down somewhat. It doesn't sit easily with the particular colour scheme in the pictures, and is in danger of overpowering the look, as has been mentioned in other posts. Colour highlights can be great for creating a look or an atmosphere - see Jaguar and the red lighting meets dark chocolate, in a Revolution Vodka Bar meme. The atmosphere, however, can resemble a fairground if not done well.
The wood finish looks terrific - channeling a little Riva there - and unlike others, I like the tablet. It's not floating, other than the top edge - and that, for me, gives the dash some three-dimensionality, like Volvo's floating centre console in the early 2000s. Critically, this - like Bentley and Volvo - gives a more warm and emotional place to while away the hours on die autobahnen (or the M6; you will be on that for hours, crawling for the most part), and that's a good sign. Audi and BMW still go for the cool clinical black poloneck vibe, which is great, but sterile.
One note of criticism. The perforations in the quilted leather make the seats look dirty, like you have worn jeans too often.
A great wafting carriage, which is its purpose.
I'd take this over a full fat SUV. Cars like this can be elegant. A large SUV rarely is. Chacun a son gout, as they say in Hull.
The front may project confidence but the rear looks too soft and a little sad somehow.
I'm sure it is a wonderful place to spend time in the back but when will manufacturers learn, interacting with a touch screen for every function does not luxury make. There is no substitute for touching/sliding/turning beautifully damped, machined metal buttons/knobs to operate key interior functions. Stabbing wildly at a screen whilst trying to drive just adds to your stress rather than enhances your inner calm. Less is often very much more.
I'm sure it is a wonderful place to spend time in the back but when will manufacturers learn, interacting with a touch screen for every function does not luxury make. There is no substitute for touching/sliding/turning beautifully damped, machined metal buttons/knobs to operate key interior functions. Stabbing wildly at a screen whilst trying to drive just adds to your stress rather than enhances your inner calm. Less is often very much more.
gigglebug said:
How much could a manufacturer potentially be saving, in both development and manufacturing costs, by replacing a multitude of different buttons/switches/dials with a single screen?
Judging by the fact that a) Using it is generally a worse experience than traditional dials & knobs you can use by feel while keeping your eye on the road, and
b) everyone is doing it whichever segment the car is in
... I'd guess at a s
t load.gigglebug said:
How much could a manufacturer potentially be saving, in both development and manufacturing costs, by replacing a multitude of different buttons/switches/dials with a single screen?
I would imagine quite a bit, screens are cheap and you're just designing the shape of 2, if you've got 100 switches/buttons and dials to design/find a place for and ask the suppliers to tool up for then just having 2 screens and a user interface to worry about looks like a cost saving to me. How much easier would it be to build as well vs a button/connection festooned dashboard.
gigglebug said:
How much could a manufacturer potentially be saving, in both development and manufacturing costs, by replacing a multitude of different buttons/switches/dials with a single screen?
Once you're up to scale with the screen, lots. Plus you can reconfigure for right hand drive in software (don't have to redesign the button layout). Plus you can add features over the air.Another advantage is that all your buttons are within one defined area - with different "tabs" you can have hundreds of controls on one screen, so you don't have to go hunting for buttons that you don't use regularly - "anyone know where the foglights are on this car?"
Plus voice control on these cars is getting better, so half the time you can just tell the car to do something without removing your hands from the wheel at all.
I realise I'm probably going to have to hand in my pistonheads badge, but having lived with a big screen for several months, I prefer it.
that interior Tim bo said:
The same V6 431hp mild-hybrid unit they introduced in the E53 then.
Straight-6, but yes.And to those hating the blue lights, it's configurable to any colour (well, I believe it's around 10-bit levels, so 1024 shades)
I think it's a handsome thing for a modern, I'll take mine in green please:
It actually seems quite cheap - the petrol is £87k, then there's almost no options except the "premium pack" at £6500. Add that and you get all the bells and whistles, there's literally nothing else.
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 28th October 10:09
I always think touch screens are a gimick manufacturers came up with for people to walk into a showroom and think "ooh, that's nice, just like my iPad at home", but when it comes to day-to-day practicality then most people would admit that an old fashioned set of tactile buttons is a lot more user friendly.
Compared to my old Mk1 Focus, my Mk3 is more fiddly to change radio stations, etc. And although not part of the touch screen, the climate control buttons are "too smooth" so I'll hit the wrong one sometimes and have to take my eyes off the road for a split second to check what I'm doing, whereas the old Focus was 3 simple dials and a couple of buttons.
And that's for a relatively basic Focus, scale it up to an S-Class with hundreds of different functions and menus, surely it becomes distracting?
Anyway, it's not really going to be a problem for me, I'll let my driver figure it out
Compared to my old Mk1 Focus, my Mk3 is more fiddly to change radio stations, etc. And although not part of the touch screen, the climate control buttons are "too smooth" so I'll hit the wrong one sometimes and have to take my eyes off the road for a split second to check what I'm doing, whereas the old Focus was 3 simple dials and a couple of buttons.
And that's for a relatively basic Focus, scale it up to an S-Class with hundreds of different functions and menus, surely it becomes distracting?
Anyway, it's not really going to be a problem for me, I'll let my driver figure it out
The whole line-up, along with BMW has turned into a race to make the most blingy, aggressive cars possible - more lights, more spoilers and vents, more screens, more quilted leather = more sales on PcP. Mercedes especially has turned its line up into a set of cloned droopy, blobby vehicles that don't look handsome at all. Definitely catering for the Range-Rover sport market. Its a real shame that cars at this level feel the need to shout about quality vs the restrained lines of the W126, W140, W124 or R129 Benzes of the 80s / 90s or the E32 / E34 BMWs of the same era for example.
Krikkit said:
Tim bo said:
The same V6 431hp mild-hybrid unit they introduced in the E53 then.
Straight-6, but yes.And to those hating the blue lights, it's configurable to any colour (well, I believe it's around 10-bit levels, so 1024 shades)
I think it's a handsome thing for a modern, I'll take mine in green please:
It actually seems quite cheap - the petrol is £87k, then there's almost no options except the "premium pack" at £6500. Add that and you get all the bells and whistles, there's literally nothing else.
Edited by Krikkit on Wednesday 28th October 10:09
6500k premium, does that inc dynamic seats?
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