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We just got home late last night from an epic road trip. I had some vacation time to burn, and we decided to go see the Grand Canyon. Along the way we also stopped at the Four Corners monument, drove through Monument Valley (where many Westerns and other movies were filmed), saw the Petrified Forest, and drove through some absolutely stunning territory. And some of the most boring, barren, please-get-us-through-this places as well. Northwestern Kansas, I'm talking about you here.
The trip stats:
7 days (we left Saturday AM, got back early Friday night)
2,942 miles
49 hours, 24 minutes driving time
Average speed 60 MPH
Overall fuel economy 21.3 MPG
The last day was downright punishing. We were both sick, with massive colds, congestion, coughing... you get the picture. We decided to leave Santa Fe, NM and make a run for home (Omaha, NE) via the quickest route. Our one-day stats:
909 miles
12 hours, 50 minutes driving
71 MPH average speed
21 MPG average fuel economy
The car performed well overall. We avoided Interstate highways for the first half of the trip. Highway cruising speeds ranged from 70 to 90, with an occasional dip up to 100 or slightly above. Lots of passing on two-lane highways. We were at altitudes of 7000' and above for much of the trip, so power was not what you'd expect down low, but still no problems getting around other cars and trucks. Distronic Plus worked well for most of the trip. On the way home we had one instance of it deciding to brake sharply for no apparent reason at all... never did figure out why. On two more occasions, both as we were going past slower, late model Ford Explorers, the cruise control completely freaked out. Hard braking, collision warning, red triangle lit up, etc. I had to disengage the cruise to get it to behave. The rest of the time I just turned the radars off when we were not on the highway to avoid the constant alarms at stops. I guess it's just what you live with when driving an older Mercedes.
We did get one MIL a couple days in. I had my laptop and Tactrix passthrough device along, so one morning I hooked it up to see the complaint. I should have written down the codes, but didn't... I've seen them both once before. One was a "secondary air injection" failure; the other was "Boost pressure insufficient". I haven't gone through the troubleshooting yet, but that's a project for another day. From what I have read, the boost pressure code may be (we can hope) just crap hose clamps in the charge air path. We'll see what we find. Other than that -- no problems. The seats were nice, handling was smooth and confident, power was certainly adequate, the ride was quiet and comfortable. Nothing broke, no coolant loss. I do put up with a couple of quirks on this car, but then I spent about $20-30K less than what it would cost to drive one with this mileage and without those quirks.
Since we all wonder how our vehicles are comparing to nearly identical vehicles on similar trips, this is the longest distance I have driven my S600 back in 2014. I traveled from North Carolina to Key West, Florida for several days and back. Ironically it was shortly after my wife had told me she wanted to separate, and I wanted to get as far away from her as I could (without driving off into the ocean) and it was in November, so a perfect time to go and enjoy to summer-like temperatures. It did not give me any issues at all - just the perfect road trip car for my wife and I. Ironically it never got used for that as she never went, but looking back, that was a very good thing.
This is a round trip including city driving and took place over about seven days in an W221 S600 BiTurbo.
I am fairly certain this was the drive home from from Key West to NC, as I drove that trip without stopping over for a night. I just set the Distronic on whatever was appropriate, and it kept the vehicle up with traffic but kept me out of trouble.
Last edited by Polar Bear; 10-13-2019 at 02:25 AM.
Reason: Added additional info for return trip.
I generally buy all my cars from south FL and drive them back non-stop after picking it up. Roughly 1200 miles and have never had an issue. My only stops are for gas and the trip is buttery smooth and serene. This car just feels good to drive any where, any time.
OK, since we’re posting pics of the details... The last day... I don’t think I’d want to drive much more than that on one day, at least not with a bad cold and sinus congestion. We started out at about 7K elevation, ended up at 1200 MSL. Lots of ear popping along the way. The entire trip, from fueling up on the way out of town until shutdown in the driveway.
And a gratuitous shot of The Beast in front of the site of Los Pollos Hermanos from Breaking Bad. It also appeared with its real name in the new El Camino movie.
I noticed that as well. And bear in mind, my mileage is probably a little lower because it was a lot of mountain driving. Still, though, very close.
My altitude was from 2,800 to 0, and I drove conservatively and used Distronic to keep pace with traffic. Other than that, nothing remarkable about the way I drove or anything.
If you think about it, a full-size pickup a few years old gets no better economy than the V12 in most driving scenarios, and in general, much worse. Also, one thing that gets under my skin is because of the three pointed star on the hood, you are treated differently, and not in a good way. You can spend $100k on a 2019 F450 Super Duty and it's nothing, or a 4 year old 1/2 ton Diesel pickup, and it's nothing, but if you buy a luxury/performance sedan - the jealousy sets in. I know it doesn't apply everywhere, but it does in many parts of rural US. Little do they know...
My altitude was from 2,800 to 0, and I drove conservatively and used Distronic to keep pace with traffic. Other than that, nothing remarkable about the way I drove or anything.
If you think about it, a full-size pickup a few years old gets no better economy than the V12 in most driving scenarios, and in general, much worse. Also, one thing that gets under my skin is because of the three pointed star on the hood, you are treated differently, and not in a good way. You can spend $100k on a 2019 F450 Super Duty and it's nothing, or a 4 year old 1/2 ton Diesel pickup, and it's nothing, but if you buy a luxury/performance sedan - the jealousy sets in. I know it doesn't apply everywhere, but it does in many parts of rural US. Little do they know...
I have a 2011 F150 EcoBoost. It would have been our #2 pick for this trip -- it's a VERY comfortable ride, with gobs of interior room. Not as quiet or as smooth as the Mercedes, but definitely a nice ride. I figure we'd have probably averaged around 19 MPG, maybe a little less... assuming I never went faster than 75. If we'd have maintained the speeds we did the truck would have maybe managed 18 at best. There's not nearly the penalty for going fast in the much more aerodynamic Mercedes. So it's actually cheaper to drive the Beast.
I haven't encountered anyone who has displayed a bad attitude because of the car, at least not so far. At one gs stop a guy was thrilled to see it -- he'd never seen an S600 in person, and was taking pictures with his cell phone. He'd seen a Sunbeam Tiger the week before. Most people have no clue what the car is. The ones who notice the "V12" badge will comment occasionally. It gives me a chance to share my thoughts that used, high-end luxury cars can be a fantastic value. For the price of a moderately equipped Accord or Fusion, we're driving an ultra-luxury machine like this. Yes, operating and ownership will be more expensive. I don't think I've spent more than a few hundred dollars in maintenance and upkeep on the pickup, other than oil changes, since I bought it new nearly 9 years ago. Yes, owning a V12 Mercedes out of warranty is not for the faint of heart or the light of wallet... and not a mistake I'm likely to repeat. Still, though, there's a lot to be said for gliding down the road in quiet, cool comfort at whatever speed you like. There were a couple of stretches of long, straight, relatively flat, deserted roads where 90 seemed downright conservative.
Heh, it is always at a gas station where people ask me is:
"Does it really have a V12?"
"Is the interior nice?"
"Is it fast?"
Nothing but compliments/questions. Something about the car (in my experience) doesn't incite hatred like some other brands. Probably due to correlating factors such as I'm in shorts and a t-shirt when pumping gas and a lot of times I look like Grizzly Adams.
Same here. 70 or 85+ I get almost the same MPG. Whereas every SUV I've had MPG falls off a cliff above about 72-75
Aerodynamics. The S600 has a Cd of .26 or so, which is much, much better than any truck or SUV. That's important, because drag increases dramatically with speed. I'm actually thinking about dropping my pickup 2" or so all around, just to gain a little improvement in gas mileage.
Well ****!! I think I may have found out why it just didn’t seem nearly as powerful as it should have lately. Ya think this might have had a detrimental effect on boost pressure??
Edit: Uh-huh. After fixing this and re-tightening all of the charge air path hose clamps, I took a test drive after giving the car a good wash. Holy cr@p. Apparently it's been like this for a while, and I've effectively been driving a low compression 5.5 NA car. I suspect I didn't get the hose clamp all the way tight when I did the right valve cover gasket a couple months ago. This thing feels like a rocket sled now. I am suddenly possessed by a burning desire to go run it down a drag strip and get an official time slip.
Those pictures brought good memories.
12 years ago I was able to set CC at 100 mph and not disengage for 50 miles. Now with revenue seekers making traps even in Nebraska- that is no longer possible.
On this year's trip, we took the back roads through NE, WY, MT, and SD. In western NE we were able to set the cruise at 110 and just let her settle in for an hour or so. The radar detector saved my bacon when we managed to find the one sheriff deputy working that day. I still paid the speed tax, but only a very small fine since I got a little advance warning. I think he got me at 74 in a 65 zone. We did about 2500 miles touring Yellowstone, Devil's Tower, and the Black Hills. Overall gas mileage was just a little over 20, maybe 21 MPG overall. Not too shabby. Even the guys we met in Yellowstone with the Jag F-type liked the car.
10-12-2019, 10:40 AM
