hyperion667

awesome! my next sedan!

ImInPA

You wont be disappointed Hype. My W221 is just amazing and this should be even better.

cookstar

the CL will be replaced by the S-class couple which should be an equally remarkable vehicle!

cookstar

Joyride

Looking good. I'm sure it will be even better in person.

cookstar

Online Presentation posted by World Car Fans:

cookstar

looks like No 9 speed transmission, I am very disappointed

C280 Sport

WOW That interior is crazy! So much leather and more leather! This car looks to be crammed with innovation and tech goodies!! I cannot wait to have a go with it! I have a feeling I may be spending lots of time at my MB dealer in the next year or so due to the new S,E and I want to try the CLA too!
The only thing I do not like on this car after looking at these pics for a while is the seat controls. I just hate the way they look! Grrr


I noticed on the screen they were playing California Girls by Katy Perry

C280 Sport

I have seen and owned many car but never herd of this from anyone. I am guessing this is another MB Innovation?

cookstar

All this tech but still the same 7 speed that they came out with in the early 2000s, at very least they should have put the ZF 8 speed in it, not just for fuel economy but for smooth low rpm's in the higway

C280 Sport

I personally like the 7 Speed in my W212. I know Lexus has a 8 Speed in the LS.

cookstar

even the 2014 Dodge Dart which costs less than 20k has the ZF 9 speed

C280 Sport

Imagine that in a 3 pedal manual?

Wolfman

So what? More gears doesn't make for a better transmission. As far as ZF, have one in the 750 and the MB slushbox is better in any way.

cookstar

I havent driven the 7 series recently so I dont know, but the 8 speed in the Audi A8 is far smoother than what MB currently has, the 7G+ slightly better than the original 7G but they should have put something better in the flagship S-class, who knows maybe they will put the 8 or 9 speed or maybe in 2015?

Tomshop

I want to maintain a 3 position rear seat but also want to be able to recline the rear seats. Is this still possible? If you get air balance package do you need to scent the air? Finally can you get a carbon interior with AMG sport package 550?

cookstar

from what I understand the air balance package contains a resovoir in the glove box which you either have to refill or get a new one, most likely direct from MB.

superchet

Anyone know if they will produce an S65?

I heard the S600 will be a Pullman limousine and NA in standard length.

cookstar

there is a huge demand for the S65, especially in the Middle East and Russia so they will build it, same way with the G65 at over 250,000 Euros.

superchet

The G65 wasn't available in North America though. Do you think the S65 will be available here?

cookstar

I would this so, they have always been available in North America, I dont see why not.

cookstar

http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewd...ng-technology/




Cameras and cell phones go on a table under watchful eye. Names get checked off a list.

Through a darkened archway flanked by stern looking security personnel are three 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class sedans. The front and rear of each car are hidden with black plastic and tape. The room is pitch black. Only a few journalists are allowed in at a time.

We’re in Stuttgart, Germany, getting a run-down of the technology inside Mercedes’ new flagship sedan, set to debut May 15 in Hamburg. Engineers and designers eagerly watch as we test out plush seat recliners, back massagers and high-end audio systems—all of which seem taken straight from a multimillion-dollar mansion.

The fact that Mercedes has orchestrated an international press event just to show off the interior of the 2014 S-Class says a lot. First of all, the company has absolutely stuffed this car with enough gadgetry to fill a 77-page press kit and wants a captive audience to demonstrate some of it. But more importantly, amid an unprecedented flurry of vehicle launches—30 new Mercedes models in the United State in the next seven years—this one is special.

The S-Class is a showcase for Mercedes innovation. Technology that debuts on this sedan is trend-setting, not just for the company, but the entire industry.

Mercedes says the 1959 220S was the first passenger car in the world to feature a dedicated crash structure around the cabin, replete with crumple zones. The 1978 S-Class was the first passenger vehicle in the world to get antilock brakes. The 1981 S-Class pioneered airbags. All of this technology is now required for every passenger vehicle sold in the United States. The list goes on.

But the mark Mercedes hopes to make with the 2014 S-Class has less to do with safety and more to do with comfort and luxury. It has long been possible to load an S-Class with so many options that it pushes into the six-figure price range of a Bentley Continental Flying Spur. But sitting in both cars made it clear the Bentley was at another level of design, quality and comfort.

With the 2014 S-Class, Mercedes-Benz narrows that gap. The interior design alone is a big improvement. Panels blend together seamlessly where once they appeared as distinct pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. The center armrest between the front seats, which swings open to reveal a storage bin, is one smooth piece of leather devoid of unsightly shut lines. On the current S-Class, the small, domed palm support for the large control knob just ahead of the center armrest flips open on exposed hinges to expose a keypad. Now this palm support just slides gently out of the way, disappearing into the console. There are no hinges and the only seams on it are the double-stitched ones added for aesthetics.

Bentleys have always shown this level of sophistication in the details. But Mercedes haven’t, necessarily.

In some respects, the 2014 S-Class even surpasses what Bentley offers, as with its high-tech instrument panel and a new user interface that took more than 300 programers several years to develop. Two massive flat screens positioned side by side blend together as if one and span half the dashboard. The section in front of the driver replaces traditional instrumentation with digital gauges for the speedometer and other readouts.

The steering wheel has a retro two-spoke design that is distinctive. Mood lighting is everywhere, iridescent strands snaking around the dashboard and doors, in the ceiling, on the center console, even behind the two massive display screens, making it appear as if to float. (To see the S-Class interior up close, go to this slideshow.)


Two massive display screens span half the dashboard and appear as if to float with the help of mood lighting. (Credit: Mercedes)

All of this was done to imbue a sense of quality and luxury, something people can’t always pinpoint, but know it when they see and feel it, says Dr. Goetz Renner, head of Mercedes’ customer research center, which is dedicated to deconstructing human behavior as relates to cars. “What is luxury? What is comfort?” he asks rhetorically during a presentation at the S-Class event in Stuttgart. The answer to that is as complicated as human behavior. But current trends dictate that today, luxury is comfort.

“Comfort is becoming more and more sexy,” says Renner, who has a Ph.D. in experimental psychology and speaks in the soft, soothing tones of a therapist. This is particularly true as the automobile becomes a third living space in which people increasingly spend more time between home and the office.

So, Mercedes’ goal with the new S-Class is to create a car that doesn’t just coddle occupants in a luxurious environment, but actively relaxes them through a concept called “energizing comfort.”

The fundamentals of this principal have been part of luxury cars since the beginning: to reduce irritating noises, vibrations and other grating stimulus that cause physical and mental fatigue. The current S-Class already does this so well that much of the focus on insulating the new S-Class’ cabin from unwanted sound and vibrations had to do with simply creating lighter materials to save weight.


The rear of the 2014 S-Class can be outfitted like a private jet, with heated and massaging seats that recline more than 43 degrees. (Credit: Mercedes)

Where the 2014 Mercedes S-Class really breaks new ground is in how it actively pampers occupants. New heated and cooled seats have 14 separately actuated air cushions in the backrest that simulate a shiatsu massage and hot stone treatment.

Just trying it for a few minutes makes clear Mercedes is onto something. Compared to the massage seats in recent Bentleys, Jaguars and even the previous Mercedes S-Class, these are much better. The pulsations really feel like a human hand is applying pressure.

There are six programs, two with heating function. The one I tried alternated pressure points up and down either side of the spine.

Another new feature is heated armrests, both on the doors and the center console. This might seem superfluous, but there’s a good chance it will join the heated steering wheel—a feature I once dismissed but now appreciate—as the next must-have in luxury cars.

One of the most curious additions to the S-Class is a fragrance dispenser. It’s located in the glove box and sends a waft of perfume into the cabin through vents in the dashboard. It works for five minutes at a time, with a five-minute pause in between, because the nose gets accustomed to smells after a while.

Mercedes worked with fragrance supplier Symrise to come up with five different scents that range from unobtrusive, like the one called Freeside, which comes standard, to polarizing. The scent called Nightlife smells of a club, thick with cologne.

Freeside was my favorite. It smelled like an Ayurvedic spa, with hints of tea tree oil and rosemary. “It’s lively for me; lively like a tree in spring, when the leaves are growing,” says Sabine Englehardt, a researcher in Mercedes’ society and technology research group, who worked with Symrise to create the scents for the new S-Class.


But what smells good to one person might smell terrible to another. It all has to do with the emotions we associate with scents. “The nose is connected to a very old part of the brain, which is connected to emotion and memory,” Englehardt says. That’s why there are five fragrance choices.

The idea of adding fragrance to the 2014 S-Class was to create another dimension to the emotional experience of being inside a Mercedes. The feature is part of an Air-Balance package, which also enhances air filtration in the cabin.

The “active perfuming system” in the 2014 Mercedes S-Class must be turned on manually. It atomizes the fragrance that gets dispensed into the air, rather than just spraying it. That way the scent doesn’t cling to interior surfaces and won’t permanently affect the smell of the cabin. One fragrance canister lasts about a year.

The most pampering place to be in the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class is in the rear seat. And that is where Mercedes has truly made strides relative to established ultra-luxury players like Bentley.

This is the first S-Class sedan developed from the ground up as a stretched model. Normally, a standard version gets made first and then lengthened to create another variant with a limo-like rear seating area. With the 2014 S-Class, it was the opposite.

Part of the reason for such an emphasis is due to an increasing focus on growing sales in Asia, where people of means are almost always chauffeured and rarely drive themselves.

The stretched version of the 2014 Mercedes S-Class offers five options for well-heeled passengers riding in the back. An “Executive” package allows the backrest to recline more than 43 degrees and supports your legs, like a recliner. Mercedes even designed special seatbelts with airbags in them and cushions that pop up under occupants’ thighs to keep them in place during a crash while reclined.

Upgrade to the “First Class Rear” package and you can get a center console between the back seats that includes fold-out tables and heated and cooled cupholders. You’ll want to add the “Rear Seat Comfort” package too, for the hot-stone massage function.

All together there are more than 100 actuators and electric motors inside the new S-Class. And the electronics are just as dazzling. They run on the latest Intel Atom processor and a 200 gigabyte hard drive. What’s more, most of the car’s comfort and convenience features can be controlled through a paired smartphone—multiple ones, actually, and at the same time.

So for example, when the rear-seat technology package is chosen, which includes a flat screen for each outboard occupant, someone in the backseat can pair a smartphone to the system and control most of its functions. Or they can use an included touchscreen device located in the center console.


Designers drew inspiration from cell phones and high-end electric shavers for the perforated Burmester speaker grille in the door, seen to the right. Buttons to control the seating position are patterned after the Eames lounge chair. (Credit: Mercedes)

Previously, the driver had to designate certain functions no matter what, but now anyone can watch programming, surf the web or even track the travel trajectory on the GPS independently of what others might be doing on their respective screens. This is a breakthrough that hasn’t been done before on any Mercedes.

The final building block to the 2014 Mercedes S-Class’ new level of luxury is the audio system. There are two optional surround-sound systems made by the German company Burmester, which specializes in home and studio hi-fi systems costing tens of thousands of dollars.

The top “3D Surround Sound” version cranks out 1,540 watts through 24 speakers. I struggle to recall a better sounding audio system in a car.

Using the 3D function, which seeks to envelope the listener by making it seem as if the instruments playing and voices singing are coming from different physical locations, sounds over-processed. But the stereo’s normal mode produces sound so amazingly life-like it puts you in the moment of a recording, be it in the studio or at a live venue.

The woodwinds of Domenico Scarlatti’s Carpicco Fugato come to life as if in the car with us. I can hear the bass player’s fingers strumming strings on Cyrill Lutzelshwab’s Boxenkiller track.

I lean back, recline the chair and turn on the heated massager. My head sinks into a leather-covered, soft pillow strapped to the headrest. I don’t want the demo to end. This must be exactly what Mercedes means by “energizing comfort.”

MBNUT1

Gorgeous

Pagani

A S65 there will be for sure. Question is, will it be 4matic like the 63 S AMG.

tusabes

Mercedes wasnt the first for abs or airbags -GM had Track Master anti lock brakes and airbags in the early 70s, before MB

And a perfume atomizer was in the 1957 Cadillac eldorado brougham