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Magic Body Control, Active Body Control and the most elegant version of the renunciation, the new Coupe of the S-Class You could only imagine in the region around Florence. Florence, the cultural capital of Tuscany, home and work of Michelangelo. Michelangelo, like no other, possessed the gift of discovering, even in the blank of a work of art, the final drama of the beauty of his later creation. And the body he sculpted, the statue of David, became world famous. When Mercedes introduced the new S-Class, it quickly became clear that the aesthetic crowning would be the renunciation of two doors. Maximum luxury is created by the renunciation. While the art of omission of the unnecessary is an act of liberation, the second good reason for the presentation in Florence is the accumulation of wealth. Florence was the home of the Medici in the 15. and 16. Century centered the financial and political power in Tuscany. And the Medici founded what we know today as modern banking. With a base price of 125.961,50 € own bank is very helpful. So where else could one have presented the culmination of the Mercedes vehicle program?
Art, culture and Monet
First exit with the S-Class Coupe
The fact that the coupé version of the S-Class is no longer labeled with the disdainful “CL” of its predecessor and has also been almost 18 centimeters shorter is good for him. With the designation S-Class Coupé, the fronts are immediately clarified. What drives up here with a curb weight of a good 2.1 tonnes is not just a two-door, it is the S-Class variant of the sophisticated upper class. As with the S-Class and the recently presented new C-class, the design of the large coupe speaks the design language of "sensual clarity”(Sic!) - so it says Design chief Gorden Wagener.
An imposing grille, decent cooling air holes in the bumper, a flat A-pillar thick like the thighs of Michelangelo's David. The roof stretches tightly over the heads of the upper ten thousand (Who else but motor-journalists and the top ten thousand will be allowed to see themselves in it?) and runs out, into a short crisp butt free of any wrinkles, just topped off by a sharp tear-off edge that forms the chocolate side of the coupe. (Whereby the Renault Laguna Coupé looks good from the back and that's what the tail lights remind me of.)
Kunstbanause on tour
I can't do much with art and culture. Engines and driving dynamics are my world. So open the barn door on the driver's side and slip into the cozy world of luxury. The Swabians can build seats. The interior is a composition for aristocrats. Aluminum, wood and leather - plus the modern world of large, double TFT displays. The interior ranges from playful luxury to cool technology. Successful. A place to endure. A place to relax. Until the engine starts.
The selection for the first exit is clear. There are eight-cylinder with two turbochargers. As S500 455 PS are waiting for the solvent clientele, the equally presented and equally driven AMG S63 presses 585 PS into the sculpture.
455 PS and 700 Nm are enough for the trip to Tuscany. Gutterales babble escapes the two tailpipes, the well-known 7 automatic transmission tugs the gears through the rev range. Light pressure in the neck announces the possible 4.6 seconds. But you do not always have to use the feasible. The S63 Coupe would even jump in 4.2 seconds on Tempo 100. But who drives faster, has less time for the beautiful things. Not arrival is the goal, the journey there. A quiet journey. Fascinated, one experiences the discrepancy between current cruising speed and perceived speed. It is darn quiet inside the big coupe. Wind noise is slowing down, arriving in many countries around the world at a speed in the area of the forbidden zone. Rolling sounds are heard only remotely and who is once in motion, hears the fine eight-cylinder timbre of the engine hardly anything. Complete decoupling. A big travel coupe wants to be the S-Class in this version. A GT with the claim to the highest comfort consecration. To get there, a lot of technical effort was made. Double glazing, a new concept for door seals and perfected aerodynamics are the blanks from which this artwork was created.
Eyes for the road
The S-Class impressed me with its world premiere already by a system with the name: Magic Body Control. Behind it is a combination of stereo camera system and an active chassis control. In addition to this function of anticipatory damper obedience, the new S-Coupé may also present another world first: the Curve tilting function. With this technology, the S-Coupé curves up to 2.5 °. Unlike moving a motorcycle, the rider's knees do not run the risk of touching the road. The driver sits on the fastest comfort armchairs in the republic and is decoupled from lateral acceleration - this is the only thing he has in common with the motorcycle principle. And it works.
Hydraulic pistons at the upper end of the suspension struts raise or lower the vehicle. When turning to the left, the preload of the springs is reduced on the left, the vehicle plunges in on the left, the right side increases the preload of the spring with an extending hydraulic piston and raises the vehicle on the right. The mechanical result is a curve inclination of up to 2.5 ° and a maximum of 4 cm in each direction. The felt result is impressive. The leaning tower of Pisa could not be impressed with it, its inclination is 4 ° ...
Since the chassis does not initiate these settings as a reaction to a curve that has already been initiated, but can look around 15 meters in front of the vehicle via the stereo camera in the windshield, the occupant feels decoupled from the laws of the vehicle even before turning into the curve Physics. Magic Body Control with activated curve tilting function has the most pleasant effect for the passengers. The unpleasant consequences of constantly changing cornering disappear here. For the driver, the loss of the familiar feeling of lateral acceleration may initially be confusing.
[=” ” ]VAT: Mercedes understands this feature as a convenience feature and activates the suspension adjustment only in the speed range between 15 and 180 km / h.In addition to the Magic Body Control suspension, based on state-of-the-art oil pressure dampers, the Active Body Control suspension (air suspension) is also available. In the future, buyers will have to weigh even better which suspension system offers the greatest advantages for their own journey. A decision that you can not make without a test drive.
However, anyone interested in this new technology will have to be patient. The system is initially only offered on models with rear-wheel drive and these are not yet available at the start of the luxury class. The 4matic models and the “powerful” S63 AMG Coupé are the starting point.
Open questions
The large coupé offers immense potential for enthusiasm, but also leaves open questions. The new multibeam LED light was recently presented in the Facelift-CLS, but the premier class will be presented with the well-known LED lighting technology. An unusual decision, as the 47 functionless Swarovski crystals in the headlight don't help either. The questions why the luxury class with a star still has to get by without an LTE hotspot, or who got the idea to leave out the simple button to open the tailgate - remain unanswered.
Just as urgent as the question of the light source are those of the new 9-speed automatic transmission. Because this is also not in the price lists for the time being. The feeling is as if Mercedes were so convinced of the cultural fascination, of their own David, of the luxury of being in the new two-door, that they want to save the latest technical features for a later date - without a lack of it To suspect interested parties.
And finally ...
Would Michelangelo have liked the Swarovski stones in the headlights? I doubt it. It contradicts the principle of asceticism and minimalism, but hey, who wants to attract attention, he has just come with special gimmicks around the corner. But among us, the new MultibeamLED light would have been more useful than this optical fashion short.
The rest is a stunner - it cannot be summarized otherwise. As the natural culmination of the model range, the S-Coupe focuses on the combination of the best.
S-Class Coupé - the gallery:
Article of the colleagues:
