Review: Mercedes-Benz S600; CL600
Big luxury cars aren’t usually much fun to drive. They are fast, comfortable, spacious and make you feel like a king as you trundle past the unwashed masses in their little tin boxes, but their bulk tends to act like a can of Mace on the hooligan impulses that red-blooded drivers succumb to every now and again.
But now Mercedes-Benz has given us what has to be the ultimate in-your-face road rocket. The new top of the range S600 is a typically luxury Mercedes, but its performance is absolutely stunning. The 368kW — that’s 500 horsepower — twin-turbo V12 puts in the boot with 800Nm of torque from 1800rpm, and the big car gets to 100kph just 4,8 seconds after launching. That’s quicker than a lot of exotic sports cars. If you’re a hooligan and rich there’s nothing much to beat it. I drove the S600 at the launch and found its performance simply awesome.
There’s also a very sexy CL600 coupe with the same hardware under the bonnet.
The entire S-Class range has just had a facelift and there are two other new engines in the line-up — the 180kW S350 V6 petrol and the second-generation 150kW S320CDI. All S-Class models offer the ability to think on their feet in accident situations. Pre-Safe combines the information supplied by the electronic aids such as ABS and traction control to take pre-emptive steps such as moving the passenger’s seat into a safe position when the vehicle is skidding and an accident is inevitable.
And best of all for those who enjoy the raw driving experience, Mercedes-Benz manages to package all of the considerable technology in such a way as not to overwhelm the driver who isn’t a gadget freak.