[androdev]

Originally Posted by Ashar

That's how comfy it was...

That being said, we really expected a tomb-like silence which is sadly not the case. It is way better than what we experienced in any other car so far but .....!! Yeah, human's greed is insatiable.

Can you explain this a bit more? In what sense you felt the car was not as silent as you expected? Was it inside noise (rattles, AC blower), outside traffic noise (honking, trucks), engine noise, or road/tire noise? At what speed were you traveling when you made this observation?

Originally Posted by Ashar

The feature additions expected are as follows:
1. Rear Seat front Air Bag,
2. Air Balance or Perfume Package
3. Rear Axle turning Package and
4. Engine Tuning (Even I didn’t understand this point nor did the sales exec)

I prefer petrol but I'm sure diesel is also equally good. Petrol would be a tad bit smoother and suits the character of this car.

New features - it's a never ending catch up game. Anything related to seat comfort (ventilation, foot rest, reclining angles, etc.), suspension and NVH would be a great addition to this car. I wouldn't be too crazy about other features unless they are for free and there is no waiting time.

1. Rear Seat front Air Bag: 50-50 on this.

2. Air Balance or Perfume Package: Easy to skip

3. Rear Axle turning Package: Tempting in case of self-drive usage. I have not experienced but it will have a great impact during high speed manoeuvring and slow speed manoeuvring (parking, U turns, etc). Can be skipped if chauffeur usage. I won't pay much to get this through. S Class is already a superb highway car without rear wheel steering. I don't mind the hassle of parking without rear wheel steering.

4. Engine Tuning: Easy to skip, unless it's about ethanol or similar stuff that improves reliability.

Bottom line for me is that S Class is all about comfortable travel - I wont pay extra unless the feature contributes to the comfort factor. One has to draw a line somewhere.

[Ashar]

Originally Posted by androdev

Can you explain this a bit more? In what sense you felt the car was not as silent as you expected? Was it inside noise (rattles, AC blower), outside traffic noise (honking, trucks), engine noise, or road/tire noise? At what speed were you traveling when you made this observation?

Both in terms of ride quality and road noise, the S class felt much better than our C Class on minor bumps and surface imperfections, however we felt it to be on par with our C class on expansion joints. They could easily be heard and felt inside the cabin, and was surprisingly not much different to our C Class. Not sure what mode (Sport or Comfort) the suspension was in though. Since it was a Kerala highway road, it was busy, and the speed range was from 40 kmph to max 80 kmph.

We couldn't take it over really rough roads as we didn't have the guts for that.

It could be because it's a test drive vehicle and the vehicle may be in a not so great condition, but at the end of the day it's an S Class, so we expected more.

[androdev]

I find most 18" and above tire options to be suboptimal for our Indian road conditions. To make things worse, a lot of test drive vehicles come with overinflated tires. This is something you might want to check. If you did not find the ride "wow", then it doesn't hurt to check 7 series or similar. All the glitz and features are of little value if the ride comfort and NVH are not 10/10. If there is an option to downgrade the wheels to a lower size, you should go for it without second thoughts.

Also air suspension of S Class is not always superior to conventional struts of C class. I am not an expert who can offer a "technical" description of it but air suspension does a phenomenal job at high speed cruising on slightly undulating roads - it feels like a train and you would think the road is perfect. You will surely notice the superiority of this suspension over conventional suspension while cruising at high speeds. Expansion joints, sudden thuds (like after vehicle passing over a speed breaker), rumble strips or similar sharp changes are better handled by conventional struts I think. Ability to lower the suspension at high speeds also contributes very positively to the ride comfort and stability.

Since it's a lot of money and you plan to keep the car for long, take your time to test drive more options (W222, 7 series, Vellfire? etc.) to assess the ride comfort objectively without getting carried by the brand of S Class.

[lamborghini]

As Androdev pointed out, the corrupt ride over expansion joints and the like are mostly due to the low profile stock tyres that aren't ideal for our conditions.
One could always downsize the tyres later on post purchase.

Also, I would like to throw in the A8 as an option too if you are open to exploring other options in the segment.

[Ashar]

Originally Posted by androdev

Expansion joints, sudden thuds (like after vehicle passing over a speed breaker), rumble strips or similar sharp changes are better handled by conventional struts I think.

You could be right Sir. Every review that I have come across speaks highly of the 'general' ride comfort and I too agree on that. My concern was specifically with regards to sudden thuds & expansion joints. You could very well be right.

Originally Posted by androdev

Since it's a lot of money and you plan to keep the car for long, take your time to test drive more options (W222, 7 series, Vellfire? etc.) to assess the ride comfort objectively without getting carried by the brand of S Class.

I wish Sir. I really do. However, my dad is obsessed with the Merc brand + sedan body style. He still says BMW & Audi are "newly formed brands" and how much ever I try to explain that these are almost as old as the Merc, they don't seem to work with him. As a matter of fact, We could easily convince him to get an E-Class instead of S-Class, but never a 7-series or an A8. And definitely not any of the SUVs (or pseudo SUVs) like GLS, GLE, X7, etc.

[Ashar]

Originally Posted by lamborghini

One could always downsize the tyres later on post purchase.

Will this impact the vehicle warranty in any way? I don't want to mess up the warranty even 1% as it seems to be a very complex machine.

Originally Posted by lamborghini

Also, I would like to throw in the A8 as an option too if you are open to exploring other options in the segment.

Thanks Sir. However, Merc + Diesel Sedan was the only condition for my Dad who will be primarily using the car.
I had a strong liking for the Vellfire but Dad was not ready to "downgrade" from a Merc (our C-Class) to a Toyota.

[androdev]

I'm assuming this car comes with 19" wheels.

Just take a test drive of W221 (17" wheels), W222 (18" wheels) and W223 (19" wheels) - you would be amazed to see that inspite of all the suspension technology improvements, the car with the smallest wheel offers the best ride comfort.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...on-w223is.html

Looks like 18" wheels are an option for this car, this downsizing will offer the single biggest improvement to ride. If I were you, I would persuade the dealer to fit 18" wheels without impacting the warranty. It will cost you extra as they won't buy back 19" wheels and will ask you to pay full price for 18" wheels.

I actually bought 19" wheels for my W221 that came with 17" and I have both sets with me but I mostly use 17" even though 19" wheels look much better. The difference in ride quality is huge, so much so that I bought a set of 18" wheels for my 911 that has 19" wheels. I keep swapping them out of boredom but the smaller wheels offer substantially better ride comfort.

Here is a post by @Sahil about petrol vs diesel and I too recommend petrol:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offic...ml#post5228410 (Mercedes S-Class Review (W223))

[Ashar]

After much thought and discussions, both with the dealers and within the family, we decided to proceed with the purchase of the new S-Class. Big thanks to the entire Team-BHP community for helping us arrive at the ideal buying decision.

We made a booking for a new S350D in the middle of December 2023. I didn’t update the forum at that time as decisions happen and change very quickly in my family. I decided to wait until we could literally lay our hands on the car. Towards the end of December 2023, I received a surprise call from a BMW dealer offering a test drive of the new 7 series. We initially declined, but they strongly insisted, and we finally agreed. We found that the new 7 series was leaps and bounds ahead of the older model. When comparing the new 7 series to the S-Class, one must clearly define their priorities, or else confusion might arise between the two.

What we discovered was that the new 7 series offered a much better ride—almost as good as the S-Class—while maintaining the typically good handling of BMW. The technology and features were superior to the S-Class, and the space was comparable. The strengths of the S-Class, compared to the new 7 series, were a slightly better ride, more accommodating seats, and much better air conditioning. Surprisingly, the A/C in the 7 series was weak. This was unexpected, as I had taken a ride in the new X1 a couple of months ago and found the A/C to be very powerful.

So, it was back to the meeting room (aka dining room), and after clearly defining our priorities and conducting a final round of comparison (plus an online consultation call from motoroctane.com), we ultimately decided to move forward with the purchase.

We finally received our vehicle on January 4, 2024, and here is an image of the car with our family. Thanks again to the entire Team-BHP community for all the help and suggestions.

[androdev]

Congratulations @Ashar. We need more pics!! For someone who keeps their cars for 10+ years it makes a lot of sense to go the full distance to get a new car. I'm sure the current 7 would have also been a great choice but I prefer Mercedes-Benz for a family car. It's a more widely appealing please-all brand and generally Mercedes gets it right when it come to family usage.

My reply to your 1st post

Originally Posted by androdev

Just my personal opinion.

The best/flagship car in the family garage is worth buying as new. It's a bit of celebration and there is a sense of rewarding yourself and the family for the hard work, etc. Even after 10-15 years, I get warm and fuzzy when I look at my family pictures during the new car delivery and early days after the arrival of the new car. The older I grow, the more value these things seem to acquire.

S-Class in particular is a status symbol and everyone in your circles would talk about it. How you bought it matters. You might want to explore the option of waiting for a discounted new S Class during a model change period and stretch your budget.

If new S Class is not an option in near future, go for the new E Class - but pay attention to any upcoming model changes. Unlike in the past, E class LWB has significantly reduced the gap between E and S Class sedans making such a decision a lot to do with "image" than "value".

If it's not for your dad/family but for a young solo driver, I would say a used car from a higher segment is usually a better choice.

I think weak/strong AC has more to do with how climate control is programmed. In some cars setting the temp to 25 deg C feels very cold and in other cars you need to go to 19 dec C to start feeling cold. Sometimes incorrect ambient temperature measurement can also affect the AC performance. If you are willing to ignore the displayed temperature and just set it to a number that's comfortable, most premium cars will work just fine as they certainly have the required hardware. The temperature setting I use is different in each of my cars but the actual temperature-by-feel maintained is nearly the same.

[Ashar]

Originally Posted by androdev

Congratulations @Ashar. We need more pics!! For someone who keeps their cars for 10+ years it makes a lot of sense to go the full distance to get a new car. I'm sure the current 7 would have also been a great choice but I prefer Mercedes-Benz for a family car. It's a more widely appealing please-all brand and generally Mercedes gets it right when it come to family usage.

My reply to your 1st post

Thank you very much Sir. Will surely post more pics soon, though I must admit I am very weak in photography.

Originally Posted by androdev

I think weak/strong AC has more to do with how climate control is programmed. In some cars setting the temp to 25 deg C feels very cold and in other cars you need to go to 19 dec C to start feeling cold. Sometimes incorrect ambient temperature measurement can also affect the AC performance. If you are willing to ignore the displayed temperature and just set it to a number that's comfortable, most premium cars will work just fine as they certainly have the required hardware. The temperature setting I use is different in each of my cars but the actual temperature-by-feel maintained is nearly the same.

When I first took a test drive of the S, the temperature was set at 18 deg C. So, when I took a test drive of the 7 later, the temperature was intentionally maintained by me at 18, just for the sake of comparison. But even after 20 minutes, the temperature was not comfortable enough. Must be something specific with the car. My thought was that the new 7 must be a CBU and that CBUs generally have a weaker AC as they are not specifically designed for Indian conditions. The new 7 is also priced almost 10 lacs more than the S (on-road) adding to my doubt that it could be a CBU. Probably, I am wrong.

[Sahil]

Congrats! That was a great change of events!
Did the S-class come with a discount?

[Ashar]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Congrats! That was a great change of events!
Did the S-class come with a discount?

Thank you Sir. Unfortunately not much discount from the dealer. We just got a corporate discount of Rs. 1.5 lacs off the ex-showroom price, which is even less than what we got on our C-Class 10 years ago. We haggled hard but they said they could give some discounts had it been a GLS or an E-Class. However, we didn't want to go with either of them.

The explanation given by them was that Mercedes Benz moved from an inventory model to Pay-Per-Product model and hence, dealers no longer have to maintain an inventory at their premises. On the flip side, the margin has gone down from nearly 30-40% (depending on model) to just 13% (of course, taken with a pinch of salt ). We pay the ex-showroom price directly to Mercedes Benz India while the other charges like Insurance, road tax, etc. are paid to the dealer.

[Raghav07]

Originally Posted by Ashar

After much thought and discussions, both with the dealers and within the family, we decided to proceed with the purchase of the new S-Class. Big thanks to the entire Team-BHP community for helping us arrive at the ideal buying decision.

WOW! What a start to your 2024! Car looks amazing in black, always been a dream to have one or sit in one. Hope I can fulfill it one day. Congratulations on the new car

[gauravdgr8]

Congratulations on the S. Amazing colour choice for an executive car. Enjoy the miles ahead. Apart from the ac, what other features appealed to you on the S vs the 7.

[Smartomotive]

Congrats @Ashar. Black + Merc feels ultra luxury!

Also, I wonder if you had thought about GLS facelift and any reason not to go for a SUV?