[Sahil]

http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...s-month/25005/

Gotta give it to MBIL for their smart and quick strategies over the past year or two. They are launching the S400L(333PS,480Nm, 0 to 100km/hr in 5.3secs) at approx 1.3cr, discontinuing the CKD S500 sedan which was priced the same! S500 will now only be available as the Maybach CKD at 1.6cr.
Essentially they are selling a v6 for the price of a v8. Most buyers won't complain as they prefer a petrol engine but also do not want to deal with the low FE of the v8.
I had wished the S400 was available when i bought my S350d but now that I see the pricing, I find the stretch is worthwhile. Yes the S400 has more power and is a second quicker to the ton. But the S350d has that fun torque factor,much better FE and 20% cheaper. A powerful engine in a car that big is a waste on our roads where you need to quickly change lanes to maneuver open stretches.
My advice to S buyers, if you can stretch then definitely get the S500 Maybach, its well priced for what it is. If not, stick to the S350d. The S400 is a confused product that only anti-diesel corporates would buy that do not have the knowledge of the level of diesel refinement today.

[karan561]

Originally Posted by Sahil

http://www.zigwheels.com/news-featur...s-month/25005/

Gotta give it to MBIL for their smart and quick strategies over the past year or two. They are launching the S400L(333PS,480Nm, 0 to 100km/hr in 5.3secs) at approx 1.3cr, discontinuing the CKD S500 sedan which was priced the same! S500 will now only be available as the Maybach CKD at 1.6cr.
Essentially they are selling a v6 for the price of a v8. Most buyers won't complain as they prefer a petrol engine but also do not want to deal with the low FE of the v8.
I had wished the S400 was available when i bought my S350d but now that I see the pricing, I find the stretch is worthwhile. Yes the S400 has more power and is a second quicker to the ton. But the S350d has that fun torque factor,much better FE and 20% cheaper. A powerful engine in a car that big is a waste on our roads where you need to quickly change lanes to maneuver open stretches.
My advice to S buyers, if you can stretch then definitely get the S500 Maybach, its well priced for what it is. If not, stick to the S350d. The S400 is a confused product that only anti-diesel corporates would buy that do not have the knowledge of the level of diesel refinement today.

Quick & Smart ?

I think S400 is a mistake & you rightly said S400 is a confused product.

Well, if they wanted to launch a petrol then they should have launched the S320L which they have in China. It is the same v6 but detuned. And ticks all the boxes for anti-diesel buyers & would have been cheaper too.

Also dont know how & from which source you got the 0-100 km/h time of 5.3 secs for S400 ? In actual it is 6.8 secs for the S400L & S320L is at 7.1 secs

Mentioned on Mercedes China website;

[Turbanator]

The S400 is a confused product that only anti-diesel corporates would buy that do not have the knowledge of the level of diesel refinement today.

add on all folks in NCR who can't buy Diesel , who knows NGT comes out with such proposals elsewhere as well. Mercedes is still stuck up with 2015 Cars due to this ban. Probably Delhi NCR was their biggest market and they have launched 6 cylinder Petrol specifically to meet this ban. But looks they are getting greedy , it should have been priced at par with Diesel unless some more features have been added. I don't think Mercedes will spend an extra 20 lac to produce Petrol engine over Diesel unless this has something to do with Import Duties - remember - Diesel units are been produced by Force , perhaps Petrol are from Germany yet resulting in higher duty on complete kits.

I took a longish test drive of S class recently , it beats old 7 series on suspension by huge difference specially low ride but found Diesel engine louder and less then eager to pace ahead or downshift like BMW. Also rear Seat adjustments and height in BMW is better. New Demo Units of BMW are still not available , looks all of the dealers who were given DPE demo have decided to keep M units instead which are still 7-10 days away. Most of the bookings of new 7 are in M variant only.

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by karan561

Also dont know how & from which source you got the 0-100 km/h time of 5.3 secs for S400 ? In actual it is 6.8 secs for the S400L & S320L is at 7.1 secs

Source:
http://mercedesbenzme.com/me/en/seda...s/sedan/models

That's strange that they have different timings

[Aditya]

Mercedes-Benz India to launch S 400 petrol on March 29, 2016

Posts moved to a new thread.

[Yeldo]

Overdrive reports indicate that the variant is now launched.

http://overdrive.in/news/mercedes-be...rs-1-31-crore/

According to this, S500 variant is not discontinued, the S400 is a new variant.

EDIT: Autocar says "...The sedan will be locally assembled in India, and is a replacement for the S500. The S500 will still be available in India, albeit as a CBU, as Mercedes-Benz has ceased the car's assembly..."

[DuHasstMich]

Registration of diesel engines > 2000CC is one challenge, the other is that you cannot drive a diesel car older than 10 yrs in Delhi, thus the re-sale value is going to take a major hit as soon as you start moving closer to the 5 year period.
Petrol cars on the other hand can continue upto 15 years!

Also with the reducing gap between Diesel and Petrol prices, the dilemma to chose between either fuel is growing day by day!

[Shivjeet]

Originally Posted by Yeldo

EDIT: Autocar says "...The sedan will be locally assembled in India, and is a replacement for the S500. The S500 will still be available in India, albeit as a CBU, as Mercedes-Benz has ceased the car's assembly..."

Does this mean that the S500 will be more expensive, being a CBU? Or will it cost just as much as it does now?

[Yeldo]

Originally Posted by Shivjeet

Does this mean that the S500 will be more expensive, being a CBU? Or will it cost just as much as it does now?

The Brochure does not mention this S500 at all. Only the S500 Maybach is mentioned. So the regular LWB models seem to be limited to S400 petrol and S350d Diesel. The local dealer also says that S500 is unavailable.