[Anand123]

What's the difference between S350 CDI and S350D? Or is it the same variant with a different badging?

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Anand123

What's the difference between S350 CDI and S350D? Or is it the same variant with a different badging?

Same. Mercedes new nomenclature.

[e46]

Wow that is a very plush and supreme looking Merc. Congrats Sir.

I've two questions. What do you do and how do you do it. (inspired by Will smith from the movie pursuit of happiness)

Abhishek

[Saarth]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Nope, distronic I believe yet needs proper radar tech.

What was the ex-showroom price for a CBU S350D?

Instead of discontinuing the exterior colour they should discontinue the black interior and offer and other shade instead. Maybe a brown. Palladium silver doesn't sell because of its interior option of black, the exterior colour option is great to look at. The reason it is being discontinued is because MB internationally is stopping the colour and replacing it with a darker grey which is similar to palladium. It is the same grey that comes on the new AMG GT.

MB will wait to see what standard options come in the new 7 and add more options and colours to the MY16 model to up their game.

The CBU S350d with all the options ticked was right in the ballpark of the CKD S500, 1.34 cr if I'm not mistaken. Sounds like too much of a premium over the CKD for a different colour exterior and interior, when you consider the registration costs of a CBU.

I agree about the Palladium Silver, it's actually the best looking exterior for the W222, and just like you said I, myself went for a black over the silver because of the interior colour.

Is the new silver on the AMG GT the same as the one on the W205 C-Class?

[KARR]

Is there any reason why the club the interior and exterior colours like that? I don't see how it saves any cost...

[Saarth]

Originally Posted by KARR

Is there any reason why the club the interior and exterior colours like that? I don't see how it saves any cost...

It's not cost saving but more of a convenience thing on part of MB India. From what they tell me, over the years they've gathered that black and white cars were ordered with light (beige) interior and silver cars with a darker (black) interior. So now they just package their CKD kits in this manner as they think this is what sells, and I want to say that most likely it does. It's just that with this S-Class the beige interior looks much better than the black.

Till 2009/10 even BMW used to do this. Black interiors in White and Silver cars, and beige interiors in Black/Dark cars.

[Sahil]

Saarth- Did you get the Star Care AMC maintenance pack? I did take the 4th year extended warranty but yet to opt for the 4 year AMC which I believe was approx 4 lakhs when I bought my car in May, not sure of the current pricing.

[Saarth]

Originally Posted by Sahil

Saarth- Did you get the Star Care AMC maintenance pack? I did take the 4th year extended warranty but yet to opt for the 4 year AMC which I believe was approx 4 lakhs when I bought my car in May, not sure of the current pricing.

No I didn't opt for the Star Care AMC neither did I get the 4th year extended warranty. We don't really keep our cars longer than 4 years, and with the low amounts of running I think this car will be doing, there didn't seem to be any point in getting the extended warranty.

How much did the 4th year extended warranty cost you?

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Saarth

How much did the 4th year extended warranty cost you?

Around a lakh if I remember correctly.

How was your experience of service been on your previous gen S500? What were the annual service costs?

[Saarth]

Originally Posted by Sahil

How was your experience of service been on your previous gen S500? What were the annual service costs?

The overall experience has been really good for me. Their service is prompt and perfect. The first service was around Rs. 47,000, while the second one was a little bit cheaper at around Rs. 40,000.

The third one was a little more expensive, somewhere in the 2lac+ region, but this was due to changing brake pads and sensors, along with a new battery (which itself cost Rs. 48,000).

[Sahil]

Originally Posted by Saarth

The overall experience has been really good for me. Their service is prompt and perfect. The first service was around Rs. 47,000, while the second one was a little bit cheaper at around Rs. 40,000.

The third one was a little more expensive, somewhere in the 2lac+ region, but this was due to changing brake pads and sensors, along with a new battery (which itself cost Rs. 48,000).

I guess then at 4 lakh pricing the star care AMC doesn't not make much sense as the aggregate of your 4 year maintainence is approx 3.4 Lakhs(considering the 4th service would be as much as the 2nd as major work has been done in the third)
Keeping the interest expense in mind make the AMC even more unviable.

[Saarth]

Originally Posted by Sahil

I guess then at 4 lakh pricing the star care AMC doesn't not make much sense as the aggregate of your 4 year maintainence is approx 3.4 Lakhs(considering the 4th service would be as much as the 2nd as major work has been done in the third)
Keeping the interest expense in mind make the AMC even more unviable.

That's usually the case, I find, with most of these products. Even the extended warranties for me don't really make sense as we don't keep the cars for too many years. The only thing that can really go wrong with these (after 3 years of use - by my usage) is the air suspension, but that's a risk I'm willing to take.

[Saarth]

So I thought I should update you guys on the car, now that its done some 2000-odd Kms on the odo.

Firstly I want to point out that the lack of memory seats in the front just gets more and more ridiculous as time passes. The chauffeur and I have very different seating positions, and its become a ritual for me to spend 2 minutes just adjusting the seat and mirrors to my ideal position, and even then it takes a few tweaks now and then to feel right. I can't believe they've actually omitted something like this.

Now onto the drive; this car just feels amazing to cruise around in. You really cannot feel the size around you. It isn't the most agile car and corners at high speeds can sometimes unnerve you, but with that said, the car still has phenomenal grip and stays planted to the road at all times. In eco mode I find the gearbox is always in a higher gear than I want it to be, but then again that's what it was designed to be, but I find the Sport setting to be my preferred setting.

The power hasn't really been an issue so far, and I find theres plenty of power on tap whenever I've needed it. From a standstill, you do get that occasional screeching tire if you floor it, which is a testament to the amount of torque this car has given that I upgraded to the wider rear tires off the S500.

Suspension-wise, it handles Mumbai roads really well. It's just the speed breakers that one must watch out for as it isn't afraid to bottom out on every little one if you aren't careful/slow enough over it. Its surprising sometimes, as some of the speed breakers aren't even that large.

The interior is great. Even though it's so light, I haven't seen any discolouration or the "blue" of anyone's jeans rubbing off on it. The Steering wheel does have a tendency to get some light dirt accumulations in the seems, especially at the bottom of the steering wheel near the "Mercedes-Benz" plaque, but it's nothing that a wipe cannot fix. I am trying to source a wood/leather steering wheel to partially fix this issue as the wood is easier to keep clean.

I had one issue, where after every 4-5 kms of driving the system would keep throwing up a "tyre-pressure monitor inoperative" warning. I got this checked at the dealership and turns out when they swapped the rims, they didn't transfer the tyre pressure monitor systems from the old rims onto the new ones. Quite careless if you ask me, but luckily I had the rims still with me and hadn't sold them off. It was a quick and simple fix. Once the car was re-starting after the fix, the warning automatically went away after about a km or two of driving.

The car is now due for its first free service, which will happen in the next week. I will update this again once I've done some more driving!