By: Jason Woosey
Copenhagen, Denmark - Apart from the overall refinement, style and prestige it offers, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class was put on this planet to be something of a mobile soothing device.
It's got massaging seats that work on the hot stone principle and the standard air suspension system can be ordered with little camera 'eyes' that monitor the condition of the road ahead and cushion the blow accordingly. It's very good at soothing your body then, but the new S 500 Plug-In Hybrid version takes things a step further by relaxing and massaging your conscience so that it no longer wants to wage a war with your inner hedonist.
In the simplest of terms the S 500 Plug-In Hybrid allows you to have your cake and eat it, except what you're indulging in here is no ordinary cake, it's something of a decadent Black Forest with extra-creamy icing and smothered with shavings of rich Belgian chocolate.
ZERO EMISSION CITY DRIVING
This is the third hybrid model in the latest S-Class range and what sets it apart is that you can plug it into your wall socket, charge it up and then cruise for up to 33km on battery power alone - which should cover most city trips. The beauty of a plug-in hybrid is that there's a conventional internal combustion engine on hand to extend the range to match that of a conventional car and in this case it's a three-litre twin-turbo V6. This petrol motor is paired with a compact but strong (85kW/340Nm) electric motor that fits snugly on the end of the seven-speed automatic gearbox and with all muscles on deck the drivetrain delivers a total system output of 325kW and 650Nm.
To ensure that we'd get to know this limo in the variety of conditions that it was intended for, the media test drive had us wafting around Copenhagen before heading across the magnificent 8km Öresund Bridge into Sweden to explore the highways and country roads around Malmö.
IT THINKS FOR YOU
For our first urban stretch into Copenhagen the car was set in E-Mode to ensure it would only use battery power and we managed to cover the 15km route on about half of the high-voltage lithium-ion battery's charge. Drivers can also choose from three other modes: 'E-Save', which allows you to save battery power for later, 'Charge' mode to instruct the engine to charge the battery and Hybrid mode to leave the car to its own (very clever) devices.
Hybrid mode was dialled in for the following day's longer route so that it could do all the math on our behalf. If you've programmed a route into the satnav, and it's longer than the battery range, it'll take a long, hard look at your route and calculate the most efficient way to balance the use of petrol and battery power. Not only will it save battery charge for urban sections later in the route but it's even smart enough to factor gradients into its plan of action.
HAPTIC PEDAL
Another little trick up its sleeve is the 'haptic pedal' that sends a slight pulsing sensation through the accelerator pedal when it wants you to take your foot off so that the car can coast and consequently capture some kinetic energy for the battery. The pedal also gives you a useful little warning when you're in E-Mode and your power demand threatens to wake the V6 from its slumber, which you might not even hear happening.
Acoustic engineering in the S-Class is so good that it took a sudden jolt of the rev counter needle to tell me that the V6 had kicked into action on the highway. This is a silky-smooth and almost-silent cocoon of a car that will literally gobble up the miles in custardy comfort.
On the few occasions that I was able to floor it from standstill, this S 500 PIH proved deceptively rapid. In fact if I hadn't watched the speedo so closely I might have even doubted Merc's claim that it's capable of launching to 100km/h in 5.2 seconds. That makes it just 0.4 seconds slower off the mark than the conventional V8-powered S 500.
EFFICIENCY NUMBERS
Of course, this car's headline advantage is its ability to cover up to 33km on battery power alone and even when that's depleted the hybrid drivetrain is still rather efficient. Mercedes claims an NEDC combined cycle figure of 2.8 litres per 100km for this car, but much of that official 'cycle' includes the distance covered by a charged battery. Operating as a normal hybrid after the stored energy is depleted, the car should return about 6.4 litres per 100km, according to claims.
If plugging it in to the socket every night becomes a drag (SA charging times not confirmed yet), help is on the way in the form of a wireless charging pad that will become available during the current S 500's life cycle.
SAME PRICE AS S 500 V8
The S 500 PIH, available only in long-wheelbase form, is expected to go on sale in South Africa during the first quarter of 2015 and though final pricing will only be announced when the order book opens in January, we are told that it should cost the same as the S 500 V8, which currently retails for R1 677 042.
The standard features list is extensive and includes a new 'extended pre-entry climate control' system that pre-heats or cools the cabin based on the departure time that you entered remotely through the 'connect me' system.
There is a slight practicality deficit though - the extra hardware reduces boot space by 135 litres to 395 litres and its practicality is reduced by a hump at the bottom.
PICK OF THE BUNCH
Yet for anyone who really gives an environmental hoot, the PIH is an absolute no-brainer, given that the performance deficit is minor and the environmental advantages are immense. In fact, Mercedes claims that if the car is charged using renewable energy, CO2 emissions over a 300 000km vehicle life cycle could be lowered by 46 tons, or 56 percent. Of course, you're looking at a much lower number if you plug into Eskom's juice, but then if you're spending this kind of money on a car then surely a set of solar panels is not going to break the budget.