NAIAS 2014: Mercedes-Benz S600 Is What You're Expecting

by Jack Baruth

Published: January 13th, 2014

naias 2014 mercedes benz s600 is what you re expecting

No other car on the planet combines technological supremacy and ventricle-bursting depreciation like a modern V-12-powered Mercedes-Benz. For the newest take on the formula, the automaker’s turned all the knobs to 11.

First bit of good news: for the first time in longer than anyone would care to admit, that “600” decklid badge reflects reality. The six-liter V-12 turns out 523 horsepower and 612 lb-ft of torque thanks to a pair of turbochargers. It can make autonomous braking decisions at up to 124mph and execute a wide variety of other “pre-safe” behaviors. There’s a new heads-up display and a gesture-recognition system said to be able to accept “common smartphone gestures”.

Look for the S600 to appear at, in rough temporal order:

Hollywood premieres
international financial leadership conferences
Rap videos
major executive parking lots
The Real Housewives Of Atlanta
Mercedes-Benz service centers
Detroit nightclubs
Episodes of COPS
the 24 Hours of LeMons
Midwestern dealerships

Jack Baruth

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8 of 47 comments

Slow kills on Jan 13, 2014

"ventricle-bursting depreciation" Excellent fake-out. I was lulled into buff book hyperbole and slammed with brutal reality. The used market tells the truth about this marque.

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VenomV12 on Jan 13, 2014

Actually quite a large number of S600s are bought by pro-athletes. If you are talking about S Classes in general, I would argue that most are actually bought by physicians. Panning back to the S600, you will almost never see one at a dealership in the Midwest for sale, if ever. They are almost always special order. In fact my NBA neighbor got his S600 when the W221 style first came out before the dealerships even saw it. When I took my car in for service they did not believe me it was out, so we brought it in for them to see. V12s are rare and hard to sell, even my local Audi dealership won't order one even though one of my neighbors has one.

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- See 5 previous
- Corey Lewis on Jan 13, 2014
  
  "When I took my car in for service they did not believe me it was out" Well-informed dealer network then eh?
  
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- Ellomdian on Jan 13, 2014
  
  What few people realize is how hard it actually is to find a comfortable car for a 6'6+ or 300lb+ body, pretty much regardless of how much you spend. Especially if you ever have to put friends or kids in the back.
  
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- VenomV12 on Jan 13, 2014
  
  @Corey Lewis They did not have the new S body styles yet or the S600 available to order. Celebrities and top athletes get cars ahead of time before regular people and apparently even some dealers. At the time he got the 600 he was playing for a team in California and he got his car out there and brought it back here.
  
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- Cornellier on Jan 13, 2014
  
  @ellomdian Toyota Sienna?
  
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- Corey Lewis on Jan 14, 2014
  
  @VenomV12 Sorry sorry I missed the "NBA" part. Makes sense now.
  
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- Corey Lewis on Jan 14, 2014
  
  @ellomdian 300C? Isn't that the size of BTSR and he fits in one! But really if you're that large, it's truck time.
  
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