Mercedes Benz s Class
Imagine yourself in a time machine; you know, like the one from the “Back to the Future” movies, only the time machine was not a grey-colored DeLorean with the swing-up gull-wing-like doors. Just picture an ordinary time machine; you transport back ten years ago at the start of the new millennium. The New Year’s has rung, and everyone was cheering and shouting, “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” What was that time like for you? For Mercedes-Benz, especially the redesigned 2000 S-Class, everything pretty much changed, and it was time for them (as well as us) to move forward.
For the “new millennium” as I should say, Mercedes-Benz’s flagship sedan comes in four different models: the S430, the S500, S55, and the V12 beast, the S600. Unlike the “boxy” version that the S-Class had back in the mid-90’s, this generation of S had a bit of a curved body from the front to the back for better aerodynamics. The S-Class was also the first in its class to have an Airmatic suspension so you would not have to worry about scratching the bottom of the front air dam while going into dips.
The engines of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class for the 2000 model year varied from model to model. The S430 had a 4.3 liter DOHC V8 that produces 275 horsepower like the E430 and the S500 had a special engine that did not produce 315 horsepower like the previous generation, but rather 302 horsepower for fuel-efficiency purposes; on a side-note, the 2003 E500 has the exact same engine that was in the 2000 model S500. As far as the S55 AMG and the S600 were concerned? Well, let me just say that those two were totally different animals in the S-Line. The S55 AMG had 354 horsepower from a supercharged 5.5-liter V8 while the S600 boasted out a 6.0-liter naturally-aspirated V12 with 493 horsepower. From 2000 up to 2006, the S55 AMG’s engine was not hand-built like the S55’s engine that we have today.
Performance of the S-Class ten years ago was no BMW 740 or 750, but for the S500, it was pretty adequate. Thanks to its potent yet torquey V8, the S-Class can sprint to 60 mph in just under 6 seconds (the current S550 can go in just 5 ½ seconds, but that’s because the 550 had a bigger engine, but that’s another story). The S430 is a bit slower by a couple of seconds, but the S55 AMG and S600 can both do it in just under 5 seconds thanks to its supercharged V8 for the S55 and the beefy V12 for the S600.
With an all-new (10-years-old if you count it up to this date) COMAND navigation system and TeleAid, the S-Class came with a bunch of technology. “Bluetooth” terminology was not around back then, but voice-recognition for your cell phone was still around. As far as hooking up your MP3 player or an iPod (if you are thinking of hooking it up to your 10 year old S-Class)? Good luck.
