Gadgetory

the stop-bend' sedan shows a big guy can still have a few moves let's get into the Mercedes s550 for 2010 and check the dash the s-class is kind of a sad little mixed bag of cabin tech it's one of the best systems in terms of just the quality of beat interface and the way it looks when you dig down into it it's missing some stuff for example this car doesn't have HD radio yet just about every other onine Mercedes does this is just late to the game the navigation system has traffic of course they were early on in this stuff and they do a good job of it interestingly there's no audio option on this car you just get the audio system luckily it's pretty darn good it's a Harman Kardon Logic 7 which is synthetics around 14 speakers something like 600 watts and 7.1 surround compatible which is pretty impressive that of course would come off of a DVD audio disc play the six disc changer right here in the console as you can see it's pretty straightforward right above a PCMCIA card slot you know I feel about those and here our audio sources am/fm satellite radio of course the the CDs can go in here DVD s can go in there DVD videos can go in there and aux refers to in this case the optional iPhone connector iPod iPhone which is a dealer-installed accessory about 400 bucks no USB drive in this car which is becoming pretty common in a lot of vehicles especially those that cost near $100,000 you do have aux Jack's however there's a set of RCA s for stereo audio and video up there in the glove box now the big crowd-pleaser in this car is of course night view assist optional we've got it in this vehicle only works at night if you hit the button over here that entire speedometer turns into a forward-looking night-vision camera I've always found that kind of jarring because adjusting your focal plane from there to out on the road makes me nuts but some folks must love it now believe it or not even in the car of this price the rear view camera is optional part of a package and it does give you some information about your trajectory and where you're going this button takes you to the most complicated seats in a car today you've got the ability to adjust any number of the components of them look at all the various zones that are user guessable in those seats then you've got the pulse mode which is kind of a little you know massage thing from slow and gentle too fast and vigorous that's obscene and you've got dynamic seats here tells you how much the seats will automatically bolster you against lean or dynamics in the car you put it on to there and it's annoying you can be turning in a parking lot and this thing's hanging on there for dear life up here in the engine room we've got what you think we have a five and a half liter v8 hence the name s550 no tricks no turbos no supercharger no diesel or hybrid obviously this time good ol Mercedes v8 puts out 382 horsepower 391 foot-pounds that's good for a 0 to 60 scoot in 5.4 seconds pretty good for a big old fat ass of a car like this but the mileage is where you suffer 1422 good enough to qualify you for a thousand dollar gas guzzler tax one transmission in this car 7-speed automatic it's a beautiful gearbox you do have some cheesy plastic paddles up here the logic on this car is left for downshift right for up shift you know and there's no shiftable stick because all you have is this little dainty stock so this is your shifting interface right there parking assist system on this car doesn't actually steer anything or take over the wheel it just tells you what to do so here I'm pulling up alongside a spot and I've got that square P right there which is going to turn blue okay that means it's inquired and found a parking spot and now I just have to match up the lines until they're green the yellow and the red and just follow that arc it's using all of its sensors around the car to see if I'm making the right trajectory and not hitting anything and bingo it beats when I'm going way back and that's it now I must admit the s-class always spells old man to me but on the road you're reminded that if this is what the old guys are driving they've still got it going on a creamy powerful quiet ride awaits with handling and steering that belies this car's size and weight while making those silly pretensions about being a sports car leave that nonsense to the AMG side of the house I can live without a lot of the styling of this car from the pontoon front fenders for that swelling potbelly thing in the center of the dash and the annoying dial pad that hides most of the control knob I can also pass on the taillights a look that they came off a 94 Mustang but the cabin is a damn nice place to spend time on the way to some wine auction or whatever you s-class drivers do when you're not leasing one of these for four figures a month