When this car, which replaced the W220, first appeared, it caused a stir. S-class has changed significantly, the body has become significantly larger, compared with its predecessor. The engine compartment is also large, designed for V12 engine. Machines have become heavier. In the US, the new W221 has become very popular even as a car for the driver. In the Mercedes W221 began to install new engines, is also worth a new 7-speed automatic. The modern M272 and M273 engines were presented as a significant advantage in comparison with the old M112 and M113 engines.

Overall, the quality of the car has improved significantly. There are no comments to the paintwork and there can not be. The pneuma was modified, the electronics was also significantly changed and improved. The suspension was stronger and more comfortable. Even today, these cars look expensive and solid. Although their prices fell to the level of the new Lada Vesta in the top configuration or Kia Rio. The thing is that the Mercedes W221 is quite expensive to maintain, unlike the Kia Rio.

The quality of painting and paintwork turned out really high quality. Even if you take the car from the south of the United States, where the climate is hot, the body is still a whole. If you take the Russian cars, then they, too, corrosion is rare. If it occurs, it is only afterwards chipping in vulnerable places: on the doors, on the edges of the wings. That is, corrosion is rarely seen, because in most cases such cars are very well watched. The car looks like new even after many years.

Other parts may wear out over time: headlights become dimmer, chrome fades, plastic parts of the lower part of the car are destroyed. Aluminum parts of the front part when operating in Moscow may have problems with corrosion, and the price of these elements is high, for example, a new hood costs over 100,000 rubles. But disassembly can be found cheaper.

Salon и оснащение кузова с большинстве случаев проблем не доставляют. В России Мерседес S-класса очень популярен, продажи этого автомобиля занимают лидирующие позиции и в России, и в Америке. В России первым знаменитым автомобилем считался “Кабан” в кузове W140, затем БМВ Е38, затем Ауди А8 Кваттро, которая ввела моду на полный привод.

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Executive class - it is always a powerful, heavy sedan with a powerful Langer design. And the engine they have is longitudinal. In the event of an accident, Mercedes S-Class, which weighs more than 2 tons, simply destroy the usual hatchbacks, basins, priors and other small cars. Light SUVs also fly away to where in a collision. The only ones who can resist this Mercedes are frame SUVs. A Mercedes S-Class is a very safe car for their owner, but completely unsafe for the outside world.

The smoothness of the course of this Mercedes is just perfect thanks to the suspension. Also in the car the perfect insulation and interior is very high quality. Mercedes as a representative class is the number 1 on the market. If you take the prices for used cars, then the prices for Mercedes are always higher than for BMW, Lexus, etc. The appearance has some sports notes in it, even the long version looks with a hint of light sport.

This generation has been produced since 2005, and in 2009 there was a restyling, the headlights were changed, the mirrors were put in a different shape, the rear lights also changed. W221 outwardly turned out much more beautiful than its predecessor W220. And for the W222 is not yet accustomed.

Motors

Under the hood is a classic solution - the V8 engine, the most common, power is 388 liters. with. There are V6 engines with a volume of 3.5 liters, there are engines with a volume of 4.5 liters and the most top-end V12. And from AMG there are more powerful sports equipment: S65 and S65.

The suspension is also quite simple here - in front of 2 powerful levers, pneumatic. And behind the classic multi-link suspension. Spar design has a huge margin of safety, as there are armored versions, and they are the same suspension. And the weight is 2 times more. There is also a huge body rigidity for twisting.

Salon

There are door closers on the doors, that is, it is not necessary to slam the doors hard The windshield is very thick, in the upper part there are night vision cameras.

Seats and steering wheel are adjustable by electric drive. The back, pillow is regulated, there is memory of seats. Comfortable fit, the quality of the cabin at the highest level. The instrument panel looks unusual - a mechanical tachometer needle, also the mechanical temperature of the engine and the amount of fuel in the gas tank, and the speedometer - electronic.

Before buying such a car, you need to carefully check the condition of the trapeze wipers, because it often turns sour. You also need to check the condition of the drainage under the windshield, because there is a lot of electronics in this area. The fan of the heating system lasts about 8 years, which is quite a long time, but the cost of replacement is quite high. Here there is a separate climate control, the front one is located in the engine compartment, and the rear climate is in the niche of the front wheel and it often happens that it is sour from dirt and moisture.

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The door closer system is generally reliable. If any mechanical sounds are heard while driving, these are consequences of damage or improper assembly after repair.

The electronics in this car are very sensitive to the floor moisture. Therefore, with the slightest problems in this area, the number of problems with electronics increases. Starts failing seat actuators, climate control, navigation and multimedia system.

Optics before buying also should be carefully examined, because it is expensive, it is difficult to build and very little unoriginal. In general, the quality of manufacturing wiring and the entire electronics is very high, the number of failures even on the most killed copies is very small. Is that the wiring of the driver's door can fail, and in the engine compartment it happens that the insulation of the wires loses elasticity.

Also, over time, there are failures in the motor control unit. Quite often, ABS sensors fail because they are related to the operation of the air suspension and the wiring features. It is quite long and often damaged, the masters know about it and it can be corrected not so expensive.

Suspension reliable and does not cause any problems. But air suspension can create some problems. When a car is more than 5 years old, the risk that it will fail increases. New air suspension will cost about 120,000 rubles, so it is usually restored. If it is unsuccessful to get into a serious pit on a tired air suspension, then it can fail even faster.

Transmission

In rear wheel drive cars, everything is pretty reliable with the transmission. True, the resource of the drive shafts is a bit small, especially in versions with more powerful engines - about 100,000 km. run On all-wheel drive versions razdatka reliable, but problems can arise with an intermediate shaft drive wheels, which is passed through the crankcase.

The bearings of this shaft quickly fail and can damage the engine itself. To the V12 engines they put old gearboxes of the 722-6 series. For such a power of its resource is not enough. It serves about 120,000 km., And the likelihood of spontaneous breakdown has increased. If you go quietly, it will last longer, but cars that have more than 200,000 km mileage. and there was a PPC bulkhead - does not happen. And the new 7-speed gearbox 722-9 also has a number of problems - it has a constantly overheated hydraulic unit, the oil is polluted, and the low resource of friction clutches. Almost all of these gearboxes were repaired under warranty - hydroblocks, friction clutches, and sometimes the entire box were assembled. On dorestaylingovyh cars was the earliest revision of this box. There are many owners who have abandoned all upgrades and repairs.

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Engine reliability

M272 and M273 engines have often been criticized for the quality of development and their resource, high price, low timing resource, weak catalysts and high risk of piston piston scoring. And if the engine is running at idle for a long time, the problems are complicated. Very often, motors consume 1 liter of oil per 1000 km. run, but pour oil is cheaper than doing kapitalku motor.

But the V12 M275 engines are based on older engines, but in terms of reliability, they are not particularly different from other Mercedes engines, because the complex structure, high density of layout and heavy loads - all this affects reliability.

But then on the V12 engines there are less tears on the pistons. But if you carefully operate the car, the engine will last long enough. And after restyling in 2010, new engines appeared that showed their best. In general, they have become more reliable.

Mercedes W221 - it turned out a reliable car, if you drive carefully, change the filter and fill the oil in time, then there will be no problems. In terms of comfort and ergonomics, the Mercedes in this body was significantly better than the BMW 7-ki of the same years. The cost of fuel is quite high, but if you put gas on a car, you can cut them in about 2 times.

And then a test drive of a Mercedes W221: