Sure, as the car gets much older and eventually when the engine loses its intimacy with the monocoque there are bound to be more vibrations seeping in. In this regard, petrol-powered S-Class Mercs (or for that matter any Mercedes-Benz) will age more gracefully.
Now that is a statement we do not have a right to make since we have not driven an S320 CDI with over a lakh km under its belt. What we can tell you though is that the S320 CDI is quite an economical motor for a car of these dimensions. Our test car returned a healthy 11 kpl and we were certainly not thinking of fuel consumption when we were driving this car.
At Expressway speeds, the S320 CDI is as serene as it can get. If you don't scream aloud, I would like to make a point here and say that it is far better poised than the Maserati Quattroporte we drove on the same road (comparing a mere Merc to a Maser... hmm. But the fact was that the Italian offered a thrashy ride), while the Audi and BMW are certainly on par when it comes to smooth surfaces that stretch to the horizon.
Determined to understand how the car performs on winding terrain, we took it to a beautiful stretch of road with more sharp curves than an average Formula One track.
Shreenand was playing demanding photographer and that meant I had to give him numerous runs on this narrow road with blind corners. And that involved taking a lot of U-turns with the mothership Mercedes.
Two things came to the fore during this endeavour - the speed-sensitive S-Class steering is very good at slow speeds and two, Shreenand needed help from a Nikon manual before he could finally say pack up.
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