Mercedes-Benz turned 140 years old this year, or rather, the 29th of January marked 140 years to the day since Carl Benz filed the patent for the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1886 — the world’s first car. But what does that have to do with a new flat-plane crank V8? Well, to celebrate 140 years of innovation, Mercedes launched a new S-Class on that date, and just days after, it embarked on a road trip around the world in three (almost) identical 2027 S-Class sedans powered by this new flat-plane crankshaft motor. The goal: visit 140 places around the world, one for each year.
Close
At the southern tip of Africa, we joined Mercedes engineers for a nearly 1,000-mile stint of that road trip, and with it, we were given our first opportunity to drive the updated S-Class and experience the new V8 firsthand. Over two days, a few things became clear, and one of them was that this motor is big news for Merc.
This driving impression was originally intended to be a true first drive. However, modifications made to the S-Classes for the African leg of Mercedes’ global road trip, specifically the fitment of all-terrain tires, are not indicative of how customer cars will drive. This partial impression is therefore focused on the engine, technology, and other details of the journey. Stay tuned to CarBuzz for a full first drive and road test soon.
3 Special S-Classes On The Road Trip Of A Lifetime
We talk about three S-Classes, but we only ever saw two of them: two identical white ones with license plates of CB 140 and GD 140, for Mercedes-Benz founders (sort of) Carl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler. The third never reached the tip of Africa, and while we drove across the continent’s southern tip, we were told it was sitting at a port in Istanbul where it was stuck due to paperwork that had gone missing.
It turns out, coordinating a road trip around the world is a massive planning exercise and one that throws up hundreds of problems to be solved. “Nothing can be set in stone, because everything changes from day to day,” said Mario, one of our Mercedes-Benz chaperons (and engineers behind the S-Class’s development).
But that third car deserves mention — the black S-Class with a license plate of BB 140. Carl and Gottlieb get recognition as the founders of Daimler-Benz (even though Daimler was dead when the company was founded), which later became Mercedes-Benz as we know it, but Bertha Benz was the unsung hero of the Benz business.
“Only one person remained with me in the small ship of life when it seemed destined to sink. That was my wife. Bravely and resolutely she set the new sails of hope.”
The First Lady Of The Automobile
Bertha was more than just Carl’s wife; she was his business partner and investor (before they got married), and an innovator in her own right. She was also the first person to conduct a road trip in an automobile, driving 66 miles one way on August 5, 1888, with her 13- and 15-year-old sons to visit her mother. Bertha never told Carl what she was doing, but that trip was the first long-distance drive recorded in an automobile.
Bertha Benz and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen – IllustrationsMercedes-Benz
Along the way from Mannheim to Pforzheim, she encountered and resolved numerous issues. The Benz Patent-Motorwagen, a Model III variant, had no fuel tank, and she had only a 1.1-gallon supply of gasoline in the carburetor when she departed. To fuel the car along the trip, she had to find apothecaries stocking the solvent ligroin, making the Wiesloch Stadt-Apotheke pharmacy the first ever filling station, technically.
The trip saw Bertha use her hat pin to clear blocked fuel lines, her garter as insulation material, and she was responsible for commissioning the first ever brake linings, made out of leather when the wooden brakes began to fail. We owe the invention of brake linings to Bertha’s idea in a time of need.
Bertha Benz and the Benz Patent-Motorwagen – IllustrationsMercedes-Benz
This journey was instrumental in the development of the automobile as we know it, and can be considered the first long-distance prototype development drive, not unlike the one we were technically a part of in the new S-Class.
The S-Class trio weren’t quite developmental cars, but they were pre-production prototypes, used for training assembly line workers and to check that all the machinery in the factories worked like it’s meant to, without major production faults. But as we were warned right at the start, “There may be some rattles. These aren’t fully representative of customer cars.”
2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class on dirt roads in Africa.Mercedes-Benz
All I can say about that is that these pre-production prototypes with over 30,000 miles on the odometers (each) – all put on them in the last few months driving through monsoons, across continents, and over thousands of miles of dirt roads – barely rattled at all. I’ve driven final production models with only 1,000 miles on them that were squeakier and rattlier than this.
The Secret S-Class All-Terrains You Never Knew About
Close
The S-Classes we were driving were largely stock, riding on standard air suspension with niceties like the Hyperscreen infotainment, panoramic sunroof, and partially reclining rear seats (no massage function, though, boo!). But they were also mildly modified in strange ways. Ahead of the Africa leg of the trip, where the Mercedes team knew roads were more likely to be dirt than tarred (especially throughout middle Africa), engineers decided to make a couple of small but important changes, both inspired by the Mercedes E-Class All-Terrain off-road wagon.
Borrowed from the E-Class, underbody shielding was bolted onto the S-Classes, while the wheels and tires were swapped out for the All-Terrain’s meaty off-road rubber. Mario tells us the engineers were desperate to 3D print rugged wide-body wheel arches and give the S-Classes the full All-Terrain aesthetic for the African leg, but pragmatism won out in the end; how German. If the 3D printed arch extensions got damaged in the middle of nowhere, how would they replace or repair them? Fair.
The standard air suspension went unchanged, though, and when we hit dirt roads for a portion of our drive at an overnight stop, the suspension lift the regular cars ship with proved just enough to climb over anything we needed without too many scrapes. It got us thinking — what if Mercedes launched an actual S-Class All-Terrain, replete with wide-body fender flares and a taller ride height?
It’s one of those entirely unnecessary ideas that we can’t help but think would be utterly fascinating. If Genesis can seriously consider a performance wagon based on an S-Class rival, why can’t Mercedes consider a semi-off-road S-Class? We can dream, right?
Flat-Plane-Crank V8 The Star Of The Show
When we were asked to drop everything and drive 1,000 miles across South Africa in a few days, we were more than happy to agree, mainly because this would be our first opportunity to sample the new flat-plane crank Mercedes V8 that will form the backbone of everything from its luxury offerings to AMG models, and wild monsters like the Mythos-crafted AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung.
Officially designed as the Mercedes-Benz M177 Evo, the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 has switched its cross-plane crankshaft for a flat-plane one, switching from the traditional American-style rumble to the more Italian revviness. The benefits generally outweigh the downsides, mainly because, in the pursuit of performance, being able to rev an engine out higher means being able to access more horsepower. In a luxury application, it can also create a quieter, more refined power delivery. In reality, does it do any of this? In a word, yes.
Mercedes-Benz M177 Evo V8 EngineMercedes-Benz
We’re of the opinion that the V8 engine and Mercedes-Benz are synonymous with each other. Historically, it’s been the lopey, cross-plane V8 sound that we associate most with the brand, more often than not resulting in Mercs having the reputation of being German muscle cars. This new motor doesn’t have that same personality, but that doesn’t make it any less brilliant.
Sudbued Noise, Effortless Power
For a start, the S-Class is a luxury sedan, not a hot rod, so a more muted V8 soundtrack that still makes its presence known when you boot the throttle is perfectly fine. No one expects a raucous cold start from an S-Class, and this one doesn’t deliver anything particularly wild in that department.
On the road, the 553 lb-ft of torque is abundant. At highway speeds (and then some), the S-Class was able to cruise at a sustained sub-2,000-rpm level without ever feeling like it was lacking. Breathe on the gas pedal and the V8 was always ready to deliver, effortlessly increasing speed without upsetting the S-Class’s luxurious demeanor. And when really chasing the power, all 530 horsepower of it, the surge to the 5,500-6,100-rpm power peak is relentless.
That performance isn’t all-motor though. Not only are there two turbos still housed hot in the vee, but there’s an electric motor component adding 23 hp and 151 lb-ft as a boost when needed to fill in the gaps and get things moving before the V8 fully takes over.
2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class on South African Garden RouteMercedes-Benz
Everything We Hoped For, And More Still To Come
Even with 5,016 lbs to move, plus a driver and three passengers, there was never a deficit of power or torque. In every way, the new motor is effortless, and lends itself perfectly to the S-Class’s polished persona. It was everything we expected and hoped it would be, but the real test will be how it behaves in other applications. Just days after our seat-time in the S-Class, Mercedes announced the AMG CLE 646 Spezialanfertigung, dialing the M177 Evo up to 637 hp with a snarling exhaust no one would ever dream of putting on an S-Class. And there’s more to come in the AMG GT Black Series.
Based on patent filings discovered by CarBuzz, we’re also expecting AMG to compensate for the flat-plane configuration’s more… underwhelming sound, using clever trickery within the exhaust manifolds crossing between the cylinder banks to replicate the choppy sound of a cross-plane crank motor. Long story short, there’s plenty of potential here, and if the M177 Evo is already this impressive in its most subdued guise, I can’t wait to see what it’s capable of when fully uncorked.
Driving A Piece Of Mercedes-Benz History
Mercedes-Benz 140 Festival PosterMercedes-Benz
With a relatively last-minute invite, we didn’t have any time to develop preconceived notions of what we expected from this drive. What we anticipated to be a long-distance first drive opportunity evaporated the moment we found out about the all-terrain tires, and the format of this event was entirely different than a traditional media drive. Instead, we found ourselves taking part in a small piece of Mercedes-Benz history, seeing the latest S-Class evolution in environments it was never designed for, arriving at multiple private Mercedes-Benz historical collections — including the largest in the Southern Hemisphere — and experiencing a small sliver of what durability testing looks like.
The cars we drove, now reunited with Bertha in Europe, have completed their journey through a second European stint, arriving back in Stuttgart. Come October 18th, they’ll be part of the 140 Festival, a celebration of Mercedes’ 140 years of innovation, joined by the original Benz Patent-Motorwagen, Mercedes-Benz 300 SL “Gullwing”, and the new AMG GT SUV, among others. Following the festivities, they’ll take their place in the Mercedes-Benz Museum, covered in stickers representing every one of the 140 destinations visited around the world. For generations to come, these cars will be part of a story of the car brand that started it all – pieces of history and a journey CarBuzz was part of.
This 1,000-mile journey taught us a few things. First, the flat-plane-crank V8 is a glorious thing that will serve Mercedes well, and second, that even pre-production S-Class prototypes with tens of thousands of miles in the harshest environments are built to outlast time itself.
But it also served as a reminder of the legacy of the Mercedes brand, of the spirit of innovation present since Carl Benz invented the Patent-Motorwagen in 1886 and since Bertha Benz embarked on the world’s first long-distance drive just two years later. That legacy matters, and while Mercedes might have lost its way at times, its history and heritage remain guiding lights for the brand today.
