Saturday, May 27, 2006

A short drive with S320

The silver S320 on the right corner of my C36 --------------->

I had a short drive of the S320 (W220, a silver color Year 2000). Softly suspended by AIRmatic DC system, the big car did have a good ride and very little road noise. The steering was very light, quick and accurate (well, in a way). Two things stood out from my impression. First it was the road noise. The noise level, if there was any at all, seemed to stay at the same level, regardless of the road surface. This was very different from the LS430 which was silent on smooth surface, but noise level rose very slightly but noticeably as soon as the tires hit the rough surface. However I would not say the S320 was quieter. Second the engine seemed to have good power and torque combination that can haul the 1'800-kg car in all kind of traffic condition between 1'500 to 2'300 rpm. Rarely it did go over 2'700 rpm. Of course I was not in a hurry and went with the traffic flow. On the contrast the 3.6L engine in car seemed to be happy revving between 1'800 - 3'000rpm in normal driving condition. No doubt the C36 was built more for mid to mid-high range power. And it relied on the large engine capacity to provide the torque at low end. If you ask me to choose I prefer the reasonable responsive but lazy style of the S320 engine.

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