Dallas Mercedes Benz Dealer

Imagine if you will an M1A2 Abrams main Battle Tank.

Now remove the 120 mm M256 smoothbore cannon then take out the road wheels and tank treads and put the three pointed star in front. Viola! The Mercedes S600 Guard.

Seriously, the S600 is Mercedes’ answer to VIP protection.

Heads of state, the rich and famous, dictators, despots, royalty, drug lords and the plain paranoid are but a few of their clientele.

In the past companies such as International Armoring Corporation and Armormax would take a brand new, fully assembled vehicle straight out of the lot, strip it down to its shell then retrofit the armor and protective equipment.

What Mercedes did instead was to include the armoring in the production process.

Speaking of armor, the S600 Guard has a Level IV or B7 protection rating.

This means that his majesty is safe from 9mm to 5.56mm to armor piercing 7.62 X 51 NATO rounds striking the car to grenade shrapnel and other explosive devices underneath the vehicle.

Also built in are Michelin PAX system Run-flat tires, an integrated fire-extinguishing system and a self-sealing fuel-tank.

Probably the biggest advantage one gets from factory installing the protection as opposed to aftermarket armorers is that Mercedes can fine tune the v12 512hp byturbo engine to handle the additional 3000 lbs without any discernible loss of comfort or handling.

Despite all the structural reinforcements and protection, what comes out at the end of the production line looks just like any other run of the mill S600.

That is until you open the doors and get a look at the roughly 3 inch thick polycarbonate glass that is.

“Is the volume swept by the piston(s) in a single movement. In the very familiar four-stroke piston engine (but also in the two stroke engine) this is the volume that is swept as the piston(s) move from top dead center to bottom dead center.”
In simple terms, displacement is the amount of gas or fuel that your engine can burn thus the maximum power output it can produce. There is a direct relationship between engine displacement and horsepower. Simply put, the bigger the engine displacement the bigger or higher the horsepower. Nowadays, engine displacement is generally used in the manufacturer’s nomenclature. For example, the 2009 Mercedes CLK550 Coupe. It has a 5.5 liter DOHC 32 valve V8 engine that produces 328 horsepower and can accelerate from 0-60 in 5.1 seconds. Next is the 2009 Mercedes CLK350 Coupe. The 350 has a 3.5 liter V6 engine that pumps out 268 hp. 0-60 in 6.4 seconds. As seen above, the 550 has an engine displacement of 5.5li and the 350, 3.5li . Based on acceleration alone the CLK 550 wins hands down. Though there are other factors that determine the cars performance/top speed such as curb weight, torque and such, engine displacement is one of the more visible indicators. This extra “oomph” does come at a price though in terms of fuel economy. The CLK 550 is at 15/22 mpg while the CLK 350 has a 17/25mpg rating.

Continued: I’m not much of a car enthusiast. I just want a vehicle for myself that looks nice, comfortable, performs well, safe and easy to maintain? I’m looking at Mercedes brand though.
Next we have the Coupes. Mercedes has 3 classes of coupes: the CLK, CLS and CL. In each class there are several body styles and each with its own makeup. The CLK series comes in either as a Coupe or Cabriolet. Fyi, Mercedes is one of the manufacturers that use engine displacement in the nomenclature.
• 350 series – 3.5L 268 hp V6 engine
• 550 series – 5.5L V8, 32 valve engine
• 7-speed driver-adaptive electronically controlled automatic transmission
It’s a rear wheel drive, 2 door 4 passenger car that’s classified as a subcompact by the EPA. Simply looking at both the 350 and 550, one can say that the 550 has a manly or sporty look to it whereas the 350 has an almost refined, cultured maybe even dainty look to it.
Looking in your eyes take in the active ventilated leather seats, the Harman Kardon seven-channel digital surround-sound stereo, the steering wheel mounted controls and the COMAND System with Hard Drive Navigation among other things. Tucked away are the Four side-impact airbags. The Coupes come with full-length side curtain airbags while the Cabriolets have front seat side impact airbags that provide head and thorax protection.

With a couple of weeks of vacation time on my hands I decided to go abroad and get out of this bad weather.
I’m currently in Hong Kong and I have to say it is COLD! Well maybe not as cold as back home-I was expecting since I’m in Asia it would be a pleasant change from the winter temperatures I just left but no. It is currently about 5C here. And no I didn’t bring a jacket.

I arrived 2 days ago. The MTR (Subway) station is about a block or two from the hotel where I’m going to be staying in.

Parked on the driveway were 3 black Mercedes Benz’s- 2 S550’s and a S600.
All apparently well maintained and polished, the sunlight bouncing off the hoods.

While checking in I found out that the 3 cars were the hotel limousines. I also found out that the 2 550’s were 4matics.

The manager didn’t know how much they cost here but back home it has an MSRP of $92,350 and the S600 $147,450.

Asked how Mercedes Benz is doing here and the lady says that the Mercedes Benz is one of the more popular brands of cars here especially for limousines.

She offered to chauffer me for the day in one of the 550’s.

The roads here aren’t as wide as those stateside but surprisingly there wasn’t any traffic to speak of but I guess you really wouldn’t mind not since you’re in a cabin which is just simply luxurious.

The 5.5 382hp V8 engine of the 550 was just purring even when accelerating.

The ride as expected was extremely quiet and smooth. More to follow.

After seeing and experiencing the Mercedes Benz S600 Guard, I decided to do a little more research.

Mercedes Benz Pullman S600 or some say Mercedes Benz S600 Pullman was first launched in 2006.

Pullmans were actually those railroad sleeping cars equipped with luxurious appointments and originally made by the American Pullman Palace Car Company.

Mercedes Benz started making vehicles with “special protection” way back in 1927. Emperor Hirohito of Japan rode in a 770k.

What really makes this car really special is the way it’s built.

Instead of retrofitting the armor into the vehicle as it would have been done in the past, Mercedes Benz it into the body thus adding further reinforcement.

The S600 is powered by a v12 byturbo engine which produces 380KW/517 hp, has run flat tires and has Level IV (B6/B7) protection. Governments, heads of Stae, royalty and the rich are impressed with the level of protection, comfort and entertsainment that they get when inside the car.

It’s like having your own Abrams M1 or Bradley IFV.
The only difference is that it doesn’t weigh that much and the sound system is better!

The only drawback – you might not find this on the showroom floor of your Mercedes-Benz dealership