Mercedes Benz S class

Mercedes-Benz S-Class

The new Mercedes-Benz S-Class is in town.

There's a new Mercedes-Benz S-Class in town and the German company hopes more potential customers will see the light. Well, more specifically, the LED light.

The 2010 model-year update introduces a range of exterior styling tweaks, mainly to the front and rear of the cars, that includes the liberal use of LED light technology and a new "BlueEfficiency" model that blends a diesel engine with improved aerodynamics and smarter fuel-saving technology.

Unfortunately, prices for the new model have gone up. The company says the new range of S-Class cars have risen in price by about 7 per cent but claims the value of all the bits added as standard has increased by more than double that.

For the extra money, Benz argues you get a much safer range of cars. For starters, the clever adaptive cruise control is off the options list and now standard across the range, as is a Bluetooth phone connection.

A night vision camera is now standard on all but the base S350 CDI and even includes the ability to recognise pedestrians and warn the driver.

Externally, there's a distinctly restyled nose now featuring a row of daytime running lights underneath the headlamps to either side of a different-looking grille. A wider-looking stance is helped by wheels that grow to a standard 18 inches, stepping to 20-inch wheels for the high-powered AMG models.