Mercedes-Benz S-Guard First Drive

The S-Class is one of the most luxurious cars in the world, and the new-generation was loved by our editorial team and even by one of India’s best guitarist Rashid Ali. But what about those whose lives are endangered? For them there is a S-Guard, and the new one is even better. How much better is it? We get our hands on the new Mercedes-Benz S-Guard.

The exterior styling of the S-Guard isn’t much different from the regular S, infact it looks the same. Except for the fact that the alloy wheels look rather dull and boring, but these have been made for a function, which is of prior importance. I highly doubt if this will even matter to the users of this car. The Michelin PAX run flat tyres used with special set of alloys that can go on up to 30 kilometres without any air in the tyres and whats more, even the handling of the car isn’t affected.

What is the S-Guard all about? It is the armoured version of the regular S-Class that can take the attack from AK-47, within landmine blasts and even the HG85 grenades are shrugged away keeping the occupants inside safe. The new S-Class’ Guard version has been built to VR9 standards, which is the highest any car can ever achieve so far. So, what happens to the S-Class’ weight?

It now weighs 4.16 tonnes and this is equivalent to the weight of the S-Class and the E-Class.

Open the door of the S-Guard and you will take a while to swing it and shut it as it is very heavy. The latter part does take a while. The weight of each door is about 140kgs.

The S-Guard has thick doors and the extra impenetrable windows that are bullet proof too.

On the inside, the S-Guard is almost like the regular S-Class except for a set of buttons in a cup holder that has fire extinguisher, unlocking doors individually and even control the atmosphere on the inside. At the back, you continue to get the same comfort like the other S-Class.

The S-Guard has a bigger engine, but with the extra body weight, the S-Guard won’t move that swiftly. This has a 6.0-litre V12 engine producing 522bhp of power. When you crank the engine, it is quiet and the revs at high rpm have a soothing note. The brakes too those six-pin calipers and large discs and even the steering wheel is electric for the some amount of weight reduction.

The S-Guard at INR 10 crore, well we can’t talk of things like being value for money. It could be value for life proposition if you ask me. Even if the engine blasts or the car stops moving, the passenger shell shall start protected.