Unlocking the future

Buy a new S-Class Mercedes-Benz, you can throw away the keys. Alastair Sloane investigates the latest in a line of "intelligent" cars.

MERCEDES-BENZ has come up with a card trick to beat all the old ones. But it has more to do with modern magic than old sleight-of-hand hustles.

The German carmaker calls it Keyless Go. It's a credit card-sized, electronic gismo, similar to those used in the hotel industry.

Some hotel card 'keys' only open the room door and switch on the lights. Others, like those used by one flash hotel in Germany, open the door, switch on the lights, turn on the television, open the mini-bar, kick-start the phone, operate the lift, the door to the gymnasium and sauna, the library, the business centre, and the gate to the carpark. You can even use it to charge drinks and dinner to your room. If it had wheels it would probably drive you to the pictures.

But you have to leave town without it - the hotel desk programmes it to work only for the duration of your stay. Then it is destroyed.

Buy a new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, however, and you can get the Keyless Go card for as long as you own the vehicle.

The company will probably give you a genuine credit card as well, underwritten by Visa. It won't start the car but it will open all sorts of doors, they say.

Keyless Go is a $2900 option on the S-Class, the car unveiled in Auckland this week and for which motoring scribes are searching for superlatives.

There is much standard and optional equipment.

* Like an air-conditioning unit which follows the sun, senses how many people are in the car and adjusts the temperature to compensate for the extra body heat.

* Seats which have air chambers which massage back muscles, and small fans which help prevent occupants from perspiring.

* A cylinder cut-off system which turns a V8 into a V4 to save fuel.

* A headlight switch which detects when it is dark - entering a tunnel for example - and automatically turns on low-beam headlights.

But Keyless Go will do for the moment. The card makes the modern electronic key redundant. But lose it and your S-Class will remain closed.

You may wish to keep the card in your top pocket, or wallet. That is if your budget runs to $164,900 for the
S280, $179,500 for the S320, $199,800 for the S430, $225,000 for the S500 and $231,00 for the long wheelbase S500 - prices that are cheaper than those of the outgoing model.

How does Keyless Go work? Simple. Touch any part of the car and, hey presto, we have ignition, or sort of. The card sends a signal from your pocket or wallet to the car's computer, which disables the alarm and immobiliser system, turns on courtesy lights, radio and climate air-conditioning and lets you open the doors and take a seat.

Next step is where the fun starts. Belt up, make sure the manual-automatic transmission is in park, depress the brake pedal and press a sculptured button on top of the gear lever. This is the start button.

The silky smooth V6 or V8 purrs into life. Slip the gear lever into drive and you are up and running.

Hang on, there's more. The automatic/manual one-touch transmission gives S-Class drivers a hitherto unavailable sporting option.

On the left side of the D for Drive is a minus sign; on the right is a plus. These signify the manual mode. Gently nudge the gear lever to the left to change down. Great if you want to have fun and set the car up going into corners. Once you are out of the corner, nudge the lever to the right to go up a cog.

All it takes is a slight hand movement. Many carmakers have a similar manual option, but the S-Class system is more efficient. It is easier to nudge the gear lever across the gate than up and down it. Very clever indeed.

It is just as easy to lock the car as it is to open it. Just shut the door and push on the door handle for a couple of seconds. Oops, you left your briefcase in the back. Start the open sesame routine again.

The control centre of the car is called Cockpit Management and Data System, or COMAND. Most everything can be controlled from the facia-mounted screen or the multi-functional steering wheel - smaller and better shaped than those of past models.

COMAND is a car radio, cassette player, sound system, satellite navigation system (not available yet), car phone, clock and television set all rolled into one and controlled by a 32-bit processor.

A combined turn-and-press knob does the business: turn it to find the desired menu on the screen and press it to find the functions.

Want to store a telephone number, name or radio frequency? Dial up the numeric keypad, turn the knob for the number or letter and press it to store it.

The buttons on the steering wheel control volume, call answering, phone number memory, voice control, radio station or cassette/CD search.

Once the driver selects phone memory, for example, the information is displayed on the screen and within the instrument cluster. Whatever function the driver selects always appears within his or her field of vision.

Mercedes-Benz sold 254 previous S-Class models in New Zealand between 1992 and 98, or about 42 a year. This share represented about 25 per cent of the luxury market above $150,000.

It aims to sell 60 new models in 99 and a further 80 in 2000. To do so would give it more than 40 per cent of the plus $150,000 market.

It aims to go further again. Sales across the range in the Asia/Pacific in 1997 represented 5 per cent of worldwide production. By 2010, the Asia/Pacific arm of Mercedes-Benz wants to sell 20 to 25 per cent of worldwide production. The carmaker says the new S-Class is the start of things to come.