Too Much of a Stretch? Dacia Logan MCV Limousine Too Much of a Stretch? Dacia Logan MCV Limousine Too Much of a Stretch? Dacia Logan MCV Limousine

When you think about stretch limos, we sincerely doubt that Dacia is among the brands that come to mind. Still, that hasn’t deterred some folks from building one off the Logan MCV, a crossover version of the Renault-Nissan alliance’s Romanian low-cost sedan. Details are thin on the project but in the extremely rare case you have nothing else better to do, there’s a bunch of computer generated drawings of the interior after the jump.

2001 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Pullman Limousine W220

Mercedes-Benz S-Class Pullman Limousine W220


Mercedes-Benz S-Class W220 (2000-2005)

In late 1998, an all-new model was launched. Not only did the car maintain the lineage of previous S-Class sedans, but the W220 also had to overturn some of the negative elements of the previous S-Class. The W220 faced stiff competition from rivals like the Audi A8 Mk II, BMW 7 Series Mk IV, Jaguar XJ Mk III, and Lexus LS/Toyota Celsior Mk III.

Production totalled 485,000 units, slightly more than the production totals from the W140.

Style

Unlike its predecessor, the W220 was no longer the first model to feature the company's new design theme for the next generation of Mercedes-Benz. This honour was given to the A-Class launched in 1997. The new S-Class incorporated the new styling cues and addressed the criticisms of the previous model's styling. Rather than being known as colloquially as 'the tank', the new S-Class was known for its rounded, graceful lines.

Despite being smaller, and therefore addressing another criticism of its predecessor, the new car was roomier inside while the dashboard carried over the new styling details first seen in the Mk I A-Class the year before.

Engineering

As with each new S-Class, the W220 brought in new innovations such as Airmatic air suspension, Active Ventilated seats (which use miniature fans in the seats to move air through perforations), keyless entry and ignition, radar-controlled Distronic cruise control system and a cylinder deactivation system (in V12 motors only) called Active Cylinder Control, which improves fuel consumption and reduces emissions.

4MATIC all wheel drive was introduced to the North American S-Class for 2002.

Engines

The W220 had many engine options unlike W126 and W140. The range started with smaller 3.2-litre 224hp V6 motor which was superceded by enlarged 3.7-litre 245hp V6 in S350.

Next is 4.3-litre 279hp V8 in S430 (that one sold very well in the USA) and 5.0-litre 306hp V8 in S500. AMG prepared the S55 with 5.4-litre 367hp V8 motor which was replaced by supercharged version, producing 500PS or 493hp (469hp in American edition).

The 5.5-litre V12 motor started out as 367hp but was fitted with twin-turbochargers (from Maybach engineering work), increasing its output to 500PS (or 493hp in Europe and 469hp in USA).

For one month in 2001, AMG produced S63 AMG with 6.3-litre 444hp V12 in very limited number. An undisclosed number of extremely rare S63 AMG were sold exclusively through AMG in European and Asian markets. That motor was also fitted to just two G63 AMG for the Middle Eastern customers.

AMG then pushed its technological and engineering envelope to produce the successful 6.0-litre 612hp V12 motor, making S65 AMG the world's most powerful five-seat sedan.

As for the diesel motors, W220 had 3.2-litre 197hp I6 diesel and 4.0-litre 250hp V8 diesel.