一款科技力作:款奔馳S550評測報告

The redesigned 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-class, the serene, cetacean presence you see before you, this sack of krill, is probably the world's most technologically rich automobile.

重新設計的梅賽德斯-奔馳(Mercedes-Benz)2014款S級轎車，也就是你眼前看到的這個氣質沉穩、體型龐大的傢伙，可能是世界上科技含量最豐富的汽車。

The company's new flagship sedan/limousine/state car requires the services of 60 onboard computers, up to 100 servo motors (operating, among other things, the powered door and trunk closures, seat-belt tensioners, and the elaborate articulation of the seats), and more than 500 LED lighting units, from its taillamps to its (amazing, game-changing) headlamps. Under the flat, brooding instrument binnacle are two high-res, 12.3-inch TFT screens, arrayed cinema style in a single, broad bezel that, at night, floats in a pool of suffused LED backlighting, like something signed out from the Starfleet motor pool. Holy mother of awesome.

奔馳新出品的這一系列旗艦轎車/大型豪華轎車/禮賓車配備60個車載電子控制系統、多達100部伺服電機（它們操控電動門、行李箱開合、安全帶拉張器和精細的座椅鉸接），以及遍佈尾燈及其（令人讚歎、改變遊戲規則的）前大燈的500多個LED照明元件。平展低覆的儀表臺下是兩塊12.3英寸的高分辨率TFT屏幕，它們以影院風格排列在一塊寬闊的面板上。面板在晚間則會籠罩在一片漫射的LED背光當中，如同從星際艦隊車輛調度場調來的車隊。簡直太震撼了。

Gorden Wagener, Mercedes-Benz head of design, told me that the new S-class was the 'best car in the world.' I am not ready to make such a pronouncement, and I'd be unlikely to do so anyway about a car that looks like it was swallowed by a manatee. But the S-class is unquestionably a tour de force, a showy, almost arrogant display of auto-making genius (assuming it all holds together). The important thing here is Stuttgart's willingness to invoke 'best car' verbiage, which historians associate with icons such as the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Duesenberg SJ, Mercedes-Benz 300SL, Bugatti Veyron and -- a late entry on the list -- Tesla. Cheeky monkeys.

奔馳負責設計事務的主管戈登・瓦格納(Gorden Wagener)對筆者說，新款S級轎車是“世界最好的汽車”。我還沒準備好做出這樣的表態，而且無論如何我也不大可能就一輛看上去似被海牛吞噬的汽車做此表態。不過，毫無疑問的是，S級轎車是一款力作，一款張揚地、幾乎是自負地盡展汽車製造天賦的產品（假設這些特點能夠同時並存的話）。重要的是斯圖加特樂意使用“最好的汽車”這一措辭，因爲歷史學家們往往把它與勞斯萊斯(Rolls-Royce)的“銀魅”(Silver Ghost)、迪森貝格(Duesenberg)的SJ、奔馳的300SL、布加迪威龍(Bugatti Veyron)以及新近加入此列的特斯拉(Tesla)等標誌性車型聯繫在一起。頑皮的傢伙。

For four decades and five generations of the S-class, the car has traditionally been the company's technology icebreaker, introducing now-fundamental systems such as stability control and ABS braking, adaptive cruise control and adaptive body-roll control. In that time, S-class product planning has also become increasingly a victim of its own rhetoric, with each generation obliged to blow buyers' minds anew, sometimes with trivial, half-baked 'technologies' (the shambolic first edition of the infrared night-vision system comes to mind).

奔馳S級轎車前後歷經四十年時間和五代車型，它歷來是奔馳取得技術突破的車型，推出了現在已必不可少的系統，比如車身穩定控制系統、防抱死制動系統、自適應巡航控制以及自適應車身傾斜控制系統等。在此期間，S級系列產品的設計日益成爲其豪言壯語的受害者，每一代新車型都不得不向買家呈現新東西，有時只是微不足道尚不成熟的“技術”（我想起了雜亂的第一代紅外線夜視系統）。

This new car represents a genuine break with the past on several fronts, and they are, in descending order of importance: active safety; cabin materials and construction; in-cabin electronic functions and amenities. Indeed, the sheer weight of innovation in this car -- more than 2,000 patents flutter in its slipstream -- is itself theatrical, a message to consumers and competitors alike: A giant has awakened. Checkbooks, run for your lives.

這款新車型確確實實在幾個方面都與過去的車型截然不同，按重要性從高到低排序，它們分別是主動安全性、駕駛艙的用材與構造、駕駛艙內的電子設備與方便設施。確實，這款車分量十足的創新性──它集2,000多項專利於一身──本身就十分引人注目，向消費者和競爭者傳達出一條消息：巨人已經甦醒了。支票簿，趕緊逃命去吧。

It almost doesn't matter where you start. Would you like to know about the perfume injection integrated into the cabin air-filtration system, offering one of four fragrances (human-factors approved, I'm sure) held in a cut-glass reservoir in the glove compartment? German engineering meets John Waters's Odorama.

無論你着眼的是哪一方面，它幾乎都無可挑剔。你想了解一下它駕駛艙空氣濾清系統集成的香氛噴霧發生器嗎？香氛精油盛放在手套箱中的雕花玻璃容器內，有四種香型可供選擇（我敢肯定這個人性化因素會得到認可）。這可謂是德國工藝遇見了約翰・沃特斯(John Waters)電影的香氛卡。

Here's a fun one: Magic Body Control, which uses stereoscopic cameras integrated into the windshield header to read the road ahead, looking for shadow and contrast that might indicate a perturbation in pavement, so it can instantly adjust the air suspension in anticipation of the bump. The 'magic' part is that it seems to make speed bumps disappear.

它還有一個有趣的功能：魔力車身控制系統(Magic Body Control)。它利用前擋風玻璃上方的立體攝像頭來掃描前方路面狀況，尋找可能表明路面有障礙物的陰影和反差，以便預測顛簸從而立即調整氣墊。其“有魔力的”一面是它似乎讓減速帶在它的輪下消失了。

Among other things, Mercedes is attempting to reassert its incumbency as the safest car in the world. To that end, a fully equipped S550 (figure $135,000) is like a freaking Awacs plane, with the aforementioned stereo cameras, long-range thermal imaging (Night Vision Assist with active pedestrian illumination), and a dozen or so ultrasonic and radar-based sensors that create a multi-wavelength, 3-D map of the world around the car.

除了其他方面，梅賽德斯還試圖加強其作爲全球最安全汽車的地位。爲此目的，頂配版的S550（售價135,000美元（約合人民幣82萬元））就如一架配備了讓人震撼的機載預警和控制系統(Awacs)的飛機，它配備了上文提到的立體攝像頭和遠程熱成像系統（具主動識別行人功能的夜視輔助系統），以及大約十幾個可將車輛周圍環境繪製成多波長3-D地圖的超聲波或雷達傳感器。

This 'sensor fusion' is fed into the car's driver-assist systems, including: Distronic Plus; active lane-keeping; all-speed adaptive cruise control ('Stop and Go Pilot') that follows the flow of congested traffic without driver intervention; and active lane-departure correction, which nudges the car back in a lane via asymmetric application of the front brakes. These technologies, which Mercedes collectively calls 'Intelligent Drive,' basically give the car situational awareness.

這一“傳感器融合”技術被融入車輛的駕駛輔助系統，它包括限距控制系統增強版(Distronic Plus)，主動式車道保持技術，在堵車狀況下無需駕駛員干預便可跟隨前方車輛停停走走的全速段自適應巡航控制技術（停走向導(Stop and Go Pilot)），以及可在車輛偏離車道時通過前制動器的單側制動使車輛移回原車道的主動式車道偏離糾正技術。這些技術被奔馳總稱爲“智能駕駛”系統，它使車輛基本上具備了情境感知能力。

Example: With its array of rear sensors, the car can detect the threat of an impending rear collision and react, by going into crash-hardening mode, cinching down the passenger seat belts, rolling the windows up, and locking the brakes, to reduce the delta-v -- the violence of the crash, in other words -- and minimize the risk of the car's being thrown forward into another vehicle or an intersection. In Euro-spec cars, the brilliant LED taillights strobe to alert the driver of the closing car (U.S. regs currently limit strobing lights to emergency and official vehicles).

例如，因車輛後部安有一批傳感器，所以它能偵測到逼近的追尾威脅並做出反應，進入抗撞擊模式，拉緊乘客的安全帶、拉上車窗、鎖定剎車，以降低速度變化率(delta-v)──也就是撞擊的強度──並將車輛被向前甩到另一輛車上或十字路口中的風險降至最低。在歐洲版的車型中，明亮的LED尾燈會頻閃以提醒逼近車輛的駕駛員（美國目前的規定只限急救車和公務車使用頻閃燈）。

I know what you're thinking: Who knew you could be this fascinated and bored at the same time? But the degree to which all this approaches a reliable, robust, autopilot feature -- Mercedes goes so far as to use the phrase 'semiautonomous' -- makes the S-class historically significant. Daimler has invested heavily in driver-assist and crash-avoidance/mitigation-systems research over the past decade, as well as advanced research in human factors engineering. Now the company is beginning to commercialize these investments.

我知道你們心裏在想什麼：誰知道你會不會在如此着迷的同時又感到厭倦呢？不過，所有這些技術已經達到的可靠強勁的自動駕駛程度──奔馳甚至使用了“半自動駕駛”一詞──賦予了S級轎車以重要歷史意義。過去幾十年間，戴姆勒(Daimler)在駕駛輔助與避撞/碰撞緩解系統研究、以及人性化設計的前沿研究中投入了大量資金，現在該公司開始將這些投資商業化。

Take note of the moment: Mercedes is the original, the ultimate old-established firm, with a lot of stakeholders, stepping into relatively unknown territory with new technologies of high criticality. The company already has fully autonomous prototype vehicles in hand, using technologies that in some cases have yet to be approved by safety regulators in Europe and North America. For example, the S-class's Adaptive High Beam Assist can pinpoint the position of an oncoming vehicle and activate tiny shutters built into the headlamps to block, in real time, the portion of high-beam that would otherwise shine on and blind the other driver. This system outpaces current U.S. headlight regulations, which require a separate switch setting for high and low beams.

請注意這一刻：奔馳是最早的頂級老牌汽車製造商，擁有大量股東，現在它憑藉極其關鍵的新技術邁入了一個相對未知的領域。奔馳已經開發出全自動駕駛原型車，而且採用了一些某些情況下尚需歐洲與北美的安全監管機構批准的技術。例如，S級轎車的自適應遠光燈輔助系統能確定迎面駛來的車輛的位置，啓動前大燈中的小遮光片，以實時阻止發出可能會照着對方車輛駕駛員並使其眼花的遠光燈光束。該系統超出了美國當前對前大燈的管理規定，它要求遠光光束與近光光束要有單獨的開關操控。

But whether it's five years or 10, commercially available autonomous automobiles are coming, and Mercedes has made the strategic decision to lead the way.

不管是五年還是10年，可投入市場的自動駕駛汽車終歸會出現，而奔馳做出了引領發展方向的戰略決定。

Pity about the styling. Formal, ceremonial, heavy, a preemie Maybach. This thing isn't within 10,000 kilometers of 'pretty.' But it's worth noting that the smooth-skinned S-class achieves a 0.24 coefficient of drag, making it more aerodynamically efficient than a Toyota Prius. And that's with the S-class's new grille, which is 30% bigger than the previous grille and the largest as a percentage of the vehicle's frontal area among all cars in this category, according to Mr. Wagener. I knew it was 30% more something.

令人遺憾的是這款車的外型。它看上去正式、莊重、龐大，猶如早產的邁巴赫(Maybach)。這傢伙與“帥氣”一詞相差十萬八千里。然而，值得指出的是，車身線條流暢的S級的風阻係數僅爲0.24，因此它在空氣動力方面的表現要好於豐田(Toyota)的普銳斯。瓦格納稱，S級車型的新進氣格柵相較上一代增大了30%，它在車輛前臉所佔的比例是這一類型所有車輛中最高的。我知道這個比例要高於30%。

A cynic would take one look at the chromic effrontery of the S-class's new grille and think: China. The Middle Kingdom is now the world's largest car market, and the luxury audience there has a measurable preference for big grilles. But that is to discount Mr. Wagener's own orientalism, his love of material richness, evocations of tradition and electronic ornament. It's this aesthetic that has shaped the S-class's sculptural cabin, with its breaking waves of burled walnut and French-stitched leather flowing into the doors, pulls and integrated grab handles. The central band of wood, shaped like an archer's recurve bow, is perfection, and the details just keep coming: the lustrous aluminum switchcaps, the polished-metal air vents (note the delicate 'click' as you move the vanes to center), the console-mounted, central rotary-controller knob.

憤世嫉俗之人會看一眼S級新進氣格柵的鉻合金裝飾條，心裏想到：中國。這個中央之國如今是全球最大的汽車市場，而那兒的奢侈品追隨者明顯偏愛大進氣格柵。然而，這一想法卻低估了瓦格納本人對東方風格的偏愛，他對材料的豪華程度、傳統的再現以及電子裝飾的喜愛。正是這種審美造就了S級雕塑感的駕駛艙，纔出現了波浪形的瘤紋胡桃木木飾，以法式縫線縫製的真皮則見於車門、拉手以及一體式扶手上。木飾的中段形似弓箭手拉出的反曲弓，非常完美，各處細節也是可圈可點，比如光亮奪目的鋁質調節旋鈕、拋光金屬出風口（注意將葉片撥到中間時細微的“口噠聲”），以及中控臺上的中控調節旋鈕。

The S-class cabin deploys more than 300 LEDs -- according to Mercedes-Benz, this is the first passenger car since Edison that uses no incandescent light bulbs -- allowing the designers to paint the cabin with light, gathering it in gentle pools for illumination. Drivers can choose one of seven ambient lighting schemes. I like tangerine, myself.

梅賽德斯-奔馳稱，S級車型的駕駛艙安有300多個LED光源，這是自愛迪生(Edison)發明電燈以來第一輛未使用白熾燈泡的乘用車。這使得設計師能夠以光線來裝飾駕駛艙，採用溫和的光線爲駕駛艙照明。駕駛員可在七種氛圍照明模式中挑選自己喜歡的一種，我喜歡的是橘色。

Well, does it even have an engine? Indeed it does. U.S. buyers will first see the S-class as the S550, with a twin-turbo, 4.6-liter, 449-hp V8 under the hood and a seven-speed automatic, in either rear-drive or all-wheel-drive configurations. Globally, the car will be available in short- and long-wheelbase configurations (North America, LWB only), with a variety of powerplants, from the screaming, AMG-built 5.5-liter, 577-hp biturbo V8 to a thrifty diesel hybrid. I'll be driving some of these cars in the coming year, with more thorough road testing to come. For the moment I would describe the S-class as a sumo ninja, moving through the world with agile heft and great stealth.

說了這麼多，難道它沒有發動機嗎？當然有了。美國消費者最早看到的S級轎車會是S550，它配備了最大輸出功率爲335千瓦的4.6升雙渦輪V8發動機，後輪驅動與全時四輪驅動款均配備七速自動變速器。該款車的短軸距型與長軸距型在全球範圍均會有售（北美只售長軸距型），而且提供各種馬力的配置，既有由AMG製造的動力十足、最大輸出功率達430千瓦的5.5升雙渦輪V8發動機，也有節油的柴油混合動力發動機。明年我會試駕其中部分車型，屆時會奉上更詳盡的路測報告。就眼下而言，我認爲S級車型好比一名有着相撲身材的忍者，體型雖大，卻能靈敏並悄無聲息地行動。

Perhaps after a few more turns at the wheel, I, too, could pronounce the S-class the best car in the world. For now, I can say for sure, it's certainly good enough.

或許在多駕駛幾次之後，我也會宣稱S級是世界最好的汽車。目前來看，我可以肯定地說，它顯然已經足夠好了。