Owner Review: The King of S-Class by Mercedes-Benz - My W140 Mercedes-Benz S600

** This article is the personal experience of a 1995 Mercedes-Benz S600 owner and does not necessarily reflect the views of WapCar.

Facebook: Jeff Ooi

The W140 S-Class is often known as the last Mercedes to be "over-engineered", a Mercedes trait that was costing the company in product delays and over budgeting. According to Motor Trend, this action reportedly caused project cost overruns and resulted in the departure of Wolfgang Peter, Daimler-Benz's chief engineer. The vehicle is believed to have cost Mercedes-Benz over $1 billion to develop. The company's first V12 engine was the Mercedes-Benz M120 Engine a 6.0L engine introduced in 1991 which is launch with this Mercedes-Benz W140 600SEL.

How to get myself into Mercedes-Benz Car?

Back in 2017, I was influenced by my father in law, when he was sending us to the KTM station with his Mercedes-Benz W124 after the weekend holiday travelling back from Butterworth to Kuala Lumpur. This is how I started my Mercedes-Benz passionate.

I’m started with the Mercedes W124, and my car was maintained by the workshop near BTS ( Bandar Tasik Selatan ) and I got to know one of the member name Justin Koh ( Mercedes-Benz W140 Owner) a nice guy and he has invited me to the S-Class group, although I did not qualify by that time, and I pick up all the knowledge from there.

2 weeks later (July 2018)

A Sunday morning, I am flashing the mudah.my page and notice there is a used unit Mercedes-Benz W140 S320L letting go in reasonable price RM8,000 by a car seller name Raymond in Seapark, Petaling Jaya. The first owner was a well know Telecommunication company. This is how I own very first Mercedes-Benz S Class and know as “King of the S Class”.

Exactly 1 year later ( July 2019 )

1 of the Group members from Kuching Sarawak. Name “Wee Ah Beng” and he is an enthusiast of classic / antique car collector.  I received the group message, an S600 letting go, any taker? And I give him a text and arrange for next day meet up in Kuching (flew in Kuching next day). I am wondering is there anyone own an S600 in the country?  Yes, indeed after some time and information collected, might be less than <20 units in West/East Malaysia. A good friend from KL “Rothman Fong” was travelling with me to Kuching.

The Next day morning, When I reached Kuching, Wee picked us up in his W124 Wagon.

First seen the W140 S600, The car was parked in the factory bushes and seemed like an abandoned car, the car was unable to start, the interior was damaged. Nonetheless, this is my first time touching a V12 Engine in my life ever.

At First, I was worried whether I can cope with the restoration process without any experience, and knowing how often we can own a v12 engine vehicle. So, I just try my luck and deal with this car.

It took about 2weeks+ to ship the car from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur and directly transfer send to the workshop for several weeks to make this car revive.

Lucky enough the car was alive after many checks were performed.

1 of the challenge for Mercedes-Benz W140 S600 is the spare part, some of the general parts are same as S320, but some were not which is not available in Malaysia.

From there onward, I study more about w140 and get the used part from local or even oversea country such like US/UK/Taiwan/Russian/Lithuania etc. Are the parts expensive to maintain a W140? Not really, even the OEM part are still in production after 29 years, some items are cheapest than the Japanese car. Nothing to complain if you are driving a Mercedes S-Class.

I would like to thank my spouse for giving me all the support and encouragement.

A Friend to thanks, Justin Koh, Wee Ah Beng, Rothman Fong, Wai Hong, Hong from Famous car Audio (Old Klang Road) for the support!

The driving experience absolutely enjoy. The car is extremely solid, comfort, silent and steady.