Mercedes’ new S-Class tested
If the petrol limo is heading for the rocks, nobody told Mercedes. The new S-Class meets its Audi, Porsche and BMW rivals
Words Georg Kacher Photography Tom Salt
Don’t be so fast as to declare these ‘last chance’ saloons. It’s hardly the body style of the moment, and their engines are far less electrified than the zeitgeist demands, and you may well question why anyone actually needs a luxury saloon right now; exactly what business meetings are these executives in such a hurry to attend?
Yet here we have an entirely new Mercedes-Benz S-Class with a packed field of opponents: direct rivals from BMW and Audi, and a sportier alternative from Porsche. And that leaves no room for the Maserati Quattroporte and Lexus LS. The electric successors are starting to arrive, with plenty more on the way, but there’s clearly still life in this exclusive and very traditional part of the market.
At launch time the new S-Class is only available with a couple of diesels and two versions of the 3.0-litre straight-six. We’ve picked the more potent 429bhp petrol hooked up to a nine-speed automatic and all-wheel drive. In terms of power output, the big Benz competes on paper with the Porsche Panamera 4S fitted with the 435bhp variant of Zuffenhausen’s own 2.9-litre V6. The only horse with a saddlecloth marked PHEV in this upper-stratum corral is the BMW 745e, which combines a straight-six with a single e-motor for a combined total of 389bhp. We had asked Audi to provide a matching A8 60 TFSI, but since there wasn’t one available at the right time the only other six-cylinder option was the 55 TFSI, dishing up 335bhp, which in this context – if few others – can seem a little undernourished.
The 7-series, Panamera and A8 ranges start around £70k, and the S-Class from just under £80k, but a brief glance at our spec tables shows how easy it is to turn any of them into six-figure purchases (or four-figure monthly PCP payments). We’ve tried not to get too distracted by options and gadgets and luxurious adornments, although there’s no denying that part of the appeal of the S-Class in particular is the innovation in its technology, whether that be for pampering the passengers or thrilling the driver.
The presence of the Porsche – in some ways its polar opposite – brings into focus the question of what exactly we mean by luxury car. Is there some sort of golden ratio – perhaps four-fifths cushiness and one-fifth dynamism? It’ll be interesting to discover whether the Porsche’s differences feel like advantages or handicaps.
And the choice of a hybrid BMW means we can’t ignore questions of fuel consumption and emissions. But mostly we’ll be using the classic test of a luxury saloon: how fresh do you feel – how ready to make a million-dollar business deal – at the end of a long, fast journey? Not that every trip in a luxury saloon will be long and fast – some will be pootling a few miles across town – but it needs to be able to take that in its stride.
Mercedes first. The new S-Class aims to eclipse its category-defining predecessor by a substantial margin in all relevant departments while simultaneously destroying the competition. Ambitious? Proudly so. And it commences this mission by rewriting the rulebook on in-car comfort.
True comfort is not just a matter of good seats – it must stem from the car’s willingness to be driven smoothly and rapidly. To this end, the Merc has the most advanced ⊲
Electric successors are starting to arrive, but there’s clearly life left in this traditional part of the market