Freshened up
Report 5 Mercedes S500 cabriolet £111,215 OTR/£126,520 as tested
Given the sheer crushing ubiquity of its S-Class saloon sibling, Merc’s S coupe and cabriolet are oddly enigmatic cars. But TG’s Lifer is unquestionably one of the best cars I’ve ever run, its 4.7-litre twin-turbo V8 an imperiously, almost contemptuously, fne thing. But it’s now history. The 2018 car (that’s it in the pics) gets the ‘jetwing’ grille, reworked sills, and foating OLED rear lights. The engine is a detuned version of AMG’s 4.0-litre V8, although with 463bhp and 516 torques, ‘detuning’ here is clearly a relative concept.
Merc claims 34mpg and 188 CO s, versus the 32.5 and 204 of TG’s car. A noble improvement, but the old unit has the edge in terms of response and character. Drive our car like your trousers are on fre and you can decimate the fuel consumption, but a more genteel approach yields a genuine 30mpg. You’d hope a car this expensive and highly engineered would do the job it’s supposed to, but even so this is a corker.
What else is new? As with the S-Class saloon and E-Class, Merc’s commitment to autonomous driving is extended to the latest cars, via its distance control and active steering software. The car’s speed is also adjusted automatically ahead of bends or junctions. The widescreen, all-digital cockpit is introduced, there’s a new steering wheel design, new trim lines, and NFC for your smartphone. Merc also ofers Energising Comfort Control to network the climate control, seats, lighting and even music to turn the car into an automotive wellness spa. KM66 RRV has none of this stuf, and with predictable old gitness, I honestly think the new set-up over-complicates things.
That said, the mid-life facelift reverses my view that the non-AMG S coupes and cabs are the pick. The latest S63 harmonises chassis and powertrain to blistering efect, not something AMG automatically accomplishes. Premiership footie folk and London landlords have never had it better.