Different Class

If you’re looking for automotive luxury, the Mercedes-Benz S580e is in another league, writes

When Mercedes-Benz launched the EQS, the full-electric equivalent of the S-Class, the major selling point was range. At 745km on a single charge, it is the best in any production car. Even allowing for the fact that WLTP figures should be filed under Fiction in the library if your driving involves even a short stretch of motorway, that’s hugely impressive. You certainly would get from Dublin to Cork and back without ever having to locate a working public charger.

So why then has Merc brought out a car to compete with the EQS – and, indeed, a car that on almost every metric you care to compare is actually better? That’s a question only the top bods in Stuttgart can answer, but if you’re going to have competition, you might as well compete with yourself.

Make no mistake, though, the petrolelectric plug-in hybrid S-Class S580e Hybrid LWB is miraculous, the apogee of the limousine class for comfort and luxury. For starters, it looks better than the EQS because it has a proper grille and not a shiny Toytown one. The infotainment screen is discreet, unlike the Hyperscreen option on the EQS that stretches the full width of the fascia and feels like a Cinerama screen supplanted into your living room.

Yes, the S580e is a little slower off the blocks than the EQS, but it still hurtles from a standing start to 100kph in 5.2 seconds, which is pretty astonishing for a chunk of metal weighing over two tonnes. As a drive, it is not exactly engaging, but why would it be? This is not a sports car but the automotive equivalent of a butler there to cater to your every whim, ensuring the cushions are plumped up and Sir’s favourite radio station is tuned in.

The interior space is vast in this long wheelbase version, especially in the rear seats, which is where you would spend most of your time in the ideal world, while someone else took the wheel. You could use your time on the macchiato beige and grey leather seats to gaze upward thorough the panoramic sunroof, or just admire the high-gloss burr walnut trim throughout.

Maybe you also could contemplate just how much all this has cost. At €150,500, the S580e is not exactly cheap, and extras including the sunroof and the walnut bring the total to over €159k. Even allowing for the high cost of electricity nowadays, the running costs are low, with electric-only range of 102km, and the possibility of topping up the battery from 0-100% in just 20 minutes at a fast public charger. You’d barely have time to queue for a coffee.

I could bore you by telling you about all the features on the car, but what’s the point? Whatever you can think of, it’s there, because the S-Class has always defined the luxury segment and everyone else just plays catch-up. There’s something called Magic Vision Control and I don’t even know what that is, because I don’t need to. Instead, all I want to do is put a bit of Frank Sinatra on the Burmester 3D sound system and sit back and relax.

This is the sort of car you actually want to leave your house to just sit in, because it’s actually more comfortable. Look, it costs a ridiculous amount of money, but if you had the asking price it would be the best money you ever spent. There’s very little range anxiety in the EQS, and there’s none at all here. Freed from that tyranny, your time in the S580e is entirely your own, in what surely is the most luxurious car out there right now, a miracle on wheels.