Is Maybach still tops for luxury?
It was a little embarrassing, driving around Auckland for a week in a chrome-plated Maybach behemoth. In the absence of tinted windows up front, I’d try to keep my eyes forward and away from any leering stares. The thing may as well have had ‘what cost of living crisis?’ spray-painted up its sides.
There was a single moment that almost made the whole thing worth it. Turning in to one CBD side-street during a busy afternoon, a group of what appeared to be uni students glanced over. One of them, presumably a fellow four-wheeled tragic, immediately made eye contact with me and made a bounce gesture with their arm. In a moment of calm equilibrium, I knew what to do.
Living at the apex of the $370,099 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600’s endless list of luxury features is a far-fetched function that perhaps best represents the kind of insanity lurking within.
Accessed via the 600’s off-roading settings, it’s called ‘Free Driving’ mode. The idea is that if you’re beached, the advanced air suspension can repeatedly bounce the car up and down to help with traction and save the day. What most owners seem to use the feature for instead is to show off their rides in the most absurd way possible – causing the 2.8-tonne Merc to madly gyrate up and down while I rolled down the street.
So much for wanting to be inconspicuous.
By a tiny margin, the Maybach is the most expensive Mercedes on sale now. It’s based on the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63, meaning it’s fitted with the brand’s signature twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 with a mild hybrid attachment, in this case producing a slightly softened 410kW/730Nm. Paired to a 9-speed auto and all-wheel drive, it’s capable of reaching 100kph in 4.9 seconds; quick for something with this kind of heft.
The Maybach plays in the same pricedup pool as the half-million-dollar-beforeoptions Rolls-Royce Cullinan, the recently updated Range Rover and the Bentley Bentayga. Whilst the Rolls is considerably dearer, the Rangie and Bentley have V8-powered variants priced almost identically to the 600.
Our press vehicle came fitted with ‘first class’ electric reclining back seats, a fridge, and champagne flute holder – a combined $14,500 option, or roughly an entire 2015 Suzuki S-Cross of extra cost. And that’s just the start when it comes to features.
From the moment you open the door, the electronic retracting side steps tell you this isn’t your standard GLS. There’s very neatly trimmed Nappa leather on almost every interior surface. Most of the rest of the interior surfacing is occupied by 28 different speakers for the incredible Burmester sound system. There’s heated and cooled cupholders front and back. Each seat can massage, heat or cool you. And there’s even a Maybach fragrance lurking in the glovebox compartment.
Of course, things step up even further in the rear – an inevitability given that most Maybach owners are more likely to be posted back there. There are three screens; a 11.6-inch screen for each passenger, and a tablet in the centre that can be used to control the screens (although they also react to touch).
Customers get a pair of M-branded wireless headphones with the car, so those in the back can watch their favourite episodes of Big Bang Theory without disturbing the driver.
This more opulent optional four-up arrangement features a bulked-up centre console, adding a heated armrest, wireless device charging and a pair of fold-out tables for a bit of laptop action on the run.’
The left-rear seat is the place to be in the 600. Although both back pews offer recline and footrest functions, the one not positioned behind the driver allows for full recline – moving the seat in front forward to help accommodate an almost fully horizontal position.
There’s much more legroom back there than in the Range Rover, with luxury and features approaching par with the aforementioned Rolls-Royce and Bentley. The seats in both rows are among the most comfortable I’ve ever sat in.
Beyond all the Maybach tinsel (which includes countless logos), a large portion of this cabin is just what you get in the GLS. So, it doesn’t look quite as up to date as what you get in the S-Class or EQS.
And being based on an older model also means it misses out on wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. In a car where so much attention to detail is applied everywhere else, the lack of wireless phone projection only stands out more.
What a rolling luxury fortress like the GLS 600 is like to drive always feels like an afterthought topic, but nevertheless it’s a model that delivers. Its air suspension, when not slotted into bombastic bounce mode, is plush and smooth – quite the feat for something rolling on 23-inch wheels.
This feat is as much about software and a system called Magic Body Control, as it is about hardware. The system uses a front-facing camera that can see and prepare the suspension system for bumps in the road before you get to them.
It might not be a V12, but the bi-turbo V8 is an effective surrogate. Combined with the intuitive 9-speed, it’s ultra quiet and smooth in commuting conditions. It’s even surprisingly decent on fuel. Rated for 12.5L/100km, we saw 14.0L/100km – more than adequate for a big V8 4x4.
Being an eight-pack instead of a V6 or turbocharged 4-cylinder, it means you don’t always need to row through gears if you want a little more power. Of course, that facility is available to you, too – and the Maybach is pretty quick off the mark and with overtakes if you want it to be.
You even get a little bit of V8 exhaust note at the top of the rev range, although it is muffled. That’s more feature than fault, really. When you’re in the back with your headphones on, cooled champagne in hand, what the thing sounds like can’t be much of a concern.