Mercedes-Benz S500

HELLO

£110,325 OTR/£110,325 as tested/£1,841pcm

WHY IT’S HERE

It’s the world’s default super limo but is it too clever for its own good?

DRIVERS

Jason Barlow

HONESTLY, I WAS A LITTLE UNSURE ABOUT TAKING CUSTODY OF A long wheelbase S500 when the idea was first floated. A gigantic first world problem, I know. This is a big car. It’s very expensive. And most of all, what if I looked like a moonlighting posh private hire driver?

The Onyx black metallic paint and 21in AMG light alloy wheels offset the latter or at least move it into Russian oligarch/Logan Roy-media baron mode. It’s also a car designed to promote the well-being of its occupants. Having just driven from the Stansted area to Norwich, and from there into central London, it’s pretty clear that there aren’t many modes of transport that erase long distances more efficiently.

That’s always been the S-Class’s USP, as well as being the traditional Mercedes mechanism for unleashing new technology. But has it gone too far with this seventh generation, in particular the integration of its new 12.8in OLED touchscreen and user interface? What of its burgeoning Driving Assistance package? Six months with one should find out.

The car TG is running is the – wait for it – S500 4Matic L AMG Line Premium Plus Executive. It’s likely to be the last internally combusting version. The pure-electric EQS is already here and prompts the powerful realisation that Mercedes won’t be working on an eighth generation Sonderklasse, certainly not as we’ve known them since 1972.

Anyway, what we have here is a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line sixcylinder, making 429bhp and 384 torques, boosted by a mild hybrid that uses a 48V electrical system and integrated starter motor to add 22bhp and 184lb ft. This helps keep fuel consumption on the correct side of 30mpg, while its CO2 emissions are just 202g/km. These are strong numbers for a car of this size. Put another way, I feel marginally less guilty driving it. There are mid-sized crossovers that are less efficient...