Mercedes S500
REPORT 4
£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?
DRIVER
Jason Barlow
IT FINALLY HAPPENED. WHILE DROPPING A FAMILY MEMBER OUTSIDE Papworth hospital an elderly gentleman extended a frail hand towards me and said “Ah you must be my taxi driver ”
There’s no question I feel slightly fraudulent driving the S Almost all cars in this sector are bought and run by chauffeur companies or high end private hire outfits If I’m wearing a hoodie jeans and trainers
I get some funny looks when I get out of the Mercedes’ driver’s door
But it’s useful training otherwise a good chauffeur is a very good driver indeed and the S is all about precisely engineered poise Although it’s m long has considerable reserves of power and can seriously hustle if hustling is called for this is a car that prefers to stay in its lane It’s designed to reduce your heart rate rather than intensify it
In fact its AI can tell when the driver is under pressure or behaving erratically prompting the car to recommend whichever of its onboard ‘well being’ programmes is most appropriate Paradoxically this actually makes me more irritated as is the case with any software Spotify social media YouTube that presumes to know what I want or might like
No as unfashionable as this may sound I actually and actively enjoy driving it For some reason its ride quality seems to have improved since it arrived in October its primary ride has always been superb but the low speed brittleness that I detected over the numerous imperfections on our roads has mostly gone It’s still not Rolls Royce Ghost good but then few cars are Subjectively I’d say it rivals the Rolls in terms of rolling refinement and there’s negligible mechanical tyre or wind noise on the move Even with the brilliant Burmester audio at serious volume the S’s sense of calm pervades everything and that tends to percolate into your whole being Kind of a mobile luxury hotel and spa then