Mercedes S-Class – a high-tech luxury cruiser

The Mercedes S-Class is a transcontinental express that can park itself when the journey’s over. Alice Feilden reports

Mercedes S-Class

Rolls-Royce and Bentley are generally considered the best mass-produced cars you can buy if you’re looking for luxury and refinement. But “my money’s on the Merc”, says Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph. Mercedes’s flagship S-Class saloon remains “the best car in the world”, now in its seventh incarnation. The classic design is “simply gorgeous” – it “doesn’t shout, but massages your eyes” – and the ride is “sublime”. It drives smoothly and is happy cruising round the major capitals “like a big shark”, but equally capable being driven “like a hot hatchback” should the mood take you. It is nothing less than a work of art with “a fit and finish to make other luxury cars look a bit shoddy”.

“Plenty of delights await inside,” says What Car magazine. The interior is supremely comfortable, with massage options in the seats for driver and passengers. There is real wood, high-quality metal detailing, bespoke switch gear and swathes of double-stitched leather throughout, giving a “sense of sheer indulgence”, and a panoramic infotainment dashboard display keeps the car feeling “modern”. There is some clever technology too, including an “astonishingly effective” Magic Body Control system that “reads bumps in the road” and adjusts the suspension accordingly, and driver-assistance technology that uses sat-nav data to slow the car down and steer smoothly through bends. The car can even locate a parking space and park itself.

With a “discreet” engine and operating style, the S-class trades “outright pace for the ability to move away from a standstill with beautiful smoothness and to change gears imperceptibly even at wide throttle openings”, says Autocar. Everything the car does is engineered to happen “quietly and with the minimum of intrusiveness”. Even at higher speeds, the S-Class “spears along with a wonderfully nonchalant manner that will make it hard to beat as a trans-continental express”.

The attention to detail verges on the “crazy”, says Top Gear, with “the sort of restrained elegance in the flesh that you know its creators will have poured over forensically”. No stone remains unturned in Mercedes’s search for perfection. In all, high technology and “sumptuous luxury” merge in the S-Class to “deliver a car that lights the way forward”.

Price: from £78,705. Engine: 2,999cc, six-cylinder with 48-volt hybrid system. Top speed: 155 mph (electronically limited). 0-62mph: 4.9 seconds. Power: 429bhp at 6,100rpm. 

Recommended

April price hikes - these are the bills going up in April
Personal finance

April price hikes - these are the bills going up in April

Households will be hit with a series of bill increases from April - here’s what they are and how you can save money.
31 Mar 2023
Where will house prices go in 2023?
House prices

Where will house prices go in 2023?

We explore what could happen to house prices in 2023 as the market continues to slow down.
31 Mar 2023
Investors flock to NS&I savings after SVB scare
Savings

Investors flock to NS&I savings after SVB scare

Investors are increasingly pumping their cash into the safety-net of NS&I - lured by increased rates and the security of a government-backed savings a…
31 Mar 2023
Nationwide: UK house prices decline at the fastest pace since 2009
House prices

Nationwide: UK house prices decline at the fastest pace since 2009

UK house prices fell for the seventh month in a row in March, Nationwide’s house price index showed.
31 Mar 2023

Most Popular

Will energy prices go down in 2023?
Personal finance

Will energy prices go down in 2023?

Ofgem’s price cap is now predicted to fall to around £2,000, based on average typical use, for the first time since 2022. We have all the details.
31 Mar 2023
Best areas for buy-to-let in the UK
Buy to let

Best areas for buy-to-let in the UK

If you’re thinking of getting a buy-to-let property you’ll want to know the areas in the country with the highest rental yields
29 Mar 2023
The best one-year fixed savings accounts - March 2023
Savings

The best one-year fixed savings accounts - March 2023

Earn over 4% on one-year fixed savings accounts.
30 Mar 2023