Tested In Length: 2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class (S 500 L)
For everything in the universe, there's a plus and there's a negative, the good and the bad, light and darkness, pizza and pizza with pineapple, and so on. Long it seemed that the Audi A8 and BMW 7 Series only existed to be the negative counterpart of the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. But with every lifecycle of the S-Class ending, and a new one beginning, the balance reshapes. With every newborn, the Daimler company tries to distance itself further from the competition and tried so yet again with the 2021 S-Class. It wasn't a question if the balance would flip, it is a question of how much of an advantage Mercedes-Benz maintained to keep with their all-new flagship?
How does one review one of the greatest cars around? In length! Length is in demand in fact, as over 90% of all S-Classes sold of the previous generation were a 'long' version. Our S 500 L test car was no exception to that rule. Nor was the collection of numbers, as Mercedes-Benz states this '500' is the most purchased drivetrain on offer. No longer does this high number mean you get a powerful V8 upfront, it is now a 6 inline drivetrain we know from cars like the Mercedes-AMG E53 (review here) or CLS 450 (review here). It offers more grunt than the previous generation of S 500, but with it being lighter it allows for extra weight to put in elsewhere. And there's plenty to stuff into this car, it is the longest option list we ever saw during our 6 years of testing cars. It's the longest press release in ages from Daimler. So with that much on the subject on length, you'll undoubtedly understand that this isn't a small article about a big car. No, it's a big article broken down into three parts: the tech, more tech, and even more tech. Joking aside, we'll run you through how these new technological innovations work in the real world, how the new S-Class drives, and of course the overall verdict.
Tech-fest
So what does all that length do? Three things really: give off one hell of an imposing look, second thing is that it creates a comfortable ride, and most importantly is that it creates vast interior dimensions. Where the first and third benefits speak for themselves, the second needs a tiny bit of clarifying. Imperfections in the roads get mitigated by the suspension and in a smaller factor the length of the wheelbase. Lengthen the wheelbase and the factor by which the car is affected by imperfections drops. Mercedes-Benz has stretched the length of the S-Class's wheelbase ever since the dominance started in 1973. Nowadays measuring a massive 3.2 meters for this generation, you can park a Smart ForTwo in between it.
Cars meant to offer extreme comfort are always ones with long wheelbases. Yes, I said "extreme comfort" and am very conscious of doing so. Words of that caliber are often to used to describe modern-day performance cars but the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class earns the right to use them when it comes to the comfort it manages to display.
Comfort in this car comes in many flavors and the menu on offer is lengthy. A quiet cabin was a goal from the start of the development, a vast array of hardware tricks are used to give you the quietest drive on offer in its price class. During assembly thick layers of noise- and vibration-reducing foam are showed into openings in the shell, after which these expand to fill the open spaces even further the car is 'cooked' during the painting process. There's special aerodynamics (aeroacoustics), rubbers sealing in every aperture into the cabin, and the list goes on. I often found myself not turning on the radio so I could unwind in the stillness while I gazed at the other motorist through the double glazed, UV-blocking, infra-red-blocking windows. It almost felt like the outside world was an aquarium I was staring at like it was an alternate reality. More things in the S-Class can do that, the rear-wheel steering option does that too, but I'll get to that later on.
Passengers are spoiled even further than the driver and front passenger. That is if correctly opted for, as a normal seating row is standard. Opted as the S 500 L I drove had the 'First Class' option that turns the back seating row into two separate lounge seats. Ones embraced by wood that's lined with a subtle LED strip. Again there are massage seats and the obligatory screens to select massages and watch movies on. If they're lazy enough they'll just use the Android-based tablet in the center tunnel to control these functions though. Trying to reach that screen on the front seat when you're getting massaged, impossible to do so. Joking aside, the finishing level is of a quality that cokes awfully close to what I saw in the Bentley Bentayga. A car nearly 3 times the price.
Tech = luxury²
Mercedes-Benz also tries to offer comfort via the use of technology that can help the driver, massage the driver, listen to the driver, keep the driver safe, and drive and park for the driver. For the most this works, as I’ll tell you about later, but it also leads to frustrations. There's so much happening and personalization possible that you get lost in it. Like you're wasting effort made by the people from Stuttgart. But if you're into endless variety, endless tweaking, this flagship won't disappoint. What's on offer is so much that I could literally bore you with telling you about all of it. So I'm sticking to the highlights, which are still plentiful.
And no, we didn't test the safety options and I'm hoping I'll never have to. If you want to read up on what the S-Class can do, you can find the article here.
HUDs are amazing driving aids and the new S-Class steps the game up even further. A massive width and clarity are now perfectly positioned in front of you. Highly customizable, I preferred switching between two settings: augmented reality for navigation in cities I'm unfamiliar with, and everyday driving meant a minimalistic display with speed and speed limit. Toning down the technical festivities continued on the dashboard, I turned off the 3D effect after about 2 seconds and never turned it on again. But the majority of options integrated into this flagship works like a bliss.
Nick explains the rear-wheel steering as follows:
“One of the options one cannot skip from the option list is the steering rear axle, available in two flavors with a maximum range of 4.5 degrees or 10 degrees. The S-Class on test was equipped with 10-degree rear-axle steering. This effectively shortens the wheelbase in tight corners, while stabilizing the car at higher speeds. What this means in the real world is that the turning circle is decreased to a mere 10.9 meters, compared to 12.8 meters for the car without rear-axle steering. To put this into perspective, the A-Class’s turning circle is 11 meters, more than this 5.2-meter land-yacht. This S-Class maneuvers so tight, that for a brief moment you can look into the future.”
Stars shines ever so bright
Mercedes-Benz offers a star on the hood of the new S-Class and damn does it look good. The whole car oozes presence inside and out. Although pictures don't really show how big it is, in the flesh people stare at it as they've never seen a car. Those chrome wheels fit it like a crown, the sleek retracting door handles like ornaments. It looks like money and it is a hefty €168k (BE) in this trim. Although that's mostly from an option you don't see on the outside. The optional anthracite blue won’t set you back as it comes at no cost. I loved how light played on it during various daytime hours, I can’t imagine the other colors from the palette doing a better job. When night fell for the first time I spend a good hour taking in the light design. Massive amounts of light-emitting diodes are on this car, again inside and out. At the rear, the light units seem to be a crown light of a ballroom, inside the LED strip detail the shapes of the seats and even play functional roles for the occupants. None of the details I'm telling you about here are shaped with hard lines, it's all smooth curves throughout. In fact, the whole car feels that way: never too abrupt. Always just right.
Driving comes in standard flavors yet again but most exciting is the automated driving assistance the 2021 S-Class offers. I’ve been lucky enough to experience this system for a decent amount of years now and thus I've seen it evolve step by step. Mercedes-Benz has made it act more organic over the past decade and that's an astonishing feat. It operates with a smoothness that's necessary for you if you want to use it. It isn't scared into overreacting, it doesn't abruptly break, nor does it make a nervous amount of steering corrections, it simply works as you would. It does so up to 200 KPH, but haven't spent many hours testing it at those speeds to make a valid verdict.
The 2021 S 500 L doesn't have a V8 anymore, but its 6 inline does have more power than the previous S 500 did. Power maxes out at 435 horsepower and 520 Nm of torque. It is quicker too at 4.9 to a hundred, but that all didn't really matter to me. It went like the proverbial wind if I wanted it to, but pushing this car hard almost feels like your making a lady swear. Like you're eroding away the elegance. Don't get me wrong, the car is more than capable on the dynamic turf. It's more engaging to drive than the majority of fast crossovers. Steering is highly precise and commutative, even to the point that it feels downright bipolar being able to offer comfort and dynamic properties. The same goes for the suspension which goes from carpet-ride to 'flat through corners' at the flick of a switch.
S for solace
Summarising my experiences with the new S-Class, I can only fall in line with what the rest of the media wrote about this car: it is one of the best, if not the best car out there right now. In terms of build quality it's immaculate, in terms of comfort it offers more than I can put to words, in terms of technology it is the king in its class by far, and it houses many refined driving properties and does so in a way that they are accessible and usable in everyday life. It is clear once again why the S-Class is king of the hill and has been for so long.
