2021 Mercedes S-Class review: A good luxe charm

Singapore

AT the risk of sounding crass, the new Mercedes S-Class is a bit like sex. You can describe it, you can show pictures of it, but until someone experiences it for themselves they will have no idea what you're talking about.

Sure, it's just a big, ultra-comfy car on one level, but then the S-Class happens to be the flagship model of Mercedes-Benz, so it feels like so much more than two tonnes of metal and glass somehow. It's bigger and more efficient than its predecessor, and has nearly enough digital firepower to tally up the US national debt, but the S-Class has become a car about the incalculable.

For now the S 450L 4Matic is the sole version on sale in Singapore, with a more powerful S 580L on the way along with, for a curveball, a plug-in hybrid S 580e that can apparently travel nearly 100km on electricity.

Getting onto the S-Class ladder is eye-wateringly expensive for now, with the S 450L 4Matic currently commanding a price of you-don't-want-to-know.

At least you get plenty of real estate for the money (though not as much as what the same amount would get you in the actual real estate market), and while the previous S-Class was a sizeable car, this one is more sizeable still. It's longer, wider and taller, which means more room for legs, heads and elbows in the cabin, and any industry captain who likes to travel in the back of cars will find the new S-Class as commodious as a church hall. If you want more pampering, you'll have to buy a Rolls-Royce or Mercedes-Maybach.

Yet, in spite of its size, the new S-Class doesn't actually look like a huge car. If anything, it seems to disguise its size, hiding it under smooth surfaces and understated lines, with slender lamps at each end to aid the illusion. You might think a prestige car should be visually ostentatious, but in the post-modern version of luxury that Mercedes now wants to peddle, the S-Class is large but lissome. Like it or lump it.

There's more contradiction inside. The cabin blends new and old worlds incredibly well, with enormous digital screens that seem to hover above a dashboard of polished wood, while the lot is accented by gorgeous, adjustable ambient lighting.

It all looks spectacular, but what's remarkable is how easy it is to use. With room for the various virtual buttons to spread out, the 12.8-inch OLED screen in the centre makes things easy to find, and the system feels like a leap forward from the confusing controls that still afflict some Mercedes models. The sharpness and smooth rendering of graphics, meanwhile, are something to behold.

There's far too much to cover about what's new, but in terms of how it looks and how slickly it operates, the MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) system makes the S-Class the new infotainment champ in the business.

That's on top of the neat tricks it can pull, such as placing virtual street signs and directions over a camera view of the road ahead, so you always know where you need to go. And the way it integrates with your phone is standard-setting.

But for all the razzle-dazzle in the cabin, the Mercedes is really at its best as a mere motorcar. The engine sounds completely ordinary on paper, being a 3.0-litre straight six with a turbocharger and mild hybrid technology, but again, it's something that has to be experienced. Most times the S 450L wafts along with only the air-con blower for aural accompaniment, because the engine is as discreet as a butler.

Yet, it packs a wallop like a bodyguard. When you put the hammer down, the S 450L is a closet hot rod that picks up speed effortlessly, and for something so big it sure sails around corners with grace, at the same time giving the driver plenty of feedback from the steering.

The mild hybrid system is there to save fuel, but it also rouses the engine from shutdown with uncanny smoothness, so it's possible to actually roll down the street with your foot off the accelerator and be oblivious as to whether the engine is actually running or asleep.

As a car, the S-Class simply comports itself impeccably, whatever you ask of it.

And for this sort of money, it really ought to. But then there's a long list of options, and more than a few of them look like the kind of stuff to make a fine car finer. Massage chairs seem like they would be worth adding, for starters, and perhaps a panoramic glass sunroof would turn the cabin into an even nicer place.

There's a rear axle steering system that can tighten the S 450L's turning radius so much that it becomes as maneuverable as an A-Class, and a (yet-to-be-launched here) active suspension system that would purportedly make the ride even smoother.

Go nuts with the options list, and you could easily add six figures to the price (a fancier sound system with exciters in the seats that let you feel the music costs S$25,900 by itself) so perhaps some restraint is in order here.

But a car like this is usually a bit of a self-reward for having made it, and if nothing else the options are probably there to help you feel as if you've bought yourself the best version of the best car in its class.

And make no mistake, while the new S-Class has a coy and understated appearance, it does have enough gravitas to feel like a cut above its rivals from Audi, BMW, Lexus and elsewhere. If those competitors are going to surpass the new Mercedes flagship, they would almost have to come up with something better than sex.

Mercedes-Benz S 450L 4Matic

Engine 2,999cc, 24V, turbo in-line six Power 367hp at 5,500rpm Torque 500Nm at 1,600rpm Gearbox 9-speed automatic Top Speed 250km/h (limited) 0-100km/h 5.1 seconds Fuel Efficiency 8.5L/100km Price S$523,888 with Certificate of Entitlement Agent Cycle & Carriage Available Now