isn't a brand afraid to put on a show for any old reason at all – like, just because it's Tuesday – but the premiere of the
,
even by the standards we're used to, was Broadway-theater intense. Held
at a purpose-built venue inside a hanger at the Airbus factory in
Hamburg, the hours-long extravaganza was hosted by two German
newscasters and guest-starred Alicia Keyes, an A380, fireworks, every
model in the lineup in a choreographed driving routine while
in the rain, and at the very end, burlesque. That's how much the S-Class means to this brand.
What's it going to mean to the razor's edge of the mass-market large
luxury sedan market? The exterior, that's ripe for debate. But the
interior – well, it just hung a sign on the segment that read, "
Truth be told, we were concerned about meeting the latest conveyance of
kings. We couldn't get a handle on its proportions in the photos – the
homogenized face gave us pause, and the sloping rear end had us
genuinely concerned that this was about to get ugly.
Turns out the car is fine. Some other introductions of late have had us
worried that Mercedes is designing cars like it knows people will buy
them no matter what, even if they're unattractive (
SL
anyone?). And they're right - the new SL will not have a problem
finding new owners to please, and it is a terrific car for its class,
but to our eyes the current convertible is an aesthetic step sideways
and down compared to the last one. And those headlight eyebrows that are
going on everything, well, let's just not get into that.
Likewise, the new S-Class should not have any trouble with sales. Even
with the larger grille, it's not as assertive as the current car, a fair
bit of which has to do with its rounder, silkier lines penned to chase
the 0.22 coefficient of drag. Its angles go in a lot of different
directions, and we still haven't settled on the design - seen from one
angle at some given hour, it was like the current car was left in the
sun too long, from another angle and at another hour, it was sleek and
stately. The wheels have a lot to do with that as well - the personality
of this particular design seems much more affected by a swap than the
outgoing car.
But everyone will have something familiar to hold onto, because in
overall shape and footprint, the 2014 S-Class is like the ghost of the
current car slid into a new body. A Mecedes rep told us the 2014 had a
new chassis and subframe, but we'd like to get more specifics on that.
The 2014 has the exact wheelbase and length as the soon-to-be-retired
sedan, and is only an inch wider and 0.7 inches taller. Inside, you can
trace the same architectural lines along the instrument panel and the
elsewhere around the cabin. It is as if they didn't make a car from
scratch, but used the skeleton of the current car and designed a
brand-new body and internal organs to hang on it.
Again, it's fine outside. Stand in front of the car and, yup, that
larger grille is laaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrge. It will not be confused for an
E-Class at
anything less than a half a mile. From the side, even though the
S-Class is the same length and slightly taller, it looks trimmer,
probably because it isn't so bold about its rising wedge shape as the
current car, so the difference between the front end and rear isn't as
accentuated. As for that run from the C-pillar down to the rear lights,
well, those look like lines lifted from the departed
Maybach 57S. We didn't care for the exterior of the
Maybach, it looks alright here.
Another Mercedes rep told us that the priorities on this car were what
lived underneath the sheetmetal, and it is there that the S-Class throws
down a new marker for luxury interiors. Not necessarily in how it's
laid out, but in how it is finished and how it feels. This is like a
concept car, the kind that you know would never see production except
that this one is seeing production. It might not come across in our
photos because this is so much about the finish and the total sensation
from sitting in the car, but it really does feel like something on an
auto show floor that you'll never see on the road. The diamond
stitching, the cross-stitching, those 12.3-inch screens, the sectioned
seats that look more like pillow chairs, the COMAND area that looks like
it could be an extra in
Star Trek: Into Darkness - this is the
new ruler of the game. The only odd note we found was the cupholder
area ahead of the COMAND center, the veneered cover sliding back to
reveal a pit of black plastic that now looks terribly out of place.
Yes, the two-spoke steering wheel is an intriguing choice, and no matter
how much we concentrate we can't stop thinking about Seventies
Chevrolets when we see it. With Mercedes being so focused on the Asian
market and chauffeured buyers, though, the wheel makes sense; it's a
tiller for a special occasion car, a coach meant to be driven by someone
who isn't doing so all that quickly. We won't be surprised if the
AMG version has something much sportier wheel with three spokes.
And no, the cabin is not top-tier
Bentley or a
Rolls-Royce, nor is it meant to be, nor will it cost nearly as much as a
Mulsanne or a
Phantom.
The new S is sleek and high-tech and modern and comfortable, not that
particularly English lair of leather and plush. Come down a bit though,
and while this author hasn't yet sat inside the new
Flying Spur, the S-Class interior makes the
Ghost
feel like it's from another time - as if you chose the Rolls-Royce
specifically because you want the ambiance of a private English club
from the Eighties.
A final note: those rear seats. We'll get five options in rear seat
configuration, and the First Class package with the reclining right-side
throne is all that. The seatback reclines 43.7 degrees, and does do
independently of the bolster – a calf rest emerges from beneath the
bolster, a heel rest emerges from under the front seat that rises and
folds in on itself to make room. The recline is possible because the
rear shelf is scalloped just like that of a seat in an airliner's First
Class cabin, leaving plenty of room for the power player to lean back
for a power nap during a lull.
When we spend more time with the S-Class on its launch, we'll find out
if the impressions of a few hours can be sustained over a few days. The S
is the newest car in the segment now and we don't know how long it will
remain at the top, but we'll stand by our assessment: say what you want
about the outside, the inside is The Show.
