Reporter for TheChauffeur.com, Dr Ian Kuah travels to Toronto to get behind the wheel of the most wanted executive limo in recent times…
Mercedes anticipated our eagerness to get into the most eagerly awaited luxury limousine in a decade, and when we arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto we were offered a VIP chauffeur ride in the back seat.
While some of the test cars had the optional AMG package with attractive 20-inch alloys, I chose an S500L with the 19-inch wheels for a more typical snapshot of the ride quality.
The bog standard S500/L has 18-inch wheels, but for aesthetic reasons all the test cars had 19s or 20s. I drove an S350 on 18-inch wheels and this did actually ride a touch better.
The new interior design language, interpreted with high quality leather on all surfaces, perfectly blends the traditional with the future, leapfrogging the evolutionary ‘safe’ cabins of rivals from Audi and BMW, as well as the new Bentley Flying Spur.
For maximum versatility, the new S-Class offers five rear seat options, and I picked a car fitted with the Executive rear seat. This features a backrest angle adjustable by up to 43.5 degrees, allowing its occupant to find a comfortable position for working on the fold out table, or to recline and stretch out Maybach 62 style.
The only downside to this cabin versatility is the loss of boot space, down from 560 litres to 530 litres, as the adjustable rear seat options required the rear bulkhead to be moved aft slightly. If you are contemplating the Hybrid version, the bad news is the loss of 90 litres of boot space to the Lithium Ion battery pack.
Toronto’s urban roads have suffered from a long, hard winter, and so provided a good test for the redefined Airmatic suspension with Magic Body Control, the latter an option on V8 models only.
I asked my chauffeur to set off in Comfort mode and closed my eyes to maximise my seat of the pants feel for the road surface. The secondary ride is really impressive, building on the strengths of the W221 model, but with even better isolation.
Sport mode, which sharpens up the engine and gearbox response as well as the suspension, was the big surprise. While a VIP chauffeur would not normally choose this mode unless his boss was in a hurry, the better damper control removes the small but just perceptible vestige of body movement you experience over certain types of low speed bumps in Comfort mode.
The twin-turbo V8 wafts you along on a wave of torque and feels the perfect match for the silken ride. As you pick up speed, the supreme body control reinforces the feeling of unimpeachable stability while hardly diluting the cars ability to absorb road undulations. This is a personal opinion, and no doubt some will favour the Comfort setting.
On the road, the S500L belies its size and weight with a feeling of agility and a turn of speed that will please the enthusiast driver. The steering is light but perfectly geared to the chassis turn-in rate, and delivers enough feel for you to accurately place the car in bends. The counterpoint is a cosseting sense of serenity that makes this a car for crossing continents in supreme comfort.
With a raft of optional hardware there for the asking, the new S-Class is a technological tour de force on wheels. It is a master class in how to move the game into the 21st Century, delivering that all-important surprise and delight factor, along with a real sense of occasion.
Even without the bells and whistles, it is clear that the basic S-Class has raised the bar yet again. But perhaps the biggest worry for potential rivals is the fact that Mercedes has planned for this new S-Class range to span more than one class.
