Multi-beam LEDs are standard, with Digital Light available as an option this set-up uses three hugely powerful LEDs whose light is refracted and directed by 1.3m micro mirrors, equivalent to 2.6 million pixels of light overall. The grille, as usual, has grown, the body-sides and flanks are simpler but still magnificently surfaced, the head- and tail-lights simpler to look at it but now containing the most phenomenally complex illumination technology. Elbow room for the driver has increased by 38mm, there’s 23mm for rear passengers, who also get 16mm more headroom. The longer wheelbase itself now measures 3,216mm. In the UK, 80 per cent of S-Classes sold are the long wheelbase version the new car has grown by 34mm in length to almost 5.3m, and it’s 1.92m wide. There’s also a 2.9-litre, 282bhp turbodiesel good for 442 torques and wearing a fallacious 350d badge (airport taxi), an S400d 4Matic with 325bhp and 516 torques, while a new mild hybrid 4.0-litre V8 petrol is coming down the pipe. The one to have right now though (and probably the pick of the range in perpetuity) is the 580e plug-in hybrid version – that adds a 28.6kWh battery to the 3.0-litre straight six to deliver a claimed range on electric power of 62 miles. The S500 is a turbocharged 3.0-litre in-line six, making 429bhp and 384 torques, whose efficiency and performance is boosted by a mild hybrid which adds 22bhp and 184 torques. It’s another of those 21st century German cars whose nomenclature bears no resemblance to what’s under the bonnet. For all its tech firepower, the new S-Class still relies on internal combustion for its motive power. (Chinese customers, who accounted for a third of the 500,000 current S-Classes sold, apparently like to drive their own cars at the weekend soon they’ll be able to sit behind the wheel and not drive). That means hands-off driving and the freedom to check your emails. Although you could argue that this, the ultimate in chauffeur-driven cars, has been autonomous for years, and any email checking will likely be done by whomever is in the back.
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February 2023
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