Category: Large Executive 
Price Range: £57,490 to £148,290
Remarkable refinement, especially lack of road noise. Agile for its size, rapid, fun to drive, laden with understandable and useful technology.
Looks brash and may date quickly.
With beauty on its side it would be a five-star car.
This should be a five-star rating but we're just holding back because the Mercedes reputation for dependability has taken a bit of a knock recently, not helped by a sometimes-indifferent dealer chain. But S-class buyers are the most likely of all to be treated well by their dealers, and there's no doubt that superficially the new S-class oozes quality and sophistication from every crevice. The doors and boot shut with a gentle ker-chunk, helped by electric servomotors if you hadn't pushed hard enough, and the leather trim is soft and sumptuous. Thin bright-metal inlays augment the glossy wood trim, everything feels smooth and solid and fits as it should. This is one quality object; let's just hope all that sophisticated technology proves robust.
