Mercedes S-Class | The Best and Worst of Cars

[Music] [Music] [Music] so when you decide on your s-class and you want to pay 2 500 a month for a lease you want the ultimate in color selection which they do you have about 10 different versions of silver and gray to choose from and when you get on the interior you get a little bit more excitement you get a brown you get a silver or a gray leather you get a darker red leather and of course this black which is the most understated but let's not talk about that anymore because you're going to do all that stuff on your own what you're going to want to know is what it's like to live on the interior cabin and what they've done here is they have updated this car from the previous generation to make the technology even more extreme which means getting rid of almost all of the traditional physical controls for haptics and touch the center screen is your command center and it is all touch dependent and the right light with enough fingerprints you can't see a god damn thing on it when you're using it you start to nail down and go down into about 150 different submenus of things to to learn how to use this and in fact this is probably the first car i've been in where you could probably use a week-long class and how all of this stuff works the problem with that is really they've made everything so complicated they've left physical controls in some places and then removed it for touch controls and there's just a hodgepodge of things going on here that is very very frustrating to use that is until you kind of drill down into the individual components and that is where this car shines let's start with the best part about the s-class the seats and the technology behind the seats when you go into the infotainment there is a menu just for all of this it's called comfort and when you go into the comfort mode you have a massage section if you opt for this you can adjust you can do side bolsters you can do the upper body you can do heating and cooling you could do air freshener that activates with music and a picture of an ocean you can go just to a traditional massage where it doesn't turn on the seat heaters and all that but the big feature here is when you go into the seat menu is seat kinetics and what is that it's an anti-fatigue setting that you combine you can combine with the massage it will adjust the lower cushion the side cushion it will move your body around to reduce pressure points but it also is active so if the ecu detects steering wheel angle change it will inflate your side bolster to cradle you while the suspension is also tipping the car the other way so you have the minimal amount of fatigue possible these seats come with an adjustable headrest and a cushion if you opt for it and it's just it's the best part about this car when you're in the passenger seat or in the back you're like okay now i understand why i'm paying over a hundred thousand dollars here because it is one of the best seating configurations of any car on the planet now you can you know i can go into so many sub menus here and explain all this and again it would it would make this video about 30 weeks long but there's other things that they try to do here they try to blanket you with luxury and that extends into the burmester audio system where you have individual control of 40 3d you have vibration in the seats which also combines with the massaging function it feels like you're sitting on 10 different cell phones or one of your favorite vibrating toys you can use that as well to augment the audio system that's like that home theater idea where the bass is also turned into a vibration and again it's about surrounding you with all the latest technology the screen or the displays again are another highlight you have an oled in the front it the it just looks amazing the 3d gauge cluster you can turn on and off through the infotainment but unlike what you saw in the genesis implementation it doesn't look like a walmart knockoff the the 3d depth is incredible when you look at it and you have to be perfectly aligned and will tell you that you have to see these six dots on the top of the display for it to work correctly but when you're lined up with it the depth of field how it looks how it interacts with you is amazing along with the ar which is augmented reality they've implemented certain things and how the navigation system works where you can see camera and arrows that know where you are on the road it will show you the arrows and the screen at the same time it combines that with the hud which is a chasm when you look at this this hud projection that's in front of you it looks like you could store your keys in there or you know whatever you have a bag of fast food but overall the technology the mechanical technology is incredible in here it's just the way that they've put it all together and you can tell in design and implementation they're like give me all your ideas tell me everything you want to do and you had all these engineers that like we want to do all this and they're like let's do it and then when they put it all together that's where it started to fall apart because it it just there's just so many different places so many things that are distracting so much interaction required with the center screen to do anything that you're just distracted constantly when you're driving when you want to switch stuff now you could make the argument that they set up these profiles that when you log in as yourself everything is catered to weight the way that you want it you're not going to have to mess with it it's just there's never a time where the technology is kind of like tuned out and it's just you in the car like some of the older s-classes in the past were now obviously if you're just driving it this could be a problem but if you're a passenger again like i said that's the best part the back seat the back passenger side seat will fully recline it will massage you have your own samsung android tablet in the back that controls the entire car essentially ambient lighting vibration sound the shades you can basically do anything in the front as the back passenger and when you recline back there again it is just it transforms this car experience and we're gonna talk a little bit about in the shop how they made not only the comfort on the interior how they combined it with all the mechanical engineering that went into the chassis but we're gonna head into the shop now we're gonna talk about all of that mark we're underneath a mercedes s-class and per usual with this brand we are last to the party we have no engineering support and this is their most complicated flagship product that you spent a gajillion dollars on and it's supposed to be the showcase piece for future technology what the brand can achieve and this is also as you like to call it a certain kind of vehicle for a certain kind of person and who is that person mark i'm not going to get into that because i don't want to offend anybody but this is definitely a one percenter car this is one of those cars that while i appreciate all the work that went into it and all the engineering it's the pinnacle of a beta machine it's a throwaway car that when you look at resale values tanks into oblivion because nobody wants this after three years when the tech is archaic and everything breaks and it costs too much to work on and this is a and we're talking about this in future videos it's a perfect example of when engineering goes too far they just do it because they have the money to do it and they're trying to throw 100 pounds of in a 10-pound bag and while some of it is amazing as you're gonna detail some of it is just there just to show off and that's what this car really is to me is it's it's that car for somebody that has a lot of money doesn't care about anything else other than i just want the best on paper and some of it is the best and some of it is absolute garbage but let's i'll leave it there that's my my diatribe so the highlights of this car if you like vehicles and you like engineering come from the underneath portion mark has already talked in length about the interior segment where i will argue with you at least a little bit that it is not particularly usable and from a depreciation perspective mark this is the kind of car for someone who pays someone else to worry about numbers this is not a car for you or i or anyone who was in the upper or lower middle class this is for john rich but let's talk about this car it is a redesign it is all new for this generation and the s-class is the pinnacle of luxury for mercedes and you talk to any engineer every other luxury car is the walmart version of this when it comes to what they can achieve with their budget this was unlimited money going into this product let's talk about the body first the interior is designed after a yacht it's supposed to feel like a luxury experience 24 7. the exterior is prioritizing aerodynamics and a strong presence aerodynamics for fuel economy but more importantly aerodynamics for the reduction of wind noise inside the cabin so you have active everything in the front the door handles retreat into the into the actual door of the car they have an interesting design in the rear window to reduce nvh or wind noise but more importantly the body structure which is largely aluminum more rigid than the prior generation car but it's also one of the first vehicles to introduce basically sound deadening foam into the body cavities of the vehicle that as the car gets heated up they expand to further reduce nvh and road noise this is one of the quietest cars on the market and they can numerically prove that along with of course their thermally insulated and sound proof glass and all that other fun stuff when it comes to the suspension system in this car it is a multi-link front end this is essentially a double wishbone every component around the wheel is a forged aluminum piece other than the actual wheel bearing itself which is a standard wheel bearing the rear is a multi-link does not have a aluminum rear subframe but again like the front every link is aluminum and forged the big story is the shock control really the body control this car there are five microprocessors and 20 or more than 20 sensors built into the suspension system of this car so each wheel will truly act independently from one another the air shock and air spring has two chambers each and will change the spring rate corner of the corner so ideally if you hit a bump with the front left wheel the damping rate and the spring rate will change for all three other wheels and the front left wheel will then act independently so none of that bump or vibration translates into the cabin it also has a read ahead function much like the prior generation mercedes so it's using the cameras in the front of the car to scan the road to look for dips if it detects a dip it will then pre-load or pre-preset up the suspension to make sure that the wealthy occupant inside has no idea they hit a bump it will read the road ahead as well to get the suspension to lean so the suspension will lean the opposite direction you're turning in so it doesn't disturb the internal drivers or passengers to simulate something like you do on a motorcycle it's an unbelievably complicated system it also is a 4matic system it's an all-wheel drive system but it has brake torque vectoring in the rear where if you turn in and it detects understeer it'll break either the right or left wheel accordingly to move that around you have all the drive modes associated with it as well which will stiffen up the suspension to get a little bit more body control and all that other fun stuff but that's more typical in a car like this the last thing i'm going to talk about is the rear steer module you have two which is optional which is optional and you have two basically modes for the rear sear module you have one that will only turn 4.5 degrees and that's if you have the staggered amg wheel set or if you go for the luxury car set up you get a 10 degree rear steer change and it will change in either the direction the car is turning or not to simulate in either longer or shorter wheelbase but day-to-day in a practical sense reduces the turning radius of this car by two meters which is a lot too it's optional but you should out of anything you should opt for that because this is a long car and it does make a huge difference in how you park it how you move it around it doesn't feel like such a tank when you're using a day-to-day yeah when it comes to safety the last thing to talk about is how the suspension system will actually aid you in an accident one of the things this car will do if it senses a side impact from either left or right will raise either the left or right by eight centimeters to deflect the accident in the lower part of the car versus taking the impact entirely in the door all of this technology mercedes is promising they will start to filter into lower vehicles and that's why this is such a interesting car from that perspective but with that mark i think it's time for us to get onto the road sounds good jack how's that massage treating you mark take me for a spin in a paradise [Music] i'm late to my factory do you have the seat the seat uh kinematics or whatever the hell it is on i do mark you're getting a hot stone massage and how's your little little pillow treat my little neck pillow that's probably got more scabs and skin from all the people that have driven this i this car i'm just going to get this out of the way the highlight of this is being a passenger either front or back and obviously if you're in the back and you have the fully loaded car where you can fully recline it it's a remarkable experience it's the benchmark and ride and isolation even with winter tires you barely hear the winter tread like whirring sound it it's the cars passing you are louder than the tires yes it's it's a remarkably well-tuned suspension you feel the suspension essentially it's a fully active suspension so it's constantly writing itself in lean dive squat it's soft over everything there's very minimal intrusion over any type of bump this is the magic of this car and all the technology when it's new of course yes this is a disposable car and what i mean by that is i would like to meet the person who bought this thing new and kept it for 10 years without a long-term warranty and see what has happened with this car as far as repair bills go because this car is all about here and now technology and it's a huge mood killer for you and i've just accepted it with this well for me i look at cars much differently and i well i appreciate some of the technology that's in here because it really it's some of this is groundbreaking it's the best stuff in the world in any type of street car at the same time it's just it's not well thought out things don't make any logic this car was designed for something like the tesla crowd right someone who's wowed but the tesla works the technology is sorted out they understand what they're doing there this is just like somebody just swallowed all the tech and just vomited and diarrheaed it all over this car and that's what makes it that's what pisses me off the most no we talked about that a lot john yes i think let's talk about kind of the drive train and the engine stuff because we didn't talk about that so you have a couple options for the united states but really the two that come to mind are this the s580 which is the twin turbo 4 liter v8 it's a variation of what you've seen from you know some of the other mercedes products this has the eq charge system which means it doesn't have traditional parasitic losses it has like an integrated electric motor in it to take over for the startup sequence and fill in some of the torque dip which is you know it's very admirable it makes a lot of power it's more than fast enough to zero to 60 in the low fours this is a very heavy vehicle at 4 800 pounds and you never notice the weight if you're doing really autobahn speeds on the highway over 80 miles an hour there's always passing power it returns reasonable-ish fuel economy you're looking at mid-20s with a v8 you have to get this with an inline-six which i wouldn't get i'd get this as a v8 if you're buying this car you are not penny pinching at least in the u.s you might as well go for the full-fledged engine but who really cares all this car is doing is for you to cruise in if you aren't like mark and you don't get frustrated by the technology you're probably going to enjoy being in this it rides really really well it is the best riding car i've been in yeah it's a soft luxury cruiser that's what i said like they've done some of the things that you have to you really have to acknowledge how advanced this car in and how amazing it is being a benchmark luxury product that's what i love about that's what i said if i'm sitting here or i'm sitting in the back i really don't care about this but as somebody if you're driving this every day that's where it starts to inundate you so it's it's kind of a weird car but you feel nothing while you're driving now you feel no emotional connection to this thing at all and you're not supposed to and it's the perfect luxury car in that regard in terms of ride refinement isolation drive train balance it's like the polar opposite to the panamera turbo s they're both cars that set out to achieve the market and rich man who wants to go fast on the highway the panamera feels like a sports car but it rides like a luxury car this this doesn't have any sporty protection it's trying to to eliminate any type of feeling of turning like if you're turning it's trying to counteract the turn yeah it's not for grip or handling purposes just feel it yeah not to disturb my wine glass that i have here and there's a lot of like comedy that you could talk about with this car that we haven't and it's hard for me to get comedic when this this car is so serious if you watch the marketing videos like 23 minutes it's the most seriously nauseating thing you've ever seen yeah it's it's deadly serious and the people who designed this were had no sense of humor at all and i think it could use a little bit of that to to brighten up the fact that you're this does not when when you look at certain parts of it it doesn't feel like i'm in a hundred and forty thousand dollar car it feels like something that like hyundai and kia are trying to copy but you know i'm i'm not going to say anything more than that jack what else do you have to say before we get into the final thoughts it's a very hard car to quantify mark i think you know this is a vehicle that if you are in the market for something like this you're just gonna go out and buy it no one's buying this for an aspirational purchase so it's it's hard for you or i to do a really do any justice to this product or really give it a normal review i think i i don't think that's true man i you know i understand what luxury cars are i understand like the technology it's not that i don't understand anything yes but i think it's a hard thing to to show someone in a video though this level of ridiculousness that comes to a cabin or driving experience it if you had the money 150 000 i guess you know could you forgive the deficiencies in usability daily and would you be okay with the fact that this is an amazing riding car and separate those but do you think anyone's really cross shopping a car like this no one who's looking at an ls which is well not even just an ls you look at the audi products the upper on audi products they do similar things and their technology is while overbearing not nearly as frustrating as this you have the porsche products which are well over 150 000 that give you a better balance of technology ride and handling there are other cars that do this and may not have the ultimate soft ride but to me what do you want do you want like a better balance or do you want something like this where it's too extremes okay i'll give you that i mean i'm with you right there's no way in hell i would buy this over a panameran turbo or something along those lines this car was not designed for me but i'm trying to play devil's advocate and trying to understand who this vehicle is for because clearly mercedes focus group this card to death there is some desire for this technology i've not met a person who's like yeah yeah right clearly they know who their market is okay so i think mark with that it's time for us to head into the final thoughts sounds good jack final thoughts on the s-class i'm going to sum it up this way it's like mercedes was trying to create a futuristic hollywood art house film they were swinging for the fences trying to win an oscar they hired the best talent in the industry the most proficient technical staff the best actors the best visual effects people but they didn't spend enough time hashing out the story making it cohesive and what you're left with when you drive it or you experience this car is elements of being blown away by how talented some of these people are but at the end you feel more or less like it's a disposable car something that is ultimately forgettable and yes i understand this car is for a very small subset of buyers that are only going to lease it but what they should have done and what they can do here is they need to figure out how to use restraint and technology the best tech solutions are those that seamlessly blend into the background that make your life better and what they're trying to do is throw it at you and throw it at you in fact i feel like this is the first car i've been in where what they need is a experience mode selector like they do drive selectors something where you can turn it to zero and just have it kind of smoothly go away and if you want bright lights and being blinded and distracted you just turn that knob up to ten and what this car really is it's always at an eight or a ten and unless you're a passenger like i kept saying throughout this video it just does not work that said there are some amazing world-class things here that i hope they carry into other cars thanks for watching see you next time [Music] you

Channel: savagegeese

Views: 248,032

Keywords: cars, trucks, 2021, 2022, reviews, best sports cars, Mercedes S580, Audi A8, Maybach, Panamera, EV, Porsche 911 Turbo S, 992, GT3, GT3 Touring, GT3RS, GT4RS, fastest car, tesla s model plaid, Wagon, Audi RS6, Mercedes S Class, lotus evora, elise, exige, bring a trailer, LFA, cargurus, carvanna, GT500, ford mustang, chevy corvette c8, bmw, m4, m3, ferrari, Lambo, problems, reliability, technical, engineering, funny, pixel6, android auto, iphone 13, games, exotic cars, mercedes gt, aston martin

Id: Ks5D6NkS-O8

Length: 22min 34sec (1354 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 27 2021