Mercedes-Benz S-Class

Is the all-new, seventh-gen version, here in PHEV guise, the ‘best car in the world’?

MODEL TESTED S580e L AMG LINE PREMIUM PLUS EXECUTIVE

Price £116,330

Power 503bhp

Torque 5531bft

0-60mph 5.2sec

30-70mph in fourth 6.3sec

Fuel economy 34.4mpg

CO2 emissions 17g/km

70-Omph 47.4m

Welcome, then, to the return of the self-styled ‘best car in the world’, this time for the seventh occasion since 1972, when Mercedes-Benz first used the S-Class name. Naturally, like every new S-Class, this is the most advanced car Mercedes has made. Or is it? Because for the first time, the top-billing limousine in the line-up at Stuttgart has some internal competition, in the form of the EQS, which aims to do everything the S-Class can do, only against the backdrop of all-electric power. Does this moment represent a changing of the guard? Perhaps, and that’s a matter worthy of its own dedicated story in these pages.