Mercedes-Benz S-Class : First Drive 2014

For generations, Mercedes-Benz' S-Class has been the wheels of choice for not only heads of state but also for everyone who knows their cars and has the money to spend on luxury. But with the competition closing in, is the new 'S' still the best car in the world?

It’s one thing to read through a brochure and go gaga over the endless list of features that the ‘best car in the world’ brings with it and it’s a completely different thing to actually lounge around in the superiorly comfortable rear seat that not only reclines you to a near sleep-inducing posture but also pampers you with a hot stone effect massage while you’re being chauffeur driven around the Canadian countryside. These are times when, as a motoring journalist, you simply sit back, relax and wonder what you’ve done right in your lifetime to have landed up with this job and then this particular assignment that many around the world would willingly give an arm and a leg to be chosen for. 
But things aren’t always that easy – especially after a flight from Pune across to the opposite end of the planet to land in Toronto twenty hours later, exhausted to say the least. Of course, this isn’t just any other car we had journeyed to drive – this is a phenomenon. It’s an event that occurs once every decade (roughly speaking) and when it does, the best of the best sit up and take notice. This is the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class and the question on everyone’s minds post the rather glamorous unveil of the car last month was ‘is this still the best car in the world?’

It’s a difficult thing to accomplish really – to stay ahead of competition that is rapidly catching up and come up with new technology and innovations that will keep the S-Class the choice of all those VVIPs that really matter. It’s not just that class of royalty that the S-Class appeals to though – entrepreneurs, bigwigs and everyone who can afford to spend ridiculous amounts of money on an automobile, aspire to bring it to their garage. The question egging me though, was whether it was really possible to make the W221 bette
The previous generation of the S-Class had it all – it looked elegantly mean, had more gadgets and gizmos in it than a space shuttle and used exotic materials in its construction, both on the outside and within its cabin’s confines. But then again, phone cameras are now 41 Megapixels, 128GB of data fits in the size of my thumb and robots can actually make your morning cuppa for you. Technology hasn’t stagnated, and there’s no reason why the S-Class should either.