The Mercedes-Benz S-Class has, since its introduction more than 50 years ago, been the benchmark in the full-size luxury-sedan market. It is not only the best-selling high-end four-door car in the world, but is seen as a global standard bearer in the category.

Yet mighty as the S-Class remains within its segment, it has seen its overall share diminish significantly, in part due to shifting vehicle tastes in China, its largest market, but also due to the continued cannibalizing effect of top-tier S.U.V.s on luxury-car purchases. As recently as 2022, Mercedes-Benz produced 90,000 S-Class examples. Last year, it did not even make 50,000, yet it set a record by building nearly 50,000 rugged G-Class sport utes.

To maintain primacy, the German marque has completed a major refresh of its flagship sedan for 2027. I went to Germany to drive the revised model to see how it shaped up, and to judge whether it can remain at the peak of the vehicular pyramid.

What’s New for 2027

Mercedes claims that more than 50 percent of the S-Class—nearly 2,700 parts—have been revised. I’ve been test-driving S-Classes regularly for nearly 20 years, and the updates this time around are noticeable, inside and out.

These changes cover nearly every component category that one sees, touches, and senses. They include fresh exterior elements, all-new power-train configurations, revised technologies and safety features, and the addition of the kinds of creature comforts you never knew you needed—and often never imagined could—or should—exist.

As diverse as the changes in this model are, the shift is definitively evolutionary. This is intentional. Luxury-car buyers make a significant investment in their vehicles, with the outgoing 2026 S-Class starting at $120,000 and top-end examples nearly reaching $200,000 before options. Owners do not want their purchase to be rendered obsolete by its successor, visually or otherwise. Allow me to act as your trained eye to parse the subtle, yet significant, differences between this revised S and its progenitor.

Design

Like other members of the elite retail fraternity—be it in fashion, horology, or real estate—Mercedes has found that its current customers desire increasingly overt forms of branding. It has abided this in the new S by splashing and/or enhancing the placement of its logo on and around the vehicle.

Most noticeable of these myriad demonstrations is the fact that the upright three-pointed star that has long and proudly stood on the prow of the S’s long hood is, for the first time, illuminated, shining like a prideful beacon, or an ad, for all to see. Illuminated stars, four of them, are also the theme of the new headlamps. These are now made up of lightning-strike-bright micro-LEDs with a cool blue tint. And for the first time in the U.S., the headlamps are also equipped with an adaptive high-beam-assist function, which uses computer-assisted partial masking to prevent them from blinding occupants of oncoming vehicles.

The taillamps are stars as well, though in a sextet formation. Puddle lamps project the Mercedes-Benz name on the ground at your feet whenever you approach, in case you, or any onlookers, failed to notice the other up-lit branding opportunities. Stars litter the interior as well, whether embossed, embroidered, embedded, or pixelated. I dare you to try to tally all of them. I lost count.

The sculpted slab sides of the S-Class remain elegant as ever, stretching for an imposing 10.5 feet between the axles in the extended-wheelbase version, the only one we receive in our bigger-is-better American market. At 17.5 feet overall, the S-Class is lengthy, though an optional 10-degree rear-wheel-steering system diminishes its turning circle significantly, causing it to shrink, miraculously, in tight maneuvers—all the better for the new automatic parking features that can more readily find and take advantage of available spots.

Wherever and however you park, there is no mistaking this massive flagship for any other sedan in the Mercedes family, and there is certainly no mistaking it for the baroque and somewhat monstrous (though delightful to drive) 7-Series from archrival BMW, or the outdated A8 from Audi.

The S’s formidable, if restrained, exterior opens via power-erecting flush door handles to reveal an interior that can be outfitted in ways that range from the subtle to the sumptuous. I was a fan of the lovely woven cloth and vegan leather seating and trim surfaces I experienced on a basic short-wheelbase European model. But there is no reason to hide from animal hides when they’re this buttery. Neither could I resist the allure of the Pinnacle Plus interior package, which includes massaging, temperature-controlled thrones, the right rear one granted the power-operated ability to recline nearly 45 degrees, and featuring an electronically controlled leg- and foot-rest support.

The pillowed headrests, neck support, shoulder pads, armrests, and even the seatbelts here are delightfully heated, warming one in their cocooning embrace. Even the calf-rest vibrates during the massage programs. I frequently fly business class for work, and, but for its inability to lie completely flat, this right rear seat is superior to just about everything I’ve experienced in the front of a plane.

Two remote controls about the size of a first-generation iPhone, mounted in the retractable center armrest (along with wireless phone chargers and 100-watt USB-C ports) reign over all of this, plus the power-window and rear-windshield screens, the large rear-seat infotainment screens, and the four-zone climate control. Speaking of ventilation, don’t forget to breathe deep; a new electric air filter cleanses our world’s increasingly polluted atmosphere, an issue contributed to by the S-Class itself. 

Should you want to invest even more in your S-Class, the brand’s Manufaktur customization office will leather-wrap nearly everything you see inside the car in the color of your choosing. Ditto for the exterior paint. Some of the hundreds of available hues rival even my favorite nail-polish brands for their oddball names and vibrancy.

Gripes? One big one. I’d prefer a slightly more analog experience. There were literally eight screens in this vehicle, including MB’s three-part Superscreen that spans the entire front dash. With its black-gloss plastic surround, it acts as a magnet for gross fingerprint smudges. I’m happy to say that tactile switchgear has returned to the MB steering wheel’s multifunction controls, though, replacing the fussy haptic sliders that preceded them. Also, if you don’t like constantly tapping the myriad LCD displays, you can ask the new onboard AI assistant to control many onboard functions, in natural(ish) speech. (Don’t ask it to tell you a joke, unless you want to groan, and resent it.)  

Power Train and Hardware

All stateside S-Classes are equipped with the marque’s capable 4MATIC all-wheel-drive system and a nine-speed automatic transmission. The gearbox was generally fluid, though sometimes seemed to hold ratios needlessly long in Sport mode. Your big choice pertains to the three available power-plant options.

A 442 hp, 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged straight-six engine, mildly supported by a 48-volt hybrid system, is the only carryover setup here, and motivates the “base” S500. With 443 ft lbs of torque, it’s smooth and provides plenty of grunt to get this 4,861-pound ship going. This engine also appears in a plug-in hybrid form in the S580e, which pairs it with a 22 kWh battery and an electric motor good for an estimated few dozen miles of electric range (the EPA hasn’t set a number yet.) This provides a combined output of 576 hp and 553 ft lbs of torque, but enough added weight—Mercedes hasn’t provided specifics yet—to make it the slowest of the bunch.

Still, most U.S.-based S-Class buyers want a V-8, and Mercedes-Benz has a new one on offer in its S580. Oddly, it’s a so-called “flat plane” version. Because of their ability to produce more power, more efficiently—but with more vibration and a higher top limit for revs—flat-plane V-8s are typically found in performance vehicles like Ferraris. Somehow, Mercedes has reaped the advantages of this new style of 4.0-liter twin-turbo mill, while using engineering magic to supplant its issues. Here, it makes 530 hp and 553 ft lbs of torque. It’s at once smooth and thumpy, and not at all high strung.

Performance

The six-cylinder engine could be a little “howly” under hard acceleration, and the hybrid could be a bit “hunty” as it searched for the proper combination of gas and electric power. But the V-8 just moved me, and the S-Class, in a way that felt natural and just right. S-Classes have hosted V-8s since the inception of the nameplate, and with good reason. Their effortless characters just match.

Putting my foot deep into the S580’s go pedal while on the Autobahn, I easily managed to hit the car’s 155 mph top speed. The heavy vehicle can feel floaty up front at that rate, and there’s a bit more wind and road noise than one might expect in such a fortress of solitude, but I never once felt insecure. The S-Class seems to have every advanced driver-assistance feature known to humanity—all ruled by a suite of 27 sensors, including multiple radar, camera, and ultrasonic variants. In typical S-Class form, the brakes don’t bite hard unless you really get on them, something to remember when traveling at 2.6 miles-per-minute.

In this top performance S580 iteration, zero to 60 mph arrives in a startling but composed 3.9 seconds. Even the “slowest” new S, the S580e, hits that mark in just 4.4 seconds. Given the plug-in hybrid’s added weight, the six-cylinder S500 bests it in 4.3. For those busy executives who are in even more of a rush, higher-powered, stiffer sprung, flatter cornering AMG variants are sure to follow.

Is It Worth It?

Although Mercedes-Benz has yet to release pricing for any of the forthcoming models we drove—the S-Class out-looks, out-performs, out-secures, and out-sybarites every other sedan in its category. You’d have to move up to a Bentley or Rolls-Royce to find superior materials and fit-and-finish. Meaning, the S-Class remains at the top of its category. If you are insightful enough to appreciate that a big sedan will always be more elegant than any high-riding, truck-like S.U.V., this new S-Class is the class-leading choice.

Specifications

Click here for more photos of the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S-Class.