The lavish Mercedes-Benz S-Class executive saloon has been given a mid-life facelift, including the introduction of the brand’s ‘Hyperscreen’ infotainment tech and a new petrol V8 engine option.
The luxurious flagship model of the ICE-powered Mercedes-Benz range, the S-Class in its current seventh-generation iteration was been on sale for six years now. While this a model update rather than a brand new model, it is a pretty significant facelift, Mercedes reporting that half of the car’s components are either new or revised – that’s around 2,700 modifications in total.
At first glance, the most notable change is the enlarged front grille, now finished with dozens of small illuminated chrome three-pointed stars. The hood ornament is now backlit too, for an additional fee. The new headlights with micro-LED technology also use the Mercedes logo as a light signature, and there are the brand’s logo appears again in the new chrome-framed tail-lights.
Inside, where the old touchscreen infotainment tech has been replaced by Mercedes’ ‘Superscreen’ infotainment package, which consists of a 14-inch central touchscreen and a 12-inch passenger media display on one continuous display, as well as a 12-inch digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel.
The infotainment runs the latest version of Mercedes’ ‘MBUX’ system, which features an AI-powered ChatGPT virtual assistant and navigation software built from Google Maps. Mercedes adds that this infotainment tech is its most responsive yet, and that the system is compatible with future over-the-air updates.
The centre console has gained two wireless charging pads for smartphones, while physical rocker switches have been added to the steering wheel following customer feedback about the previous touch-sensitive panels. One eyebrow-raising interior oddity is the new heated front seat belts, which warm up to 44 degrees and are supposed to encourage the driver and passengers to remove thicker clothing like coats and jumpers for the optimal belt fit and to improve crash safety.
In the rear, passengers now have two detachable remotes mounted to the back of the centre console which control new 13-inch media screens embedded in the back of the front seats. These screens also come with HD camera tech for on-the-go video conferencing – this is an upmarket executive saloon after all.
Finally, Mercedes-Benz has made several tweaks to the S-Class engine option line-up, the biggest change being the introduction of a 530hp V8 engine choice for the ‘S 580 4Matic’ model. This engine is assisted by mild-hybrid tech, which doesn’t power any electric-only miles but assists the V8 when in stop-start traffic or when coasting on the motorway, improving fuel economy.
That sums up this latest S-Class refresh – the most important broad strokes at least. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class holds a New Car Expert Rating of C, with a score of 61%. It scores top marks for its strong media reviews and low CO2 emissions, but the overall score is dragged down by very high running costs and poor reliability.
