We get to play rich to see what the latest version of the most luxurious S-Class has to offer.
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As the chopper touches down at the Castellet International Airport near France’s glorious Côte d’Azur, a trio of gleaming new Maybach S-Class sedans bask in the sunlight, twin-turbo V-8s purring under their hoods. We saunter over, our driver opens the huge rear door, and we step into a cornucopia of Maybachulence. There are acres of quilted leather, personalized touchscreens, dazzlingly designed metal Burmester speaker covers, silver-plated Champagne flutes, wireless headphones, and pillowed, massaging, and reclining seats.
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This is how the 0.1 percent roll, the ballers, shot callers, and captains of industry. We’re just playing them for a day or two. It’s a tough job, but if you’ll excuse us, we need to pop the refrigerated Champagne.
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Latest and Greatest Super S-Class
The 2027 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is rolling in the tire tracks of the all-new 2027 S-Class lineup, which we’ve recently driven . The Maybach is the flagship of Benz’s flagship sedan; it takes all the best options the S-Class has to offer, stretches things out, and layers on exclusive, expressive, exquisite, effortless, and serenely luxurious fineries. And there’s a French Laundry list’s worth of options to choose from for the new “base” S580, most notably from a powertrain standpoint in the automaker’s reengineered 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine with 530 hp, 553 lb-ft, and an integrated starter generator for an added boost at low rpm.
Not to worry, V-12 fans, the handbuilt engine with its 621 horsepower will continue for the U.S. market in the S680, the higher-spec model that gets more of the good stuff to start. Although we didn’t get a chance to sample the updated V-12 car, which is set to arrive here late this year, it’s a carryover engine, and we don’t think it will be materially different from a motivational perspective than the last time we tested one . As for the V-8, Mercedes says it’s quicker to 60 mph than the V-12 car will be at an estimated 3.9 seconds versus 4.3, and from what we could discern once we did the driving for ourselves, the eight is plenty great. When we put our foot into it at a reasonable freeway speed, everything took a beat to spool up, but then the car squats, downshifts, and goes fast. You’ll hear the V-8’s burbling baritone when you push hard on the pedal, though it’s certainly muted by the layers of sound deadening the Maybach team employed to keep unwanted noises from rudely intruding into the cabin.
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Another area where the Maybach S-Class excels is its waftability, and we mean that in the best possible way. It’s easily one of the smoothest-riding cars we’ve ever been in from either the front or back seats. In its optimized Maybach mode, the latest Airmatic suspension setup and E-Active Body Control—enhanced by electronically controlled, cloud-connected dampers designed to take and use information of the road ahead transmitted by other Benz cars—flat-out flatten most road imperfections.
Yes, there is a Sport mode, and yes, we tried it. There’s a bit more weight in the helm (sewing up the leather on the wheel itself takes the better part of a day, because Maybach), and things seem a smidge more tightened up suspension wise, but honestly, we can’t imagine anyone really wanting or needing to hustle this car unless they’re really, really late for the charity gala.
At 7.1 inches longer in its wheelbase over the base S-Class, this is a big car, and it doesn’t shrink around you. Give it a go in the curves, however, and you’ll find it’s decent enough to hustle, just best to do it on wider roads than the white-knuckle narrow hill country routes above the French Riveria where we sampled it. It’s also important to keep in mind that at more than 5,300 pounds for the V-8 car, it’s EV-level heavy, so there’s some play in the brake pedal you’ll have to get used to when you’re slowing down aggressively.