> cheap and ugly looking
Says the person with a Corolla Cross lol. Typical /r/cars
I have a lot of complaints about modern Mercedes, but in person it looks anything but cheap and ugly. It absolutely stands out in an elegant way and has a ton of presence.
I feel like the black trim should’ve been optional since they wanted to have it be a design element. I also think that black is the best looks color wise.
The iPad screen had actually been well integrated in this generation. It's the cluster screen that is abysmal
And also air vents that look like a cat's butthole
> can’t complain about ipad stuck on screen because it is built in smoothly
I think it's more nuanced than this. Just being "built-in" and not sticking up from the dash isn't enough. I'd argue the individual rectangular screen under the fancy shaped glass looks very awkward - it accentuates the bezels.
The dash is also just a giant slab of glass, no material richness. People have been complaining about this hyper-screen layout since it came out tbh and I'm surprised at how slow Merc has been to evolve it.
Let's see, headlights full of 3 pointed stars, tail lights 3 pointed stars, hood two stars, trunk 1 star, grill 100s of stars.
Mercedes has lost its mind.
It's so gaudy that I actually kind of like it. Completely leaning into being opulent to the point of ridiculousness.
Also I think the previous generation of Maybachs looked too similar to regular S classes. Maybachs are quite popular where I live but without the signature two tone paint you can't really tell what they are without a much closer look.
At least LV still sticks to their core designs while doing stuff that's more out there.
Whereas it feels like Mercedes has kind of abandoned a lot of the things that made them a benchmark for luxury before having to step up into the next tier of Bentley etc.
Did you leave out an "again", cause Maserati has definitely made [S-class competitors before](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maserati_Quattroporte) and some of them were almost good but they never sold that well.
This kind of thing might make sense on a car like the GLA. It’s positioned to get new customers into the brand. The star logos everywhere might help sell the Mercedes fantasy and make first-time luxury car buyers feel like they’re getting something really special.
The S-Class feels like the wrong application for this. I find it hard to believe the typical multimillionaire customer in this segment wants to be seen in something so ostentatious.
"There's 3 stars in the taillights but only only 2 in the headlights. Why did you do this? It's triggering my OCD."
"We wanted to put 3 stars in the headlights too but the grill is so obnoxiously big that we don't have the space."
"OK, then why don't you just put 2 stars in the taillights?"
"The E-Class has 2 stars in the taillights, we have to put 3 to differentiate it."
I honestly think they need a full reset. I was in a dealership last month and while I love their V8’s, I hated almost everything else they had to offer.
Their interiors just feel soulless and lacking of any identity. Not to mention cheap.
The GLC EV and ev gt 4 door concept interiors show that they know how to design classy interiors but it’s a consisency issue for Mercedes in regards to yhe worst design elements being present on so many models and them having a issue whet consisently making good interiors
The interior of this S-Class is in that category. They've slapped a hyperscreen in there in addition to that addon 1/2 tablet at the steering wheel. And more & more stars.
And put “gloss” plastic on the rear bumper after Tsing away chrome from the bar back there, added more chrome to the bar on the front but added “gloss” plastic there
Yeah I don’t understand it lol. The stars in the grill look pretty awful lol. Such a design element needs to be optional. It’s fine for them to cater to customers want something showy but they need to understand that a lot of people who’d like to buy their present day cars don’t want additional stats on the exterior besides the star on the back, one on the badge, and the ornament.
I genuinely don't think a single luxury car has come out in the last decade that wasn't accompanied by a thread on /r/cars with all the top comments talking about how terrible it was.
Negativity gets the votes lol.
I love the pre-refresh design. I also loved the pre-refresh design of last gen. Both were clean and elegant. I find MB tends to add lots of gimmicky/noisy design features when they refresh.
I think the Koreans have won over some design supremacy over the Germans the past few years. I've been admittedly disappointed about BMW/Merc/Audi for awhile (with the exception of this pre-refresh S) but Genesis has been killing it and even the brief ventures Hyundai/Kia made up market were very well done. I've tried to praise them here where possible.
But I hear you. Hate gets the votes unfortunately (including one of my comments lol).
Reminds me of the w140 with the large traditional grille, and classic 3 pointed star. Interior has lots of screens, welcome to 2026, deal with it. Big improvement over pre facelift.
If people want hight tech and cool large screen, Huawei S800 is their best option. No way to pay more than money in new S-Class, as they both have close designs.
Yeah, not a fan of the night package but I never was, the standard chrome grill looks fantastic, its a nice iteration
What is disappointing is the interior, you can see a peak in a few pictures, it's almost verbatim copied from the E-class hyperscreen & EQS. Unless they've done up some new anti-reflective coating, I find the glare on those unbearable
& are those displays in the footwell? or do they just always say welcome home lol
>& are those displays in the footwell? or do they just always say welcome home lol
Maybe it’s my fatigued state, but for the life of me I cannot find what you’re talking about here. Which interior shot has something that says this?
I think they're just illuminated Merc titles, not screens. [https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/2027-mercedes-benz-s-class-exterior-pr-124-697927a556e05.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top](https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod/images/2027-mercedes-benz-s-class-exterior-pr-124-697927a556e05.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top)
> & are those displays in the footwell? or do they just always say welcome home lol
Test spaces for the mid-cycle refresh where they'll be replaced by more screens, so that you can ensure you're 100% connected to a screen at any time.
Tbh I don't actually mind if they've done it up to backlight different messages depending on if you're entering/leaving/etc., & I'd think its something like that instead of a full on screen, I think that would be quite cool
I just don't know how they'd do a full on screen while keeping it durable & w/o making it look like shit off-angle
>Plus whatever those cheeks are supposed to be, does it direct the airflow all the way to the side to the brakes at least?
If it's anything like the current Mercedes cars (and all the other sedans on the market), they are just fake vents lol. The press pictures make it look like they are solid plastic, with some tiny sensors on them.
As a former branding consultant/designer, this is the lamest shit ever. The client mindset of “one logo is good, ten are great!” demonstrates juvenile insecurity, not luxury.
Awful grille - stupid tacky stars strewn about in ugly rows, proliferation of shiny black plastic, *why merge the headlights into the grille????*
Stupid interior - overabundance of screens, ugly rectangles under the shaped glass housing looks hyper-cheap, more casino slot machine lighting.
But... I like the star head and tail lights lol. I know they're a little tacky, but the way they're repeated and positioned within the housing feels right. The outgoing headlights were nondescript, these have character. Not to soil the old BMW halo-lights, but this feels within that realm and I'm sure Merc is trying to make it stick.
I prefer the standard (non-night package) version. But those stars look really really bad to me.
I wish it was just a [clean set of slats like this.](https://i.imgur.com/dSWrFlz.jpeg)
That is nice too. I don't know if the S-class has it, but on the GLE if you don't option the huge screen you can instead get a dash panel with even more stars all over it haha.
Yeah although unnescary I do as well think the stars in the headlights do strongly compliment the headlight lamps and the shape of the headlight on the outside. Watching a review video and the car especially from the front looks best in the trim shown in the cover picture.
One thing I didn’t see anyone else mention was the trunk space, or lack thereof. I had to Google search to see if that was just the norm for the S Class and it doesn’t look like it was.
Looks great but disappointed they massacred the interior by pasting the EQS dash into this. It wasn't great before but at least had slabs of wood and beautiful air vents...now this
Any reason why they went to a flat plane crank V8? Aren’t those generally not as optimal for luxury cars? I’m sure there’s a reason but seems like an interesting change. I’ve driven an S580 and felt the powertrain was more than adequate
I think the main reason is to just get a lot utilization out of it since it will be available for amg models as well. They genereally speaking are not as optimal for luxury cars but mercedes has commuincates that they’ve further refined the pleasure driving the s class brings although itll now be sold with a flat plane crank engine.
This use to be their og flagship, a benchmark and symbol for premium, luxury cruiser. Now the Suvs came and f things up including this sorry excuse of a facelift design
Thats not usually how it works. No matter good some of their designers are, its the chief designer who picks the design theme to move forward so its on him
Is the BMW design team on rotation at Mercedes? Why did Mercedes have to catch the sickness of continually increase the grille size. The design team also took too much inspiration from the monogrammed purses that women buy to show off the brand name. Just hideous and said all around. The S-Class has been a bloated disaster for years and years now. Look at this thing and then go look at pictures of the W116, W126, W140.
> Is the BMW design team on rotation at Mercedes? Why did Mercedes have to catch the sickness of continually increasing the grille size.
It's not only BMW and Mercedes; it's the majority of the industry. It's just three current design trend.
I guess I'm in the minority when I say I love it, though I hate it with the Night Pack, the black grill surround is not it. AMG Line with chrome is the way.
I didn't like the refresh of last gen and I don't like the refresh of this gen.
The changes are gimmicky and add too much noise, like this new grill, that side 'vent' on near the engine.
Loved the first versions of both gens though.
Yeah I got bored of watching a review video on it because the changes are shit or boring for the most part inside.
The vent your referring to might be the radar sensor. Itll be standard on all Mercedes models because everywhere it’s allowed, the s class will be capable of level 4 autonomous driving.
I think it looks ugly with the silver and black combo and but it seems to be fine in the traditional black and chrome seen in the other pics.
For those wondering why they even bothered updating the design, it's because the W223 lost some of the presence S Classes usually have. I think I remember reading that the 7 Series is the current segment leader in terms of sales because even if it is a little ugly, it has the road presence you want from a full size luxury sedan
That adds up tbh. I use to see W222 during its production span extremely often. I see the W223 really offen too but I see the current 7 series more offen or equally as much, and when the W222 was on sale I didn’t see the 7 series anywhere as offen.
To me the cars have been pretty evolutionary in their design changes since the W220 from '98. I just wish they'd change it up or go back to something prior to the W220 and modernize it.
Is it crazy that I look at this and think that they were going in a more EQS styled direction but had to pump the brakes once they saw sales tanking.
There’s a lot of mismatched elements in this design, that are clearly pulling from the EQS, like having the headlights flow into the grille.
The front of the car looks completely different from side profile of the car. The way it all comes together makes it feel so dated
The theory that this is a subdued version of a much more eqs based based w223 might be true but I think the w214 also having its headlights flow into the grill the same way also make it plausible that this was essentially for a long time always how the facelift was suppode to look in the front and perhaps even generally speaking.
I think the stars in the grill and on the censor plate don’t help it out but generally speaking it looks fine to me, à tid bit better though. I wouldn’t say the star additions were needed though. I think just elongating the grill like they did and bringing new rim options were all it needed exterior wise. Hopefully it’s offered with no passenger screen too. E class customers xan option it not to have so s class one should be able to.
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