If you're like us, you've been eagerly awaiting this car for the better part of 10 years. No, not the 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class specifically, but rather the technology underneath it. Perhaps you remember the Bose active suspension system?
Yes, Bose – a company better known for overpriced audio equipment – revealed an amazingly sophisticated automotive suspension system about a decade ago, demonstrating it via a pair of 1994 Lexus LS luxury sedans. One LS was fitted with the system, and the other went without.
The two could be seen on split-screen video performing a battery of ride and handling exercises, with the Bose car experiencing remarkably little body roll and head toss thanks to its network of electromagnetic motors and microprocessors. It was as if the car looked at the road ahead and the suspension used that data to actively counter inputs and keep the chassis level and drama-free. Bose revealed the technology back in 2004, but it had been working on the technology since the Carter Administration. We've seen active suspensions before and since, but even now, the Bose's performance seems positively next-level, with body control that boggles the mind. And that's before the jump at the end of the video presentation.
As it turns out, the Bose demonstrator car was keyed to the course it ran in the video – it wasn't examining the road at all, it was preprogrammed to expect those surface conditions. This might explain why a decade on, we still haven't been able to buy such a system in a production car. It's that missing anticipatory quality – the road scanning – that hasn't happened.
Until now. The 2014 Mercedes-Benz S-Class features just this sort of technology, though the suspension itself shares nothing with Bose's architecture. Daimler's so-called Magic Body Control combines the S-Class' hydraulic Active Body Control (ABC) suspension with stereoscopic twin cameras mounted ahead of the rearview mirror to scan ahead and relax or firm up the suspension in preparation for the road surfaces ahead. Hitting your first speed bump with the system activated is nothing short of spooky – the Michelins feel for all the world like they're sluicing through the traffic-calming nuisance as if it's made of room-temperature brie. Like it isn't even there. You'll laugh and clap – we did.
Yet this brand of Magic has its limitations: it only works during the day, foul weather can cause the system to pack up (if the camera gets blocked by snow, for instance) and it's really most effective over large disturbances like the aforementioned speed bump, as it's not yet quick-witted enough to catch subtler potholes and such. Oddly, it also only works with ABC set to Comfort Mode – if you choose Sport you're on your own. Most of the time, the system feels like a conventional luxury car, which is to say very well behaved, but not entirely sporty. The world's wealthy who toil in city centers where speed bumps are all too common will have cause for rejoice, but this is not yet the revolution the Bose presentation conditioned us to expect all those years ago.
So, on some level, Magic Body Control falls short of what we imagined, but the same can't be said for the rest of this W222-Series Benz. While it shares the basic powertrain and similar dimensions of its predecessor, this S-Class couldn't feel more new. That fact was rammed home by my 250-mile drive from Greater Detroit to the car's international launch in Toronto in the outgoing 2013 S550. A perfectly fine luxury sedan and not the segment's perennial volume leader by accident, the W221 nonetheless feels positively antiquated in the face of this new generation.
That impression starts with the 2014's sleek exterior. Where the previous generation looked a bit bloated thanks to balloon fenders and over-sculpted detailing, the W222 comes off as both more stately and athletic. While not the most striking shape in the luxury sedan sphere, it looks balanced and planted in a way its predecessor never managed. The viewer's eye is drawn from the imposing slatted grille and complex LED headlamps around and along the bodysides, following a CLA-style tapering swage line to a tidy (if generic) rear end. The design isn't just more harmonious to the eyes; the S550 has a drag coefficient of 0.24, all but unmatched anywhere in the vehicle kingdom.
A mix of aluminum and steel body panels still cloaks a steel unibody, in the process giving away some weight to key rivals like the aluminum-chassis'd Jaguar XJ (a comparative bantamweight at 4,100 to 4,200 pounds), but at about 4,600 pounds, it actually weighs about the same as a comparable Audi A8 (though the latter has standard all-wheel drive). Even so, thanks to more intensive use of the lightweight metal, Mercedes claims that the new S-Class saves about 200 pounds over its predecessor, but heretofore unavailable features and options undo most of the advantage. At least the new structure is markedly stiffer and more capacious, growing as it has by 0.8 inches in height and 1.1 inches in width, and the weight is better placed with just 52 percent of the car's mass crowding the front axle, a factoid that promises surprisingly neutral handling.
Climb aboard, and the S550 (badged S500 in our Euro-spec photo car) doesn't give away anything to anybody. The cabin is where you'll find the biggest departure from its antecedent, and indeed, the rest of the luxury sedan class. Daimler's super-premium Maybach brand may have been a costly financial lesson, but it's clearly taught the company a thing or two. The available Gatsbian rear-seat "Executive" accommodations are peerless, especially on well-optioned models like our Diamond White Metallic tester, which was fitted with stunning quilted Designo Nappa deep-sea blue leather and silk beige trim. Every conceivable creature comfort is on offer, including a few we've never even thought of in our Powerball-winning daydreams.
Our four-place tester included the usual battery of D-segment luxury trimmings, along with reclining hot-stone rear massaging seats. The passenger-side Executive chair features a power footrest and ottoman, but both rear berths are privy to DVD entertainment and Internet access, airline-style folding tray tables, heated armrests(!), a truly impressive 24-speaker Burmester surround sound system, twin-element panoramic roof, heated/cooled cupholders and more airbags than a Senate judiciary committee. Did we mention the Air Balance package, which includes an ionizing and perfuming feature for the heating and ventilation system? It's all spectacularly well-done but terrifyingly complex, as a well-optioned S-Class contains over 100 separate motors and the interior includes around 300 LEDs alone – there's not a single light bulb in the whole gin palace. This is a cabin that's going to give Bentley and Rolls-Royce night sweats, and that's not by accident. With Maybach shuttered, it will have to reach further upward to capture the tycoon dollar, though it will eventually get an even longer-wheelbase Pullman model to do the heaviest lifting.
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