 The S550 is the entry-level model of Mercedes’ biggest sedan. The 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 packs lots of space, lots of technology, and lots of presence, but is it worth the lofty price — or are you just paying for perceived cachet? Read on. $87,525 base (including destination charge and $1,000 gas guzzler tax), $103,025 as tested, EPA fuel economy estimates 16 MPG city, 24 MPG highway.
The S-Class may not be the most expensive car in the Mercedes lineup, but it is arguably the brand’s flagship. It’s the car aspired to by most people who aspire to a Mercedes. Let’s face it, if you won $20 million in the lottery tomorrow, you wouldn’t go to your local Mercedes dealer and plunk down a lousy $32,000 for a C-Class, would you? (Well, maybe you would, seeing as how the C-Class is smaller, more fuel-efficient, and easier to park, but for the sake of my narrative, just go ahead and agree with me, OK? It’s been a long day.) No, of course not — you’d go for the Big Kahuna — the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
And it certainly fits the Big Kahuna bill. Even the base model I tested, the S550, packs just shy of 400 horsepower under its long, sleek hood, enough to propel it to 60 in well under six seconds, the time commonly considered the threshold for serious sports cars. (The V12-powered S600 does it in less than five.) The sinewy new-for-2007 shape makes this the most distinctive S-Class ever to grace the roads. Show up in an S-Class and you’ve arrived. You are someone. Even here in Los Angeles, where Mercedes and BMWs are as common as Toyotas and Hondas, the S-Class stands out as something special.
But there’s more to the S-Class than power and presence. The S is home to some of the neatest gizmos known to autodom. Prepare to be dazzled — and perhaps a little baffled.
2007