The Maybach 57 S: Excellence Refined

by Teddy Field

If Tiffany’s made a car, this would be it. The Maybach 57 S has the fittings from God’s lavatory, and enough power to make the devil jealous. Unlike a Rolls, you don’t get gilded trumpeters to announce your arrival. This is a car for rich people who are secure with who they are. They don’t need an ego stroke, they just want a nice car that reminds them of how rich they are.

Maybach is the ultra-luxury division of Mercedes Benz. Its cars are
designed to offer a very personal luxury experience, devoid of all the
hoopla and egotistical showmanship that you get in a Rolls Royce. If you
actually recognize a Maybach on the street, then you’re either a
serious car enthusiast, or you’re the chairman of an oil conglomerate.

Maybach’s are a lifestyle accessory. They’re designed for
industrialists, music and film stars, and jet-setters who need a
car on each continent. And since it may spend a lot of time in the
penthouse garage, the 2011 Maybach 57 S even comes with a built-in
battery trickle charger as standard equipment.

The Maybach 57 S gets its name from its length, 5.7 meters (18.7 feet).
And the Maybach moniker actually has a bit of history attached to it too.

Founded in 1909, Maybach initially designed and built aircraft engines.
One of their best known engine customers was Zeppelin. As in, that giant
blimp-thing that exploded over New Jersey in 1937. While the Hindenburg
was the worst aviation disaster in history (at the time), Zeppelins had
actually been providing successful and safe Trans-Atlantic flights for
years. In fact, the world’s very first commercial airline was comprised
of a fleet of those giant helium filled craft…and they were powered by
Maybach engines.

Maybach started building cars in 1919, and quickly became the must-have
luxury car of the period. Daimler acquired the company in 1960, and
resurrected the name for an Uber-Class luxury concept at the 1997 Tokyo
Motor Show. Enough millionaires told MB to build it, and they launched
the new Maybach line of cars in 2002.

The current Maybach 57 S (the ‘S’ stands for Special, not Sport) gets a
beefed-up and lower suspension (15mm lower) to complement its new
20-inch wheels. Hopefully Johnny Billionaire isn’t to busy minting money to notice the 57 S’s
sportier handling.

Under the hood, the twin-turbo 6.0 liter V12 has been breathed upon by
AMG, and now produces 620-hp, with a monumental 738 ft-lb of torque (the
“standard” 57 has to make due with just 550-hp). That’s enough grunt to
propel this 6,000 lb cabin-cruiser from naught to 60 mph in 5 seconds
dead! Keep the pedal buried, and you’ll eventually see a staggering 172
mph!!

This car throws up the middle finger as it rockets past the laws of physics.

The Maybach 57 S comes with a fridge, your choice of ancient-wood, or
stone trim, and silver champagne flutes as standard equipment
(apparently, silver is a “safer” material to use than glass). So it’s
clearly more than an S-Class in a glittery frock.

Maybach’s brochure describes the 57 S as “a beguiling travel companion
on any road in the world”. To that end, Maybach’s fitted it with every
electronic toy in the S-Class nursery. There’s Distronic cruise control,
a Bose multi-media system, a pneumatic door closing system, a backseat
refrigerator (with the aforementioned silver champagne flutes), a
built-in battery trickle charger, and two hand-made Dunhill umbrellas.

The options list for the Maybach 57 S is only limited by your
imagination (and budget. But what self-respecting billionaire holds back when it comes to options?) There’s fold-away tables, power curtains, that
opacity-changing roof (strikingly similar to the Magic Sky Control
found on the 2012 Mercedes SLK350), electronic rear door closers,
climate controlled seats, a solar-powered ventilation system, a perfume
dispenser, gold fixtures, diamond inlays (no joke), and a public address
system with a listening feature…so you can hear what the peasants actually think of your new car.

With the Maybach 57 S, you can enjoy the best money can buy, without
jumping up and down screaming “look at me!!”…like you would in a
Phantom.

So, what do you think? Is the Maybach 57 S the finest luxury automobile on the market? Voice your opinion here!