Malibu Canyon Run With 2018 Mercedes-Benz S560 Cabriolet
Mostly Digital, All Designo Interior
The one featured here is a base model (non-AMG) with the premium package—a virtual heads-up display (HUD), heated front armrests, rear seats, and wood/leather steering wheel. The all-display, digital dashboard is really sharp-looking and the gauge cluster design looks really polished.
The physical user buttons, however, are a different story. They certainly lack imaginative design, with all of them simply lined up in slightly contoured, boring-looking row. Plus, there are just so many of them.
Not the prettiest to look at, but they serve their purpose nonetheless.
Mercedes’ S560 is uber-techie; so much so that it takes us a good 20 minutes to figure out how to do even the most basic configurations. As vain as it sounds, the most impressive part of the interior is the “multi-contour” designo Bengal Red Nappa leather seats that have a massage feature. They aren’t exactly “masseuse” quality, but the gesture is still nice on Mercedes’ end. They feel about as good as one of those $3 massage chairs you see at that mall, but I’ll bet your daily driver has nothing remotely close to this functionality.
‘Sure, it’s not an AMG, but it sure as hell feels good when you open up that throttle in the tunnels.’
If that doesn’t impress you, how about the fact that these same seats morph and adjust to your body during cornering maneuvers. Officially known as “side bolsters,” these pieces of advanced tech engage when I make those super tight turns and those lateral Gs intensify. The seat quite literally hugs my body to give me lateral support. If that isn’t flippin’ cool, I don’t know what is.
It goes without saying but generally speaking, absolutely nobody rides in the backseat of a convertible—unless you are a masochist. Surprisingly, the amount of room I see in the new S560 is nothing short of awesome. Granted, I am 5 feet, 11 inches, so I know my opinion is possibly moot on the subject, however I am seeing people much taller than me ride in the backseat without incident.
Enough of the gilded banter on the car’s aesthetic already. It’s powertrain time.
Continued…
