When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
If this is the future then I really don't like that future......
MB is clearly thinking future generation of customers. The buyers of these cars over the next 5-10 years will never know what a true MB vehicle used to feel like. This will be all they know. We are not the future for MB and certainly not the priority. We're a small percentage of their future sales.
MB is clearly thinking future generation of customers. The buyers of these cars over the next 5-10 years will never know what a true MB vehicle used to feel like. This will be all they know. We are not the future for MB and certainly not the priority. We're a small percentage of their future sales.
When you say it that way - i feel kinda sad lol. Not kidding.
Pretty hideous in my opinion. Again, tech does not necessarily equate to luxury and style. Well, if this the future so be it. Perhaps the screen can show a wood veneer?
YES YES YES. Exactly.
Bentley took OLD WORLD luxury - and brought it forward to 2019. It's STILL an English living room but now its a modern english living room. They didn't make it into an American conference room - void of any warmth.
Perhaps thats the word I've been searching for.
There's zero warmth in the new S class spy photos interior. None. W126 - W140 - W220 - W221 - W222 - all had more and more modern tech - more and more changes - but it kept so much of the warmth. Coziness and inviting.
MB is clearly thinking future generation of customers. The buyers of these cars over the next 5-10 years will never know what a true MB vehicle used to feel like. This will be all they know. We are not the future for MB and certainly not the priority. We're a small percentage of their future sales.
2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, 2024 BMW I7 xDrive60
Originally Posted by Chucky3000
YES YES YES. Exactly.
Bentley took OLD WORLD luxury - and brought it forward to 2019. It's STILL an English living room but now its a modern english living room. They didn't make it into an American conference room - void of any warmth.
Perhaps thats the word I've been searching for.
There's zero warmth in the new S class spy photos interior. None. W126 - W140 - W220 - W221 - W222 - all had more and more modern tech - more and more changes - but it kept so much of the warmth. Coziness and inviting.
My word would be “traditional.” The new S interior spy photos or PhotoShopped photos show something that is breaking with tradition in a big way. As an older fellow, the breaks with tradition in most every area of life are disturbing, to say the least. I understand modernization and technological progress, and I may have to accept it in many ways, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it. I love the safety, comfort & performance of modern cars, but when I see something like a 1957 Cadillac convertible go down the street, I can’t help but feel that all these modern enhancements have come at a huge cost. We are headed towards people moving “pods,” and traditional cars with any sort of graciousness—another good word—are rapidly becoming a thing of the past.
I think the last true S Class was the W140 - the sound those doors made when you firmly closed them was akin to the G Wagon. Now - its very Japanese sounding.
LOVED my 140!! some say the electrically-controlled rearview mirror and the little antlers that would rise from the rear quarters when reverse was selected were examples that this chassis was "over-engineered," but i thought it was neat. plus the car was midnight blue (and it didn't cost an extra $6,500 back then for the colour) with palomino leather (which you can't even get now!). stunning sled.
It's funny: I believe a lot of people just keep buying Mercedes because they don't want to be perceived as a Hyndai.....Genesis......"Ford" type (economic capacity) person. Am I wrong? The haves and have not's are growing further and further apart and I don't discount myself in the latter.
What perhaps baffles me the most is that I am a lot younger than many of you and find the direction that MB is going in, very very troubling. If they are going after the younger crowd, very few of us can afford these types of cars and here I am looking at S classes in this thread from 20 years ago and I absolutely adore them.
I saw a 2000 S430 just yesterday walking around the neighborhood and I congratulated the owner of that car. I'd take one of those, new, despite the horrible issues with their reliability, than a W223 as its known right now.
I think the last true S Class was the W140 - the sound those doors made when you firmly closed them was akin to the G Wagon. Now - its very Japanese sounding.
I've always liked that 'heavy door' feeling too. I recall on some Mercs of the past that had the solid chrome plating o the inside of the door jamb. Recall that? Here is another pic of the W140.....all those buttons!!
Those buttons are gorgeous to me! I barely understand how to do the simplest things on my 2018 S63, still, 18 months later after buying it new. It's soooo complicated, but it is what it is. I still love it, but I prefer the days when buttons were used for everything and most things were totally intuitive. I really miss older climate control systems where you didn't need to use a scroll through settings just to change the way the air flows in the front and back of the car. It's become ridiculous but I'm stuck with it so I just deal with it.
My old 1995, 2001 and other 2001 7 series were so easy to use everything. No iDrive, just easy to read and figure out buttons to do everything. I feel like cars went in a bad direction when they demanded the drive have to scroll through menus to change the radio stations or from Sirius to Radio and also to have to scroll through menu pages just to change the temperature in the car or the way the air flows out. Weak.
I bought this for $38500 and sold it for the sad price of $5500 some years later.
GT63S ePerformance 4dr, '25 Bentayga Black Ed.(wife), Wrangler and 250 MLB(kids)
Originally Posted by stever500
Those buttons are gorgeous to me! I barely understand how to do the simplest things on my 2018 S63, still, 18 months later after buying it new. It's soooo complicated, but it is what it is. I still love it, but I prefer the days when buttons were used for everything and most things were totally intuitive. I really miss older climate control systems where you didn't need to use a scroll through settings just to change the way the air flows in the front and back of the car. It's become ridiculous but I'm stuck with it so I just deal with it.
My old 1995, 2001 and other 2001 7 series were so easy to use everything. No iDrive, just easy to read and figure out buttons to do everything. I feel like cars went in a bad direction when they demanded the drive have to scroll through menus to change the radio stations or from Sirius to Radio and also to have to scroll through menu pages just to change the temperature in the car or the way the air flows out. Weak.
I bought this for $38500 and sold it for the sad price of $5500 some years later.
This is the most beautiful and classy 7 Series ever, I dare say, one of the most beautiful and classy luxury sedans ever, regardless of make.
This is the most beautiful and classy 7 Series ever, I dare say, one of the most beautiful and classy luxury sedans ever, regardless of make.
I had a '99 740i and loved it so. Handled and drove like nothing else. At that point it actually competed with the S for different reasons. I think that generation was the last great 7.
2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, 2024 BMW I7 xDrive60
Originally Posted by absent
This is the most beautiful and classy 7 Series ever, I dare say, one of the most beautiful and classy luxury sedans ever, regardless of make.
Agreed. I bought a new 1995 750il from Vasek Polak BMW. It was white with tan leather. It had dual pane side windows and when driving at night, when you would look out to your rear view mirrors, the glass would TRIPLE everything you would see. If there was one pair of headlights out there, you would see THREE pair. It was just about impossible to drive the car in freeway traffic at night. They kept the car for two weeks and BMW corporate drove the car at night. I never got the car back, as they said it was “dangerous,” and would not ALLOW me to keep it. They refunded all my money and told me that they did not have a timely fix available. I believe this dual pane glass was only on the 12 cylinder cars that year.
I think with this new Tesla-style iPad look, as others have mentioned, its to draw today's young luxury buyer. I have a feeling most of their current buyers won't like this. It would probably make sense to wait another 10 or 15 years to start aiming at the type of customer who'd want something like this. Then again, perhaps Mercedes-Benz feels that would make them "late to the party" when everyone has this layout except them...
I had a '99 740i and loved it so. Handled and drove like nothing else. At that point it actually competed with the S for different reasons. I think that generation was the last great 7.
Dad had a 2001 740iL Navy with Grey Interior - a TANK - felt like you could drive it into a brick wall - demolish the brick wall - and come out unscathed. The new ones sheet-metal feel like plastic compared and the simplest ding from shopping cart renders it a mark or a dent.
Agreed. I bought a new 1995 750il from Vasek Polak BMW. It was white with tan leather. It had dual pane side windows and when driving at night, when you would look out to your rear view mirrors, the glass would TRIPLE everything you would see. If there was one pair of headlights out there, you would see THREE pair. It was just about impossible to drive the car in freeway traffic at night. They kept the car for two weeks and BMW corporate drove the car at night. I never got the car back, as they said it was “dangerous,” and would not ALLOW me to keep it. They refunded all my money and told me that they did not have a timely fix available. I believe this dual pane glass was only on the 12 cylinder cars that year.
I think with this new Tesla-style iPad look, as others have mentioned, its to draw today's young luxury buyer. I have a feeling most of their current buyers won't like this. It would probably make sense to wait another 10 or 15 years to start aiming at the type of customer who'd want something like this. Then again, perhaps Mercedes-Benz feels that would make them "late to the party" when everyone has this layout except them...
Above - someone wrote the most perfect thinking process - how MB forgot about the S Class customer - and rendered us meaningless.
What MB might find out is that there are a lot more 35s and up that can afford a $100,000 car than 25- 35. There are more of us in the over 35 bracket (I am 38). Not sure why they couldn't modernize the S Class without going to this extreme.
And yes - the big screen tesla style is going to be what it is - because now the C Class spy photo showed the same thing. So we are going to get ONE (1) strip of horizontal wood and two (2) big out of nowhere screens. That's such a departure.
Jaguar did the same thing with their modernization. I don't know about any of you - but the old style Jaguar XJs were so gorgeous - and then they turned them into Renault wannabees.The new ones don't even look remotely like a jaguar.
Bentley took their Sedan and gorgeously modernized it from the 80s to current. One of the flying spurs were weird but they corrected it real quickly. I think that was the transition period between British and German ownership. But look how graceful these are. YOU KNOW THEY ARE BENTLEYS.
Above - someone wrote the most perfect thinking process - how MB forgot about the S Class customer - and rendered us meaningless.
What MB might find out is that there are a lot more 35s and up that can afford a $100,000 car than 25- 35. There are more of us in the over 35 bracket (I am 38). Not sure why they couldn't modernize the S Class without going to this extreme.
And yes - the big screen tesla style is going to be what it is - because now the C Class spy photo showed the same thing. So we are going to get ONE (1) strip of horizontal wood and two (2) big out of nowhere screens. That's such a departure.
What will be interesting to see is what the future for the S class holds market wise. The current millennial which is the future S target may not be interested in a large - what they might consider to be - over the top Mercedes sedan regardless of the tech offered, and for those that are interested I have to believe the market pool becomes reduced. The pull has been clearly in favor of the luxury SUV/Crossover market. Does this mean reduction in production numbers for the S at some point? Will this be a diminishing market? Who is the future S buyer?
2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, 2024 BMW I7 xDrive60
[QUOTE=Chucky3000;7839169]Bentley took their Sedan and gorgeously modernized it from the 80s to current. One of the flying spurs were weird but they corrected it real quickly. I think that was the transition period between British and German ownership. But look how graceful these are. YOU KNOW THEY ARE BENTLEYS.
This new one is just a stunner! Couple it with up to date safety systems, the wonderful, traditional interior and it's a home run! If any of you want to have some fun, go to the "New Flying Spur" Configurator and build a few. The array of colors, leathers, wheels, etc. is just sensational. Car! Me want!!! [/QU
qOTE]
Mercedes SLR McLaren 722 S Is Extremely Rare Example Modified by McLaren
Slideshow: A one-of-one U.S.-spec Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster became even rarer after a factory-backed transformation at McLaren's headquarters.
.jpg)
