We already know how the car looks like without camo.
It is exceedingly conservative and nearly identical in overall appearance to the W222 apart from the front/rear end treatment (lights, grill, bumper). Feels more like a facelift with new guts...

 

I personally believe that the new W223 design will destroy the legacy of the S CLass!!

 

What ever do you mean? Can you elaborate?

 

Mercedes is entering an era in Automotive history that is by design a total departure from the past. While they will build on their legacy as a leader in innovation their future holds something that many of us will not relate to or even accept. MB is is aware of this but they feel they need to move in this direction to remain the leader they are, leaving many of us behind while they produce space ship interiors for the future.

Personally like others I don't care for this interior of this new car, it's too much. There is no middle ground of design, style, and tech, it's all or nothing. In the end it will sell, and sell well like any other generation S, but all the while leaving much of its storied past behind. As for the exterior, I'm not a fan of the rear but it wouldn't keep me away. The interior likely will.

Still do not understand why they can't integrate these screens into a beautiful dashboard? This would have made such difference. Cost savings? On an S?

 

Personally, I do not have any problems with a big screen in the car. The fact is that screens are getting bigger and bigger in cars, and any car that doesn't follow this trend will start to look ridiculous. Just compare any car of today to the tiny screens from just 5 years ago.

The things I don't like about the new interior is the lack of real buttons on the steering wheel and console.

On the steering wheel, the capacitive touch areas don't seem to add anything useful. The square "swipey" buttons on the current W222 steering wheel do a great job, and have the nice ability to register a real button-press. Everything is tactile and easy to locate without looking.

Also, the double rows of horizontal buttons on the new steering wheel is not a great look. I can't exactly put a finger on it, but it just doesn't seem premium to me. (The W222 also debuted with a less-than-beautiful steering wheel.)

On the console, I agree with the general idea of eliminating unnecessary clutter and buttons, but basically eliminating all buttons (ala Tesla) forces you to glance down for every single operation. You basically can't even turn the temperature up a notch with looking down. Even the black row of buttons under the screen appear to be capacitive touch areas, rather than real buttons.

Another thing I don't like is the apparent huge expansion of black glossy material in front of the passenger. In my opinion this is a terrible trend that we saw a few years ago when the new Audi A8 was revealed, and now sadly MB seems to have adopted the same giant flat slab of fingerprint magnet. It's as if car manufacturers can't figure out what to do with that space anymore. It may be the push by YouTubers to extract all "animal skin" (leather) from cars that is coercing manufacturers to try and figure something else out. Whatever the reason, I'm not happy with their "solution".

On the exterior, I wish the front and rear lights were a bit more sleek, and more distinctive from the rest of the MB lineup. They both seem generic to me.

I'm sure there will be a lot to like about the new S-class as well. The new HUD seems fantastic, and I'm sure the automated driving abilities will be nicely improved. From the recent demo videos it is clear that there will be a myriad of functions available on the touch screens that are very futuristic, but I will rarely use in practice. I can't imagine a single time I will swipe something from "my screen" to another passenger's screen. I doubt I will register my fingerprint with my car either.

Hopefully the mechanics of the car will be as improved as all the tech gadgets inside. For example, how about the simple thing of allowing both 4MATIC and MBC to be configured on the same car? That would be nice. Also, allowing me to have the start-stop feature be set to it's last setting when the car was turned off would be great, and would save me the money and aggravation of needing to buy a third-party module to do that.

 

You make some good points, but........

The screens are getting bigger, but at some point, we reach overkill. How big is too big? My opinion is that the center screen in my 2018 S560 could be a tad larger, mostly for a better surround view when parking. However, I feel the tremendous LEAP they have done to this outrageously oversized, obtrusive screen in the new car is just NUTS and looks like they damn near COPIED Tesla, which in itself is really disappointing. I’ve always expected a better blend of luxury and technology from Stuttgart. I don’t believe that huge expanse of black plastic on the dash will make it into production.

 

I’m not necessarily looking forward to this, but I think the logical progression within a generation or two is that the entire dash is covered in flexible OELD making everything in the front of the vehicle a screen when wanted by the software designers.

 

agreed. it will be a choice of wood. the one video with the coo of r+d that we first saw as he was introducing the interiour had the "flowing lines" wood option shown in that area.

 

i don't entirely agree with this. which is odd because i usually nod silently in agreement with everything you write. whilst the overall shape/silhouette is similar to the 222 - the two 'character' lines that run the length of the doors on the 222 appear to have been smoothed out/removed on the 223. and the 'shoulder' line is placed significantly higher (closer to the windows) on the 223 than the current line on the 222, which runs below the door handles.

 

Most folks wouldn't know that it wasn't a refreshed W222.

 

The problem is the way they delivered a large vertical screen was not elegant. They should have kept the dual display setup, and added a third vertical display in the center stack. This would have been more elegant and would provide the vertical space for applications that require it, while maintaining a cleaner look. The problem with the W223 is that the screen layout is not harmonious. Lot's of companies have gone the three screen route and it looks much better.

 

Agree.

Porsche seems to have nailed it. Modern, sleek and stylish.

MB seems to have gone the bulkier and bigger is more route. Obtrusive.

 

I agree that the Tesla-like screen is not as well integrated as it could have/should have been. Plus, while a larger size could be useful, its placement seems to require more driver head lowering to use it fully. The outside world remains mostly in my peripheral view while glancing at the current screen, while this new one would seem to require a more downward look, along with having to locate electronic menu items and navigate them. Also, has anyone learned what the level of autonomy will be in this new tech? There doesn't seem to be much mention yet of that type of tech improvement vs the near useless screen mirroring and other social niceties that I would have no interest in.

 

It looks like I will keep my 2015 S-600 nearly forever with this thing (W223) as competition.......

 

You looked at this with more detail than I did

I am thinking back to the previous S-Class generations. W140,W220,W221 and all these had radically different body designs. You could tell them apart from a mile away.

While the W223 has design differences, I feel that the car represents an affirmation of the W222 design language rather than a departure from it.
Which suits me fine as I find the W222 to be the best (and best looking) S-class to date.

I am still uncertain if the car will look better, worse or just different.
Need to see it in the flesh and properly loaded

 

The S Class has always been different than any other car & any other Mercedes Benz, it just has a different feeling from the moment you step in the vehicle.
It was always different from A to Z, The glass, the windshield, the windshield wipers, the window controllers, the center console and its switches, the steering wheel, the dashboard design, and the infotainment center, its always been a pure luxury that targets certain consumers.

I don't personally see it in the W223.

The exterior design: it looks like a mid-cycle refresh.



The interior: if it's the same as the leaked photo a few months ago, then its a total disappointment for many consumers that don't really care for touch screen, its a nice option to have but where is the real buttons.



The tech aspect is great and I'm sure it will lead the entire industry.

I have been driving AMG S63 for a little over 10 years, switched between 3 of them sedan and coupe. the best vehicles I ever owned.

Once again that's my personal opinion.

 

You nailed it spot on !!

 

Those new floormats are rubbish! 😂

The other thing I haven't seen mentioned is the deletion of the clock! I will miss that important touch of analog on the dash.

 

More on the "AR-HUD"...pretty cool imo!

 

here. this shows the character lines a bit better. the bottom one is more prominent than i thought when i was looking at the darker coloured car; this silver one shows off the lines fairly well! and look at the higher belt line that stretches from the headlamps to the taillamps. almost bruno sacco w126-esque!!

 

Thanks for posting. The upper line is really quite prominent...

 

It looks like MB has taken a cue from Audi with that high, very defined belt line. Just like how they are mimicking the A8's huge, flat, glossy panels on the interior.

 

It will do no such thing...

 

Looks like even a new Kia minivan will have a better interior than the 223. The dual screens look strikingly similar to the 222...

 

This wasn't your goal, but I think this is the best reason for Mercedes to shift away from the dual screen design. When they first did it, it was high end and unique. Now it is being adopted by lots of mass market cars, and if MB kept this approach they would lose their edge.