I just drove another S580 today, yeah I can't agree. Tire noise is a big issue for EVs, I also drove a Lucid Air today and the S580 (and my S560) is considerably quieter in the tire and ambient noise department. The S580 is also the quietest vehicle I have ever driven, and I have driven basically everything. I measured 58 dB at 80 MPH and my S560 measured on the same road right after was 59/60. The Lucid was 62.

S Classes are remarkably well isolated from tire noise, far moreso than the Lexus LSs I had before which were also extremely quiet.

 

58-62 are all kind of considered perfect. However 4 dB is also considered a well measurable difference. Agree that all EVs are going to be more noisy (cabin road noise)… but again, as far as tire noise, S580 is missing the road noise reduction tech (foam) in tire and I felt that makes a big difference. Cabin noise is something else, yes, S580 wins hands down… I just wish the S-class comes with tire options that also include foam insulation. I never drove Lucid though (heard the comfort is great but it’s known for some wind noise issues)

My X7 measured at 65 dB and I consider it really really quite.. so anything below that falls well within my acceptable threshold.

 

Thats absolute nonsense. The battery actually needs to balance itself at least once a month so going to 100 to balance is just fine. Also the only way your ever going to get fast charging is when the car is under 20%. Your salesguy sounds like a complete moron and has zero clue what he's talking about. I would listen to nothing he says and drive the car as you see fit. As far as DAILY charging, meaning each night when you just plug it in leaving it @ 90% is good for the battery but by no means necessary.

 

S580s do come with noise reducing foam tires. They also use a proprietary foam filled body cavity system that Mercedes developed.

When comparing noise pressure you really need to use the same tool unless we are talking about professional equipment. When I drove an X7 and measured it I got 59/60, very similar to my S Class and other high end sedans.

But the W223 and that i7 I drove really stand out as surprisingly quieter than cars that were the quietest cars on the road.

The Lucid was cool, but not for me. If you like Teslas you would love the Lucid.

 

Wow never realized they started to use foam in tires for S580. When I was shopping for tires for my W222, I asked everywhere for an option with foam for the 19” and there was not a single option. I would love the Lucid seats and luxury cabin touches, but there is no way I’d live the tech itself. I spent a ton of time researching tech, software and capabilities on that end, comparing all EVs all together even against tech in ICE cars. Full self driving vehicle is another thing I always wanted. If I just wanted luxury, my W222 was the best vehicle on the planet for the purpose “and budget”, and also, I had the S580 as another option.

The ideal car that has it all together, in my view, still doesn’t exist, so there will always be something to compromise. The i7 was a good option as far as a good luxury and comfortable EV, but the cosmetics as well as rear seats, and the huge expected depreciation pushed it to the very bottom on my list as I highly value the cosmetic styling aspect. I still think though that an i7 would be better than EQS interior wise. Exterior is certainly goofy styling for both, and is the reason I couldn’t see neither of them in my garage. I heard very good things about EQS range though. Nothing yet solid on i7 as there are not many users. Being heavily involved in the BMW community even now as I still own a BMW now, I don’t think it is a good idea for anyone to get a BMW nowadays. They are having problems with almost every new car they introduced to the market since late 2022. There are far more EQS on the road that i7 obviously for many reasons, even though EQS lemon are easier to find the clean title ones. Benz and BMW are yet to figure it out obviously. Overall am excited about the EV cars future, and I think Tesla ownership while others are getting there was a good option. The only reliable luxury EVs beside Tesla seem to be the Taycan and Lucid. I did not take a look at any asian EV manufacturer. I know I’ll lose more money now while enjoying EVs as compared to my experience buying, trading and enjoying one ICE car every year. For those who don’t trade or swap cars that often, the value of keeping an EV long terms seems to be better than ICE.

 

The tech in the Lucid is nothing like the Tesla. They do have Carplay now which helps. Build quality is also not great, the car I drove had a big creak in the steering wheel, etc.

I'm surprised you had an issue with the rear seats in the i7...I thought they were great. What was your issue with them specifically?

The other HUGE plus for the Model S is cost. With the latest price reductions they are downright cheap...I mean, $100k for a Plaid!

 

Maybe I needed to be more specific. The rear seats in the i7 are “comfortable” but I just didn’t like the bench seat styling and look at all, at least when compared to the executive rear seats in a loaded W222 or even W223.

 

Yes -- exactly this. NVH is a psychoacoustic problem that goes far beyond a simple SPL measurement. The quality of the noise is just as important as the quantity. Some sounds are awful even at soft volumes, while others are enjoyable at higher volumes. Engines happen to have nice sounds that are pleasing to the human ear. When you are digging into the Panamera engine, the auditory feedback is fun and welcome. You can lay off and it drifts into the background. I don't really care how quiet a Taycan is on a decibel meter; when driving the car my ears lock onto the road noise and the perpetual whine of the motor.

The most pleasant car I've driven from an acoustic standpoint was the W222. Haven't tried the W223, only the EQS.

As for the Plaid, I've heard some reviewers even complain about inner ear pressure during acceleration, due to perhaps several factors. A friend has an S Plaid and I am not interested in riding in it. The regular S is quite insane already.

 

That is cool to hear, I wonder what is different between MB's proprietary foam filled body cavity system compared to others (like pros and cons), do you by chance have more information on this?

 

I don't but if you google it its probably out there

 

I think I am not using the keywords right but I was not able to find it.

 

I’m a firm believer in less governmental intervention, but do believe that vehicles with the acceleration capabilities of the Plaid & other ultra high performance vehicles should not be allowed on public roads and highways. Inevitably, there are characters out there with more money than brains—let alone driving expertise—who buy these insane machines and in so many cases, one thing leads to another and people get killed. There is absolutely nothing good about having that type of performance where average folks drive. On closed course tracks, fine. Bring it on a trailer. I’d be very happy if horsepower in passenger vehicles was capped at 400 in the USA.

A photo of what once was, I believe, an AMG GT that was involved in a single car crash not far from my home, in an area where the speed limit is probably 35. The male idiot driver was killed and the woman passenger severely injured. Thank goodness nobody else was killed.

I thought electric cars were supposed to save the planet. The Plaid & similar vehicles do absolutely nothing towards that goal.

 

Stupid people are going to do stupid things regardless of what type of vehicle they are allowed to drive. I can find you pictures of flipped and mangled Camrys. I am not for any sort of government intervention in what we can be "allowed" to drive whatsoever.

The S560s you and I both drive have what would have been considered dangerous, supercar performance 30 years ago.

 

That’s all true, but when is enough enough? Just because they can make street legal cars that go 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds, doesn’t mean that they should. Thank God such performance wasn’t so readily available when I was 16. I probably wouldn’t be writing this here today. Nobody needs to go that quick on public thoroughfares, nobody. Such performance is only a thrill for the driver and a dangerous detriment to everyone else. This, of course, is just my opinion. AND, if you haven’t noticed lately, the world seems to be producing significantly more STUPID and irresponsible people these days than in years past.

 

Fortunately we have more electronic nannies in cars today to more than offset careless drivers.
More accidents are due to inattention and people driving with both hands full (drinks, burgers) or doing their makeup.
I am more scared of a 16 year old with friends in a 6000lbs SUV than a high performance car…

 

Thats just the point. You believe in peoples rights to make decisions for themselves or you don’t. You can’t believe in peoples rights to make decisions for themselves as long as those decisions are what you think are reasonable. That’s not freedom.

When you were 16, you had parents who had a level of control over you. My kids simply won’t have any such level of car. Problem solved.

Like Wolfman said, cars have all kinds of electronic safeties now and are easier and safer to drive than ever. Those plaids for instance won’t give you full throttle if there is any turn in the steering wheel etc.

 

While I understand where you are coming from, no thanks. Open the door to horsepower caps, then you invite things such as speed cameras, speed caps including based on road signs, OBD2 insurance monitoring and increases, etc. Have you ever had to increase speed momentarily over the speed limit in order to avoid an accident?

For me I prefer driving safely/defensively and driving in the safest car I can swing. I see so many people on their phones while driving, who has time to speed?

 

Real men do it on the track....

 

I completely disagree. One could make same exact arguing about you buying an AMG vehicle or so. The risk of any car that accelerate from 0-60 in 5 seconds is not that much lower than that of a car that does it in 3 seconds. Stupid driver is going to do stupid things regardless. I'd be more worried about a kid driving a massive truck from the 90s, accelerating from 0-60 in 20 seconds, than any other super car that may at least auto-break before it struck me.
Some people love the acceleration. I have always driven exclusively V8 engines, only because they are powerful, and I don't think anyone of them is more or less risky than an EV that does 0-60 a couple seconds faster. Majority of the time accidents happen when people are already cruising, not while accelerating from 0-60.
Plus, EVs NOT exclusively built to save the planet.. nor that the intention must be exactly that. I put zero weight on the environmental aspect when I decided to add an EV to my garage, even though it is a good factor to keep in mind (but at least not until my source of electricity is purely solar and batteries are sources from clear streamlines processes).
If you'd be happy to have your V8 capped at 400hp, I wouldn't and so as well many others. I still obey all rules... Cars (at least those that most people here drive) are not a necessity, we know that most of us buy it based on the fun factor, luxury etc.

 

I guess the question is are we better off if road going vehicles have horsepower / acceleration / speed limitations for the entitled self-important man-children out there. Clearly the technology is in place to implement those limitations as a function of GPS location.

 

Whether or not we might be "better off" is beside the point, we live in a free society and we have the right to choose what we want and do not want. Just because I may want a powerful car does not mean I am a "man child".

 

No, I don't think so. But some vehicles have a mode wherein you can set the max speed for a given driver to a given limit (I'd support that in case someone has a 16 years old teenager that he is worried about). However, do i want to feel that I am myself is handcuffed? No.. 100% not and I would not even consider buying a car like that. Giving manufacturers and or the government the chance to chose and impose on us things like that makes no sense to me. If I am, as the owner, would be given the chance to turn it on and off as I see fit, then yes... which is by the way an option already available on some cars (set max speed per driver based on key).

 

All societies set restrictions on what you can or can't do, even free democratic societies. Everything from pedophilia to restrictions on going the wrong way down a one way street exist in every society, free or not.

The question of balancing individual freedoms against the need to create rules of law that protect all citizens is a part of the bedrock of freedom itself. Laws that limit personal freedoms however, exist, and almost everyone would agree, should exist. No one wants their children to be preyed on by that child rapist, or to be killed by someone driving the wrong way on that one-way street.

The standard I recall from school is that laws limiting personal freedoms must be necessary and are inacted when a need to protect outweighs individual liberties .

Looking at the issue of limiting power... It wasn't any harder to kill someone with a few tons of steel when I was a kid than it is now. If anything it might have been easier without the disc brakes, ABS, and all the rest of the goodies that might now save your bacon, but didn't exist then.

We also have serious consequences for negligence while driving and if anything enforcement is on the rise.

I think the need to limit power now, to say it is necessary where it wasn't before, or that such a limit would serve its purpose; is at best, questionable.

 

I would agree with this, I don't think this rises to that standard

 

FWIW, the Tesla Plaid greatly benefits from the optional Carbon Ceramic disk brakes and getting rid of the yoke did make the car safer. That car was too heavy and quick for the stock brakes.