At Mercedes-Benz, There Remain Instances in Which There's No Replacement for Displacement

Timothy Cain
by Timothy Cain

Want a six-cylinder engine?

Don’t buy a two-door Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

For the 2018 model year, Mercedes-Benz will offer a S450 sedan with a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter V6. It’s not underpowered. 362 horsepower produce a claimed 0-60 miles per hour time of 5.1 seconds.

But sometimes, every now and then, in a handful of remaining instances, Mercedes-Benz evidently believes there is no replacement for displacement. The Mercedes-Benz S-Class coupe and cabriolet?

V8s and V12s only, thank you very much.

Thoroughly revamped for the 2018 model year, the 2018 Mercedes-Benz S-Class continues to be the technological tour de force you always expect it to be. But the S-Class, in particular the S-Class sans rear doors, is also a horsepower showcase. The “basic” 2018 S560 will utilize a new 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with 463 horsepower.

Yeah, we don’t know what “560” has to do with a 4.0-liter, either. But the time for debating those contradictions with automakers, Mercedes-Benz and others, has sadly passed. 560 does not and will not represent a 5.6-liter engine, but it does represent major league power.

Two upgrades are available for the S-Class two-door, pricing for which currently starts at $123,745. The AMG S63 also features a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8, but power jumps from the S560’s 463 ponies to 603. The V12-engined S65, also a twin-turbo, adds another 18 horses. As for the sedan, upgrading from six-cylinder power to the V8-engined S560 requires precisely $10,000. That’s $99 for every extra bhp; $68 for every extra lb-ft of torque.

Automotive News reports that Mercedes-Benz’s 2018 S-Class timeline will include cars that go on sale in the first half of 2018, but only briefly, before 2019 models arrive in 2018 Q3. In the meantime, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class continues to be the straw that stirs the full-size luxury segment’s drink.

The S-Class, which includes two-door models that used to operate under the CL-Class banner, is on track for a four-year U.S. sales low of roughly 15,000 sales. But its best-selling direct rival, the BMW 7 Series, generates barely more than half that many sales.

[Images: Daimler AG]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.

Timothy Cain
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  • NoID NoID on Sep 11, 2017

    Only 18 more horses when opting for the V12? I guess at that point you're paying for powertrain refinement.

  • Reclusive_in_nature Reclusive_in_nature on Sep 12, 2017

    I lust for an S Class coupe so very, very much. Two doors, eight (or twelve)cylinders, and the world's quietest interior. Just as God intended. I rack my mind daily trying to conceive of a way to comfortably own and maintain such a ride.

  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
  • Jalop1991 what, no Turbo trim?
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