Rare Rides: A 2000 Mercedes-Benz S 600 Designo, Bespoke in Blue

In 2000, shortly before the ill-fated revival of the Maybach brand into a gauche purveyor of S-Class Baroque Editions, the 12-cylinder S 600 resided at the top of the Mercedes-Benz model hierarchy. This example in particular was ordered with a unique feature at the behest of a very well-heeled original owner.

Read more
Rare Rides: A 1991 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEC, End of an Era

Today’s Rare Ride was the ultimate display of Germanic automotive wealth in the early Nineties. Always rarer than its sedan brother, the SEC was the S-Class with two doors and no pillars.

Let’s check out a hardtop from the arguable height of modern Mercedes-Benz engineering.

Read more
Mercedes-Benz Axes a Pair of Two-doors

Long rumored to be on the chopping block, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class coupe and cabriolet are now confirmed to be heading into their last year of existence.

The automaker confirmed the death sentence for these luxuriously large two-doors in its 2021 model year rundown, sealing the fate of yet another coupe and drop-top in the increasingly SUV-centric global auto landscape. Niche models, to be sure, but the impending loss is made all the more painful by the fact that Benz’s biggest coupe is pillarless.

Read more
Bolder, or Blander? Upcoming Mercedes-Benz S-Class Apparently Spied

A Spanish Instagram account seemingly leaked photos of an uncovered next-generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class late Tuesday, showing off the flagship’s new face and caboose and revealing something far more noteworthy: a screen-heavy cockpit that throws tradition to the wind.

Read more
Junkyard Find: 1992 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL

Top-of-the-line German luxury sedans are worth plenty… until, suddenly, their values slam down to salvage-title Hyundai Scoupe territory. For today’s Junkyard Find, an early W140 S-Class that sold new for the 2020 equivalent of $175,000, now parked between a couple of prole-grade Japanese machines in a Phoenix yard.

Read more
Buy/Drive/Burn: Big German Luxury Sedans of 1991

They’re large, expensive, and hail from a time when the sedan was king of the luxury pyramid. German exclusivity personified in three flagships — but which will you burn?

Read more
Buy/Drive/Burn: V12 Luxury Coupes to Drain Your Wallet in 1993

They’re big, expensive, luxurious, and have 12 cylinders sitting under their long hoods. All of them will deplete your checkbook in multiple ways, but you can only take one home with you.

What’s it gonna be?

Read more
Audi Planning Luxurious A8 to Rival Mercedes-Maybach, Resurrection of Horch Name: Report

Audi’s fourth-generation A8 sedan is the pinnacle of the brand’s opulence, so long as you’re willing to ignore every model that begins with the letter R and the forthcoming Q8. Starting at $83,800 before destination, the A8 isn’t cheap. But it does represent a relative bargain compared to the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, a model which has long been the poster child for automotive grandeur.

While the A8 is sumptuous affair, the S-Class pulls away the second Daimler tacks on the Maybach prefix and its corresponding price tag. Finding its competitive spirit, Audi is resurrecting the historic Horch name to rival Mercedes’ super-luxury flagship. Available within the next two to three years, the Horch A8 will feature additional creature comforts, palatial touches, and a much higher price tag than the car it’s based upon.

Read more
Rare Rides: The Sports/Luxury Mercedes-Benz 6.9 of 1979

It’s time to check out the flagship of a flagship. What happens when an S-Class is cross-pollinated with the largest V8 engine Mercedes-Benz can offer, then loaded up with cutting-edge automotive tech?

Why, it’s the 6.9.

Read more
QOTD: What's Your Favorite German Car From the 1990s?

Ah the Nineties. Lots of cylinders, reliable new technology, and wide-track styling. But enough about Pontiac and the 3800 V6, because we’re talking today about German cars from the era.

Which German vehicles from the best decade really caught your eye?

Read more
Mercedes-Benz Updates the S-Class With More of Everything for 2018

Mercedes-Benz has unveiled the refreshed S-Class at the Shanghai Motor Show, and every model in the lineup receives a laundry list of upgrades for 2018.

While technological conveniences remain the S-Class’ bread and butter, Mercedes has expanded trim choices, color options, and is even offering new engine choices on several models.

Read more
Junkyard Find: 1986 Mercedes-Benz 560 SEL, Bubba's Cab Edition

The Mercedes-Benz W126 S-Class was the king of 1980s sedans and it sold very well in the United States. You’ll still see plenty of them on the street today and it’s rare that a California self-service wrecking yard doesn’t have at least one fully depreciated, high-mile example in stock. I haven’t paid much attention to these cars for this series, but that changed when I saw a 560SEL taxi in a San Francisco Bay Area wrecking yard.

Read more
The Saudi Royals Ride In Benzes and Escalades, Not Audis

Notwithstanding Remy’s hugely popular Saudis in Audis rap video, it appears that Saudi Arabian King Salman and his entourage prefer Stuttgart and Detroit to Ingolstadt.

The King and his retinue arrived at Andrews Air Force Base on Thursday, flying in on four Boeing 747 airliners for a state visit with President Obama. A fleet of Mercedes-Benz S Class sedans, Cadillac Escalade SUVs, a couple M-B Sprinter vans and what looks like one International school bus were awaiting Salman and his attendants. Carol Lee, the White House correspondent for the Wall Street Journal tweeted out the photo above.

Read more
Chart of the Day: America's Favorite Expensive Vehicles in 2015's First Six Months

So many upper-crust products sit at the top of their respective automaker’s lineup and do little more than look pretty. They are flagships, technological showcases, standard bearers.

On the other hand, there’s the Mercedes-Benz S-Class, with its base price of more than $95,000 in the United States. Flagship? Yes. Technological showcase? That, too. Standard-bearer? Of course. But the S-Class is also popular.

Read more
Cain's Segments: January Sales Of Flagship Luxury Cars

Mercedes-Benz USA’s S-Class outsold its next-best-selling rival by more than two-to-one in January 2015. S-Class volume jumped 22% from the level achieved in January 2014, a year-ago period in which the latest S-Class was already on sale.

In other words, no longer are we observing massive S-Class upticks because the new car is being compared with the low late-in-lifecycle achievements of the W221 S-Class. Since the W222 S-Class arrived in the fall of 2013, more than 32,000 have been sold in the United States.

Read more
  • Oberkanone My grid hurts!Good luck with installing charger locations at leased locations with aging infrastructure. Perhaps USPS would have better start modernizing it's Post offices to meet future needs. Of course, USPS has no money for anything.
  • Dukeisduke If it's going to be a turbo 4-cylinder like the new Tacoma, I'll pass.BTW, I see lots of Tacomas on the road (mine is a 2013), but I haven't seen any 4th-gen trucks yet.
  • Oberkanone Expect 4Runner to combine best aspects of new Land Cruiser and new Tacoma and this is what I expect from 2025 4Runner.Toyota is REALLY on it's best game recently. Tacoma and Land Cruiser are examples of this.
  • ArialATOMV8 All I hope is that the 4Runner stays rugged and reliable.
  • Arthur Dailey Good. Whatever upsets the Chinese government is fine with me. And yes they are probably monitoring this thread/site.