Mercedes-Benz S560 Coupe 2018 review
- 6 years ago
Mercedes-Benz S560 Coupe 2018 review
As a luxury product both to admire and to spend time in, the S560 Coupé certainly seems to hit an appealing spot; at least it does in this tester’s estimation. I’ve often been told that I don’t think like a well-heeled customer when reviewing cars like this. Short of taking an automatic weapon into my next pay review, I suspect that can’t be helped.
The car’s cabin is at once inviting, plush and exotic. While there are bits of brightwork inside it that feel like metal (door pulls, speaker grilles, heater controls) and other bits that clearly don’t (steering wheel trim, infotainment buttons), overall the interior wants for very little lavishness or opulent tactile feel. There’s a matching elegance and luxury-level presence about the S560’s outward appearance, too.
And, contrary to what you might expect, that new V8 engine can feel like the heart and soul of refinement when you want it to; it can even run in variable displacement mode, on just four cylinders, to save fuel. Quiet at idle and smooth under power, the engine is suavely managed by the car’s nine-speed torque converter automatic gearbox when you’re driving the car in Comfort mode.
It’s a typically responsive engine, too, with enough accessible mid-range torque to make the S560 capable of pouring on pace without seeming to work for it. In Sport mode, while you’d say the car clearly isn’t in the ‘super GT’ big league for outright pace, it can hold it own — and then some. And it sounds like an authentic, woofling V8 AMG performance machine while doing so.
The car’s overarching smoothness, its comfortable, well-sealed cabin and the isolated feel of its controls combine with Mercedes’ full suite of active driver aids to make long-distance driving feel like something of a privilege.
As a luxury product both to admire and to spend time in, the S560 Coupé certainly seems to hit an appealing spot; at least it does in this tester’s estimation. I’ve often been told that I don’t think like a well-heeled customer when reviewing cars like this. Short of taking an automatic weapon into my next pay review, I suspect that can’t be helped.
The car’s cabin is at once inviting, plush and exotic. While there are bits of brightwork inside it that feel like metal (door pulls, speaker grilles, heater controls) and other bits that clearly don’t (steering wheel trim, infotainment buttons), overall the interior wants for very little lavishness or opulent tactile feel. There’s a matching elegance and luxury-level presence about the S560’s outward appearance, too.
And, contrary to what you might expect, that new V8 engine can feel like the heart and soul of refinement when you want it to; it can even run in variable displacement mode, on just four cylinders, to save fuel. Quiet at idle and smooth under power, the engine is suavely managed by the car’s nine-speed torque converter automatic gearbox when you’re driving the car in Comfort mode.
It’s a typically responsive engine, too, with enough accessible mid-range torque to make the S560 capable of pouring on pace without seeming to work for it. In Sport mode, while you’d say the car clearly isn’t in the ‘super GT’ big league for outright pace, it can hold it own — and then some. And it sounds like an authentic, woofling V8 AMG performance machine while doing so.
The car’s overarching smoothness, its comfortable, well-sealed cabin and the isolated feel of its controls combine with Mercedes’ full suite of active driver aids to make long-distance driving feel like something of a privilege.