In a Maybach, the star of the show is almost always whoever is sitting in the back, and that’s why this 215.9-inch sedan has seats that rival even the best that Lay-Z-Boy and every premium airline has to offer. They can massage you, heat you, cool you, recline you to a near horizontal state while moving the front passenger seat out of the way, and remind you that you truly are better than everyone else. Of course, there’s even a refrigerator between the two seats with silver-plated Robbe & Berking champagne flutes if you want to turn your business lunch into an entire afternoon out of the office.
On the front seatbacks are a pair of 13.1-inch touchscreens (that also have iPhone 5–sized touchscreen remotes in case you’re reclined too far back) that’ll allow rear passengers to adjust the power sunshades, climate controls, media apps, the seats themselves, and other infotainment functions. Because the rear passengers are such titans of industry, there are even cameras built into the screen’s bezels for taking video conference calls on the go.
Mercedes-Maybach
While their operation is very slick, I’ve gotta say, the 31.3-inch screens found in the back of the BMW 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz VLE are a step above the S-Class’s dual-screen setup. (Both screens are the same size and resolution, so now I need to know if they share a supplier, but that’s for another story.) The two rear seaters also get a wireless charging pad to share, some normal cup holders that are far too far away from the seats for easy use, and leather-wrapped speakers. Plus the 31-speaker, 1,690-watt Burmester 4D audio sound system is optimized for back-seat passengers, with exciters in the seats. Getting in and out is a cinch too, because even if the driver fails at his duties of opening and closing your door, a simple button push will do it for you.
While being driven in this peaceful serenity through the south of France, I had time to think about the important things in life: trickle-down economics, the average price of jet fuel, my secretary’s goddamn name and, of course, if my name will be in the next tranche of Epstein Files released. This was only possible because the Mercedes-Maybach S580 did such a wonderful job of isolating me from the world outside. I didn’t have time to look at the Riviera, and I felt no need to. My other senses were occupied by the smell of rich leather and the feel of a fabulous massage working the never-ending stresses of my day out of my back.
Mercedes-Maybach
Helping in all of this was the S580’s Maybach drive mode, which is tuned to make the car’s ride even more geared toward rear passenger comfort — a notch up from Comfort mode, even. Every single bump is dispatched like an unruly houseguest at an Upper West Side dinner party: swiftly and silently, like they were never even there in the first place.
While most folks who shell out the over $200,000 it takes to buy a Maybach S-Class are going to want to sit in the wonderfully voluptuous rear seats, there are the rare few who care about driving and, well, that’s too bad. A sports car this 5,335-pound beast is not. In terms of steering directness, it punches ever-so-slightly above its weight class, but there’s almost no feel whatsoever. Why would there be? I’d honestly be a bit shocked if there was. Try as the Airmatic suspension might, it rolls quite a bit in the corners, but you already knew that was going to happen, and the big brakes do an admirable job of hauling in the ample power. Though, it must be said they require a lot of travel on the pedal — probably because Maybach engineers don’t want drivers to make the owners accidentally spill their drink during a jerky stop. I get it.
Something I do not get, though, is Mercedes’ decision to drop the steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters in favor of a manual transmission mode that is operated by pushing or pulling on the column-mounted gear selector. It’s something we first saw on the CLA hybrid, and while almost nobody is manually shifting a Maybach, its action is goofy to say the least.
Andy Kalmowitz / Jalopnik
And every once in a while I did want to downshift, because the engine is a real peach. While it may only be the base motor, the revamped M177 Evo twin-turbocharged mild-hybrid 4.0-liter V8 still produces a more-than-healthy 530 horsepower and 553 pound-feet of torque — enough oomph to rocket to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds and continue to an electronically limited top speed of 130 mph with the help of a 9-speed automatic transmission and standard 4Matic all-wheel drive.
This motor is very good, and it’s the cheaper and the quicker of the two available for sale in America, but you’d have to be a poor or a fool to get it, because any Maybach buyer worth their salt needs to put on their big boy pants and step up to the now-U.S.-exclusive V12-powered S680. Everywhere else in the world, the S680 is now powered by a hopped-up version of the M177, but not in God’s country. Here, we get a twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter V12 making 621 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque. The V12 is slower to 60 mph by four tenths of a second compared to the V8, but who gives a rat’s ass? Sure, the V8 is great, but if you’re getting a flagship luxury sedan and a V12 is available, there’s really only one way to go, and the V12 has an identical top speed, all-wheel-drive system and transmission to the V8.
