For sure! Lol

 

Then all I needed to do what change the tense to W126 "was" superior then to current S-Classses you see today.

I'm saying back then that was probably the best car in the world. There were no cheap materials like in yours, there was no budget, no cost cutting, it was basically a "**** it, go allll in" vehicle and the price reflected it.

Of course a new one is "better" but car vs car in their prime the W126 was superior.

 

I don't agree, at this price point owners have very exacting expectations and many do open their hoods to just look at the engine they blew $100k+ on.

Even if someone doesn't look it should still be finished properly for the price point IMO.

 

The engine probably has a pretty cover on it.

Something nice to look at when and if they ever pop the hood. Haha 😀 🖖 🍿

 

People like to show off their new cars, hood open is a key part of that process lol!

 

I think the S Class is as much the "best car in the world" as its ever been. Back in that day you had Rolls Royces and Bentleys etc that were better cars, just like you do today. The S Class remains the best "remotely attainable car" in the world. And there's always a budget, S Classes did not have leather standard as an example, they were cloth or vinyl, they were very austere inside...

Look at this one, plenty of crummy plastic, manual windows, cloth seats:



Cars today are just different and have to be measured using a different yardstick.

 

We are car enthusiasts, Probably people you hang out with are car enthusiasts so you might feel this way. But I don't see the average 60+ S class driver popping the hood too often. They might open it once or twice when it's new, but most probably only the technician at the dealership will ever really see under the hood.

But yes, I agree it should be finished properly. However, just because you can see the wire doesn't necessarily mean it's not. As long as it's protected and lasts long enough, then so be it.

 

Proving my point....if they notice the tacked on wire the few times they do open the hood how do you think they might react to it?

 

There was no budget for the W126. A 1986 560SEL would be $207,000 today.

Rolls and Bentleys of the time were more opulent but junk by comparison, are you serious???


1986 Rolls. That is a piece of **** directly compared to a W126 except for opulence. The windows don't even roll all the way down because of the door lock mechanism... great engineering. Drive both of those cars around a track (within reason) and watch that Rolls fall apart and the MB come alive sorta.

Those are foreign W126 S-Class models you posted, in America they were far more luxurious and had power windows lol. However the build and tank-ness in those stripper ones is just as good..

S Class is great but it's not the best car on the road anymore, certainly not placed in the stratosphere like it was then.

FWIW I think W126 used the same dash material as my car, if so it's definitely not cheap. It's equally as nice as my LS430's trim, my SL's is. I actually like it better honestly.

Go right here skip to 2:30 and see what I mean about S-Classes kinda kicking *** on tracks.

Couldn't find a W126 doing that, but you get it. No sports car by any means but essentially driver's cars.

 

Hopefully, they'll be looking down instead of up

 

A 1986 560SEL new was about 53,000. Thats $156,000 today. That was also the top spec S Class. the 420 SEL was about $45k which was about $136k. A 2026 S580 starts at $132k.

People who bought them would disagree completely. Its all in the eye of the beholder.

It really wasn't the best car on the road back then either, its all just looking back with rose colored glasses. They came with cloth and MBTex in the US too.

Its all just rubberized plastic, the new ones are all stitched leather everywhere. That W126 had a lot of hard plastic on the lower console etc. LS430 doesn't have incredible materials inside either if they aren't ULs.

The modern S Class is an incredible handling car for what it is. Way better than the W140 or the W126 in that regard. If it happened to have eABC its amazing in that regard.

 

They were $70 grand or close to it at one point.

Yes they would I'm sure, because the Rolls were nicer. But car vs car, engineering vs engineering, it's W126 all day.

Today there are equally good cars on the road.

It really isn't. Back then a 560SEL was just the big kahuna and everyone knew it.

Oh yes it does, I've posted pictures before. CL or ULs are even nicer, yes. But look at all the trim, it is so high quality it's ridiculous.... and soft to the touch. There is absolutely NOTHING cheap in an LS430's interior.






Look at how high quality the trim is by the alarm light and ignition for example, it's all soft to the touch. Even the base LSs were pleasure palaces inside.

Of course it is, you keep missing my point. The S-Class is not above and beyond every single other car on the road basically like an old 560 was. In 1986, a 560 was more highly regarded than a current W223 is now.

 

I looked it up, those base MSRPs I posted are correct.

Depends on what you consider "equally good". Honestly, I don't think there is a sedan on the road that has everything as right as the S Class. The 7 Series is too polarizing outside, the A8 is too sporty and not luxurious enough inside. "The best car in the world" doesn't mean the best at everything, it means the best overall product.

These were the comments about the refresh on a BMW Enthusiast facebook page about which one would you choose?




S580 today is the big kahuna too. I get tons of remarks about it. Just a couple weeks ago I picked my son up from school and he saw one of his friends and rolled the window down, and the kid was gushing over the car. A 10 year old kid! When people see it or I mention what I have their eyes go wide. I actually don't like that.

I had one lol. Theres nothing "cheap", but the materials are not over the top. Personally I found the door pulls on the non CL car cheap feeling because the LS400 had full leather armrests and on the 430 you needed to get the UL to get that. The interior is mostly all rubberized plastic, not leather or metal etc.

Again, you're looking back with rose colored glasses. I never found the old W126 or W140 to be above and beyond any other car. Honestly, they didn't appeal to me and I preferred the LS on every level.

 

This is all just your opinion vs mine lol. I've been driving my LS430 for 14 years and still drive it all the time, it's all top notch in there trust me.

Yes an S-Class is still "king", absolutely. But I'd rather have a GM Cadillac Escalade V than any S-Class, even an AMG for example. It's not how it was.

Back then I would buy an S-Class and not even consider anything else, absolutely positively.

Your preferences just as mine are opinions. A W126 IMO beat everything in its day.

A 560SEL was close to 70 grand at one point, I'm pretty sure.

 

The LS430 is an incredibly nice and well built car, but its not "over the top" the way luxury cars are today is my point, neither were MBs at the time. My entire dash, doors are all covered in stitched leather, my headliner is suede, all my speaker grills are machined metal...its just different today. My car has no rubberized plastic at all, everything is leather.

Nothing like the Escalade V existed back then lol. The idea of a luxury SUV didn't exist, nowadays its different. In order to want an Escalade V or not you have to want an SUV, and an SUV is not as good as the S Class at doing the things that the S Class does well, which is ride people around in quiet comfort and project stability and prestige in a subtle way. Thats why all of these stars and all are a little beyond what an S Class is supposed to telegraph...but I suppose they need to do that for China, etc.

Thats what Mercedes means when they call the S Class "the best car in the world", its the overall package and what it brings to the table and I have a hard time thinking of a car that is better "overall"...I can think of cars that are better in individual ways sure.

All you have to do is google the year and model and original MSRP and AI does the rest. I'm sure it was $70k in subsequent years remember the late 80s very early 90s had bad inflation. A 1987 560SEL was $10k more than a 1986 560SEL.