If you don’t have a V8….your truly not in the same class. The 2023 S class is on a different level.

 

All the cars in that comparison test were 6 cyl though. The S Class can be on a different level, but when you're looking at this comparison its hard to say its "worth" $40,000 more. I do prefer than the S500 is an I6, and I think you see the benefit of that in the powertrain refinement noted vs the competitors.

What a car CAN have doesn't matter to me if its not what I'm buying. Thats why I've never cared about Lexus having a V12 or whatever because, I'd never buy it.

But I could absolutely see myself in a G90 vs a W223 S Class if the product delivers and depending on the actual cost spread (lease cost, etc). Still don't love the interior of the W223.

 

The new Benz is still on whole different level. Even with the I6. Look at the stopping distances. The skid pad. The performance. The fuel economy. The smallest 6 cylinder has the best performance or you or you can have less power, less stopping, less skid which is nothing extraordinary. So when we look at the G90s numbers and performance, they match pretty much a 5 year old LS which is great experience and is amazing but it’s still not next level.

And no V8…just not in the same class. Ford and RAM have V8s in their trucks…no way we could consider the Tundra as a true peer Same here in the luxury sphere

 

Stopping distance and skid pad boil down to having performance summer tires which neither the Lexus or Genesis have as tested. Those tires also help with off-the-line acceleration.

The S-Class being inferior to the G90 in sound isolation and driver comfort, according to this comparison at least, shows that it's not the end-all-be-all here.

The BMW made itself irrelevant by not offering AWD with the 6-cylinder. It's also a lot porkier with the new generation, so we'll see how it fares.

 

I would buy the Mercedes S500 any day.
The G90 beat the LS500, only because the G90 is recently released, while the LS500 was first released in Japan in the second half of 2017.

If I had to predict consumer response, I'd say S Class and 7 Series will continue to sell like hot cakes.
Even though the LS500 is long in the tooth and about to be replaced in the 2nd half of 2024 if Lexus uses the typical 7-year model cycle - I wouldn't be at all surprized if the all new Genesis G90 can NOT outsell the ageing Lexus LS500.

It would be great if the next generation Lexus 6LS could go back to its grass roots and outsell the pants off the Mercedes S Class like it last did in 2007 with 35,000 units/year USA, or relatively speaking now that sedan sales figures are down compared to the uptake of high riding SUV's...

 

We can pray they do but I doubt an 8 will ever return to the LS, if it does I'll buy one but I'm not hopeful.

 

On the question of value that Jill and Steve mention, although one cannot always predict it 100% in advance, one thing that was not mentioned in the article is the (projected) residual value after, say, three years or so......a common length for lease-contracts. When one puts out 100K or more for a vehicle like that, it is not unreasonable to wonder how much of that you could (or will) eventually get back after depreciation. The projected depreciation will also give you at least some idea what lease-payments will be.

Another point that maybe should have be mentioned in the article, and wasn't, is the exorbitant prices that Mercedes charges for parts/repairs/service, particularly for top-line vehicles like the S-Class. Steve has already given us a few examples of this at the Bethesda Euro-Motors dealership where he got his S550.

As for the actual comparison in the article of the three as daily-drivers (or daily-chauffeurs LOL), I'll go along with C&D's findings, having not personally test-driven any of these three.

BTW, I also agree with the earlier comment in the thread about You-Tube reviewers making traditional auto-mags more and more obsolete.

 

As a buyer in this segment I can tell you that the metrics on a page don't really matter. What matters is does the car have a relaxed but confident driving experience, it is really refined and quiet, does it have smooth effortless power, is it spacious and imposing from the outside? There are degrees of excellence at work here. EVERYTHING in the segment is excellent, every car in that segment will deliver you incredible driving comfort and enjoyment. I couldn't even tell you how fast my S560 goes 0-60. Its got a lot more power than my LS460s did, but I was totally happy with the power they had. I have driven them all back to back to back to back and they are very similar.

You're going to have people who chase "the best" and whats the best on paper, and the Mercedes gives you that and those people pay. I can tell you for a fact though having owned one of these cars for 2 years, its a great car but its not so incredibly better that its worth objectively the price premium we're talking about...its just not. In some ways, its not as good. Now that I have had one, I absolutely do not feel like another S Class is the only thing I could possibly drive and be happy. Some people do feel that way, I don't. I would get another one for sure, but I don't feel like I MUST. If this is the S Class I've had and its on to other things thats fine.

As for the Tundra, I absolutely would consider it a peer, it just doesn't compete with the American trucks on every level. I only care about a vehicle competing on the levels where I would buy it. If I've already decided I don't care about a V8, I don't care that the W223 S Class has a V8...I'd be looking at the 500.

There are several people on MB World that traded their W223 S580s in for S500s, and they like the 6 cyl MORE. I have heard the same and read the same reviews of the new Range Rover. I can't say for sure that even if I got another S Class that I would get the 580 over the 500.

Its easy to sit there and say "I would buy this car damn the premium" when you aren't actually buying the car. $40,000 is $40,000....$1,000 a month less means I could get a G90 supercharged AND an LS500. I could get a Supercharged G90 AND a vacation cabin. The difference is substantial. Having "the best" isn't what its always about. An S Class is on a "whole other level" from an E Class, or a G80, but this new G90? Nah. Frankly, as a car and from a driving experience a W223 isn't "on a whole other level" from my LS460L. Technology, well sure.

 

I have no choice but to agree with the obvious that YouTube reviewers and other digital media are killing print magazines, not just in cars but in every category.

But I will say it's a shame in the case of C/D. Clearly they have less space for editorial because carmakers almost never run ads in them anymore (and their website isn't nearly as well written or critical as their print magazine). But there are just a few reliable and interesting YouTube car reviewers. We know who they are -- Savagegeese, Doug DeMuro if he's to your taste, Alex on Autos, Throttle House, Jason Cammisa, one or two others -- and an ocean of crap. C/D will be missed if/when it dies off entirely; theyr'e still one of the highest-quality voices in the industry.

 

If C&D was smart, they would transition more heavily into video media, like MT has done. These YT creators can also be hired...

 

If Toyota wants their Lexus brand to survive on the top end, they need to bring out a new V8. Preferably a hybrid performance type. I don’t think they will succeed at the top for battery electrics.

 

What they need are good EVs coming to market. V8s and other ICEs are the past, as much as I love V8s it makes no sense for Lexus to develop a new V8. This is the last generation of all the ICE major luxury cars. Thats one of the things that would drive me to get an S580, the fact that it almost certainly would be my last ICE car.

 

Lexus lacks brand equity for top end EVs. And V8s are not done…Chevrolet has two different V8s in their Corvettes. One of the is all new Toyota can definitely offer a V8 in their Lexus line up…they are making a big mistake not updated the LC V8. Or the RC or the IS. The LX is the perfect vehicle to have a V8.

 

Corvette is not an ultra luxury sedan. V8s and engines are dead in the luxury space, all the new models coming out are going to be EV. it just doesn’t make sense for them to spend the money to develop a new V8.

IMO EVs are the opportunity for Lexus to hit the reset button, if they develop compelling EVs with great range, they can capture consumers away from other EVs. MB has left a HUGE opportunity for its competitors by making their EVs so polarizing.

 

They could sponsor them too. Doug Demero from C & C