2026 Mercedes-Benz S-Class review: Mercedes reinvents the S-class and makes it intelligent

We were in Germany to drive the mid-life facelift of the Mercedes flagship as it tries to retain its status as the bestselling luxury sedan in the world.

The Mercedes-Benz S-class has for long been the market leader of its prestigious segment but has struggled to maintain its supremacy in the last year or so due to the tech advancements and raising of the bar by the BMW 7-series in large part and the availability of an electric powertrain on the BMW. In 2025 the sales of the S-class dropped by nearly 20 per cent globally, while BMW slightly grew the sales of the 7-series to bring the two closer together in sales figures than they have ever been in normal years.

Mid-life facelift

While mid-life facelifts usually go beyond just cosmetic changes, the claim by Mercedes that the car is 50 per cent new with over 2,700 parts changed or new goes to show that Mercedes has taken the threat posed by its biggest rival quite seriously and near about change the car without actually changing the bodyshell.

Exteriors

While the cosmetic changes abound in the front of the car where a bigger grille (now illuminated) and the new headlamps are striking, the biggest change of them all is the move to various takes on the three pointed star as the signature of not just Mercedes but the S-class itself. The starry grille is a take on from the new BEVs while the signature in the tail lamps that is echoed in the headlamps as well is a taken on from the tail lamps of the E-class.

On the exteriors, wheel designs have changed as well while the front fenders on either side now get a new camera that helps with advance assistance features.

That may not look like a 50 per cent changed car, but the new S-class is as changed from the old one as one possibly can without changing the bodyshell.

Interiors

Apart from the changes to the displays on the inside, the centre console design is also new and I think finally someone has got it right as to phone slots in cars. Now there are two charging pads next to each other, both easily accessible by the driver and the passenger and neither are they too big or two small. And that to me is the biggest leap forward of the S class where it is not revolutionary but has got countless small things right. The steering wheel is more tactile and takes back some of the progress to again get it just right – the controls on the steering wheel neither being too futuristic nor too old school but giving a best of both worlds – and that may very well now be the path to the future.

At the rear again the progression is so much better. Instead of a single tablet for the rear seat passengers to use, each of them now gets their own controller in the form of a removable smart phone like device. The screens for the rear passengers are also bigger and have an integrated webcam for video calls on the go.

While the entire climate control system has gone electronic with the vents not opening and closing electrically and there being numerous settings and profiles where the vents and the air flow gets adjusted by itself according to presets, the air purification system also goes electronic and intelligent.

New software architecture

The interiors are mostly all new and as is most of the software that drives and controls almost everything in the car, ranging from the assistance systems to the infotainment systems to the drive, ride and handling systems as well as how one interacts with the car.

On the inside, the integrated 4th generation MBUX hyper-screen now makes its debut in the S-class that now has three screens instead of the two earlier. The 12.3-inch passenger screen and the 14.4-inch central screen are behind the same glass panel while the instrument panel is another 12.3-inch floating display. But the biggest change is the software and the hardware that drives the displays on these screens.

Now powered by the MB.OS software architecture that we first saw on the CLA BEV the new car’s supercomputers that run all the electronics and intelligence functions are Nvida Drive AGX Thor systems on a chip used as the primary processors. The S-class has two of these integrated on a board to form the Nvida Drive Hyperion architecture that will not only provides redundancies but have enough computing power for multiple upgrades to the car to enable autonomous driving and other assistance and drive-related functions of the future. With such advanced computing the 4th gen MBUX now provides the latest version of ChatGPT, Microsoft Bing and Google Gemini built in with the inbuilt navigation run off Google Maps.

Upgraded ADAS

Currently, the car provides Level 2 ++ ADAS and has upgraded functionality from the previous car. With 10 external cameras, five radars and 12 ultrasonic sensors, not only can the S-class now recognise parking spots before actually coming to them but can also park in non-conventional spaces that can double as parking spots, with or without differentiating lines, covered with grass or in between trees for example. Not only that but it parks by itself at double the speed of what it did earlier. Not only does the car steer by itself for changing lanes when prompted but also takes evasive action by steering around objects in its path like broken down lorries. The system can brake for stop signs and the car can come to a stop on its own at red traffic lights.

Engines

The drivetrains are similar to before but all the engines are upgraded and in the case of the top-of-the-line V8, this is evolution is perhaps the biggest work done on an internal combustion engine since the pandemic. The line-up starts with the EVO versions of the inline 6-cylinder petrol and diesel engines, both in two states of tune each and both also now being mild hybrids and also two versions of the plug-in hybrids, again powered by the inline 6 and having 100km of electric only range.

Driving Experience

And that is the recurring theme on the car – intelligence and intelligent. While the under the body stuff has not changed much, it has got more intelligent. The Airmatic suspension is now intelligent whether one gets the option of active body control or not. And the rear wheel steering now can turn upto an angle of 10 degrees thereby making short work U-turns and cutting down the turning circle by over 2 metres for the long wheel base car.

While driving, the car feels more agile and nimble, gets up to speeds quicker and rides as good if not better. Where I felt it to be the most different is in its handling of really bad road surfaces and speed bumps.

All the engine variants get up to the top speed of 250kmph with nonchalance and even the plug-in hybrids. The 450e that will be launched in India features a total output of 435bhp and peak torque of 680Nm. It will get up to 100kmph in 5.7 seconds and now features a 27.8kWh battery pack that can drive the car up to 108km as per WLTP and to a top speed of 140kmph on electricity alone. The only drawback of the plug-in hybrids is that the boot space does get compromised as the floor of the boot is raised.

India Launch Edition

Mercedes-Benz India has confirmed that the launch version of the upgraded S-class will be the plug-in hybrid, in India for the first time. While there is the 580e that I drove in Germany, there is also the 450e and this will be the one that will come to India, possibly to be assembled in the country at a later date. Once local assembly starts, both petrol and diesel powertrains will be considered and with things remaining as they are, I expect both to be present in the line-up now bolstered by the plug-in hybrid.

VERDICT

Mercedes seems to have added intelligence to every core of the car and while the car is not revolutionary, it is better than before in every aspect. From the driving experience to the powertrains, from the assistance systems to the MBUX with Gemini, ChatGPT and Bing built in and a supercomputer at the back of it – Mercedes has got the architecture right to build on for the future. And launching with the plug-in hybrid is another masterstroke for India because it will differentiate the car and keep it in the exalted space that it has made its own over the years.

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