Quick Take: 2021 Mercedes-Benz S580
Something which the Cartrast team always wonders about is the future of automotive luxury. Luxury cars tend to showcase the best of comfort and performance that a vehicle can offer. While we were attending the Western Automotive Journalists Media Days event, we had the chance to try out the 2021 Mercedes-Benz S580 sedan, a vehicle considered by many to be a standard bearer for luxury cars. With an entirely different user interface from previous S-Classes as well as a redesigned, sleeker interior and exterior, we wanted to see if the new S-Class still sets the guidelines of what an upscale vehicle should be.
Numerous high-tech features came standard, such as the MBUX system which allowed us to use voice commands to utilize the controls once we said “Hey Mercedes,” a dash camera, and Our S580 test car had options such as an augmented reality head-up display, a 3D instrument cluster, heated as well as ventilated outboard rear seats, and rear-axle steering that could rotate the rear wheels up to 4.5 degrees. Notably, the test car also had the 1,750-watt Burmester 4D audio system with 30 speakers and seat-integrated resonators (which vibrated the seats in sync with the music) which sounded awesome.
The S580 comes with a twin-turbocharged V-8 making 496 horsepower which provides way more than enough power as well as AIRMATIC air suspension and infrared-reflecting laminated glass which both make the car very comfortable and quiet on rough roads, even when shod with 21-inch wheels like our test car was. In the ergonomics department, the 12.8-inch OLED touchscreen display for the infotainment was very intuitive to use in conjunction with the “Hey Mercedes” voice commands. On the winding back roads of Half Moon Bay, handling was superb and we never felt the weight of the S580 in the corners.
Overall, whoever ends up getting behind the wheel of the S580 sedan will take plenty of pleasure during their time with the car. The interior is an extraordinarily pleasant place to be, a sentiment that we think many customers will share. If the future of automotive luxury is like what we sampled in the S580, we’re all for it.
