Ever since the Maybach debuted, the Mercedes S-Class has slightly lacked in top-of-the-line prestige at Daimler-Benz. Judging by these interior shots of the new 2014 W222 S-Class, it looks like that’s finally changed. Now it's more like the hi-tech interior of a private jet, just as it should be.
First of all, take a look at these materials. They are significantly nicer than anything I own. Wood, weighted buttons, stitched leather. It looks like the lobby of a hotel I can’t afford to look at. And the seats in the rear recline like a business class jet. It's not a first class recline like in a passenger van, but at least the Merc doesn't give a free candy vibe.
Back to the gizmos, Mercedes is touting their new “energizing” hot massage function, reverse-flow seat ventilation fans, and heated armrests. That hot massage uses the seat's 14 separately-activated air bladders along together with the seat heating function. Mercedes says this is a world first, and that it was developed with physiotherapists and psychologists.
Up front, the Sonderklasse now chases after the big screen kings at Tesla with two 12.3 inch displays. One serves as the instrument panel and the other does infotainment, with their splitview system. The picture Mercedes chose to show off the S-class' graphics was them playing "California Gurls." Apparently their engineers like to party.
There’s a new generation of Mercedes’ infotainment system, which supposedly is cloud-based. What that means is that it has integrated Facebook, Yelp, Google Street View, and Google searches for local points of interest. It didn't work very well when the company showed off its current iteration at CES, but it's possible that the updated version for this S-Class will be handier. We know the graphics will be better, but the five-point wheel/mouse may still be clunky, as Autoblog found when they tested the current system hands-on.
But seriously, take a longer look at that interior and ask if you really want the ‘superior driving dynamics’ of the BMW 7 series.
Road and Track has some exterior shots of the car that you can see here. It looks a bit like a humongous E-Class.
Photo Credits: Mercedes-Benz