Merc1

This is not the first time a "regular" car has beaten royalty at C&D. Back in the the early 90's they compared a 560SEL, 750iL, LS400 and Bentley Turbo R. They finished in the following order 1.BMW 2.MB 3.Lexus and in 4th place was the Bentley. Curiously "hood shake" was a problem for the Bentley back then.

In truth a top end Mercedes has likely always been a better "car" or a more functional one than a Rolls-Royce especially in the days of the antique Rollers of the 70s,80s (especially the 80s) and the 90's, but the Rolls has always been "more car" than the Benz. Its the looks, implied station in life, craftsmanship of the interior, the materials the whole non-mass production thing, but on the technical a S-Class kills a Rolls or Bentley, but it doesn't have the same mojo if you will. Roberto is right there. I would like to see the Maybach 57S or 62 compared to the Phantom not the S600, though I did enjoy reading this comparo.

M

Curb Zone

 

Hypersonic

OH..yes, I would most certainly agree with that, but the current Phantom is still an excellent car an if you observe closely the places where the S class excels and the Phantom falls down, they are completely obvious and predictable - taking this into consideration, the Phantom really doesn't do so badly - lets not forget the S class will beat every other four door saloon on the market in a comparison test as well.

The most interesting observation that can be made of this comparison is, going by this test, we can assume that this new S class is technically superior to the Maybach too ..........does this not make the whole point of the Maybach irrelevant? ........unlike the Phantom, the Maybach was intended to, and seeks to be, assessed by the same pragmatic parameters as the S class was.

The Artist

yeah man never said that the roller wasent good.. it got to be good it costs like a house..

like you said we shouldnt forget that its being compared to the best 4 door in the world at this moment

Merc1

This is true except for maybe the performance aspect of the 57S, but then again a S65 AMG takes care of that too. Well you and I have both agreed long ago that the Maybach situation is one of confusion and a clear lack of focus or mission and this new S I guess really proves it. I guess the maybach can claim exclusivity and more space over the S...lol.

Also, I don't doubt that the Phatom is an awesome car and a different set of parameters or criteria would show it to be superior to the S in the things it excels in if the test were structured that way.

M

Just_me

add Maybach instead of RR and S600 would still win. Thats how good the S-class.

RR sure got a lot more presence, I saw the RR in Geneva and OMG the car is huge and that grill is huge as well. Gigantic car.

RikfromBelgium

it's not the best 4 door in the world, it's the best 4 door in it's segment. It's rather useless to make such an assumption from outside the segment.

Osnabrueck

Think about it this way - if these two cars were compared in a fictitious magazine called "Ostentatious Digest" with an entirely different set of criteria geared exclusively to the wants and needs of the obscenely rich, the Phantom would be cast in an entirely different light.

Splenditenes

That makes good since Osna! this is a weird test that is not based on good principles to begin with.

I`m still wondering why the guy driving the Prius gave the the Rolls drivers the finger!

I also see those flashing brake lights made it to the US, good job MB!

Mr. Chigga_Chan

Yea this is an oddball test...but interesting to me despite the strong points made by Roberto and Osna.

Actually this article is pretty funny, in a rediculous sort of way. The writers even admit that this is a silly comparo, they probably just did this for fun and to get people like us to buy, read and discuss the subject. Its all a conspiracy!

Bozzor

Well said Osna: by any objective measure a Rolls Royce makes no sense. May too much money for only a little more space (that you don't need) and a quieter ride (and most people could not hear or care about the difference). But that is not the point. If it was, Seikos and Citizens would rule the world, no one would buy Versace Rosenthal dinnerware and we would all walk around in cheap suits and screw Brioni. But that is not the way of the world...

Rolls Royce...if you ask why, you just don't get it...

Curb Zone