Rolling comfort and mechanical refinement are qualities that seem to be designed out of the new car market by the year, sacrificed for added safety, performance and dynamism.
The Mercedes S-Class waves the flag for those former qualities with spectacular fervour, however – just as it should in a segment where choosing to drive the car in question is an optional activity.
Everything this car does, from control input to resulting response, is engineered to happen quietly and with the minimum of intrusiveness to the company director reposing in the back seat.
Which is why the fact that what's likely to be the most popular model, the diesel S 350d, needs fully a second longer than an equivalent Jaguar XJ to hit 60mph matters not a jot. It trades outright pace for the ability to move away from a standstill with beautiful smoothness and to change gears imperceptibly even at wide throttle openings.
Convention says this should be the noisy diesel of the range, but the isolation of the car’s 282bhp 3.0-litre straight-six is absolutely staggering. With the doors thunked tight shut, the engine’s idle is just about audible from inside the cabin, but on the move – when operating at cruising revs – it really isn’t.
