The king of the luxury segment meets its eternal rival
Some things never change and one of them is Mercedes-Benz S-Class’ outright dominance of the luxury sedan segment.
But do competitors just accept that supremacy and move on with their lives? Of course not, and that’s one of the reasons the S-Class gets better with each generation. The eternal challenger is BMW’s 7 Series and in its latest iteration the Bavarian flagship has got closer than ever to its arch rival.
But does it have what it takes to unseat the king? MotorTrend’s Head 2 Head latest episode tries to find that out by pitting a 2016 BMW 750i against a 2015 Mercedes-Benz S 550 (known as the S 500 in Europe). Both have V8 twin-turbocharged gasoline engines that develop nearly identical power and torque levels, so they should be quite close in terms of performance.
They’re also very well equipped, which is to be expected for cars costing more than $100,000. Both are comfortable, quiet, refined, and quick. But it’s the small details that make the difference.
We’re not going to spoil this video for you, but we’ll just say this: the 7 Series arrived on the market two years later than the S-Class and yet the car doesn’t quite show it.