2027 Mercedes S580 4Matic First Test: The Best S-Class Yet?

When does a car become an icon? When people who couldn’t care less about cars know it by sight or by reputation? When it transcends its primary purpose, becomes absorbed by the broader culture as a representative, a synecdoche, an emblem?

Whatever your view, to us at least, the Mercedes-Benz S-Class has become one of those icons, one that has come to symbolize status, engineering excellence, and maximal luxury. But automobiles that have reached iconic heights also have a unique problem in that they need to continue to look like themselves all while steadily improving, year after year. That brings us to our test subject: the 2027 S580 4Matic, which has its work cut out for it.

Like any S-Class, it’s largely confined to a certain form factor, a recognizable shape, which might make you question its newness at first. But we’re here to tell you still waters run deep. This thing has presence, and many, many tricks up its sleeve. It might just be the best S-Class yet.

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Fist in a Velvet Glove, but Make It Future

Let’s start with the mechanicals. Beneath its long hood and proudly standing three-pointed star ornament sits the automaker’s brand new 4.0-liter twin-turbo flat-plane-crank V-8, which is arguably the perfect powerplant to motivate the new S580. Efficiency and global emissions compliance may have been top of mind for Mercedes powertrain engineers when they designed the new engine to run on the Miller cycle—which closes the intake valves earlier than a conventional Otto cycle engine to reduce pumping and compression losses—but it also pays dividends in quiet, smooth operation. All flat-plane-crank V-8s feature symmetrical combustion that increases the exhaust velocity relative to a cross-plane V-8, in turn spooling the turbos quicker. The downside is that flat-plane V-8s are dogged by second-order (twice the speed of engine rpm) vibrations. Supercar drivers might put up with the shaking, but it doesn’t fly in an S-Class. Mercedes-Benz uses a pair of balance shafts in the new M177 Evo engine to cancel the bad vibes.

A few of our test drivers did note a touch of throttle lag, but overall, we found the 4.0-liter to be a sweet-sounding and smooth-revving piece of engineering art. In conjunction with a 48-volt electric motor that helps pad the torque curve and gives it an enhanced sense of power from a stop, it pours out 530 horsepower and 533 lb-ft of torque. In our testing, the 5,347-lb sedan was good for a 4.1 second 0–60 mph time, a couple of tenths off the manufacturer-advertised 3.9 seconds (blame the triple-digit summer heat or California’s weak 91-octane gas, if you wish).

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Continuous Improvement

Perhaps even more impressive is the silkiness of the rest of the drivetrain. Linking a fairly complex engine and motor arrangement with a nine-speed automatic and all-wheel-drive invites plenty of opportunity for dynamic sturm und drang, but Mercedes has sorted all of that, yielding an S-Class that feels as composed and cohesive as any we’ve driven.

Much of that composure derives from the S580’s new suspension setup. Its E-Active body control system with new intelligent damping combines data collected by the car’s cameras and radar with cloud data from the Mercedes that have come before you to proactively adjust to the road ahead. The system promises a ride that gets better over time, and we can tell you it works—the suspension action and ride quality improved noticeably each time we completed our test circuit.

Four preprogrammed drive modes help the driver quickly adjust the car’s attitude to suit the desired driving style or ride quality—and, yes, Mercedes’ cool Curve mode, which uses the suspension to actively lean into turns, is one of them. Rear-wheel steering (4.5 degrees as standard, 10 degrees available as an upgrade, though not with the optional 21-inch wheels ours had) improves the big sedan’s steering feel and turning radius and makes it unexpectedly responsive at speed. Speaking of those big wheels, we think we’d opt for a smaller diameter to get a taller tire sidewall and a bit of extra comfort.

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High-Tech Highs and Lows

As for the S580’s broader tech package, it’s a good news, bad news mix. The good news is that Mercedes’ proprietary MBUX system, which orchestrates the car’s software suite and user experience, is greatly improved. The bad, depending on your point of view, is the car’s new Superscreen, a wall-of-glass display that stretches across the dash from A pillar to A pillar.

It functions well enough, but to us it cheapens the look of an otherwise sumptuous and understated luxury interior, and the effect only worsens as it collects fingerprints and dust. We’d skip it if we could, both for aesthetic reasons and because the very good MBUX virtual assistant and excellent MB.Drive suite of driver assists (adaptive cruise with distance control, active steering and lane-keep, automatic lane changes, among other featuers) largely obviates the need for so much screen space.

Worse—though thankfully this one can be disabled, or better yet skipped altogether—is the Active Ambient Lighting option. Unless you want your $180,500 (as tested) S-Class to feel, in the words of features editor Scott Evans, like a Berlin nightclub, we’d leave that box unchecked.

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To Be Driven In, As Well

These are mostly issues for the driver, however. The S-Class is a vehicle to be driven in as much as to be driven, and as such, its rear quarters are appropriately plush and accommodating. For maximum comfort, the back seat is really where you want to be. It’s where the S580’s excellent ride quality and body control are most noticeable, for one thing. And with the high-end rear seat entertainment upgrades, S580 passengers are also greeted by maximalist luxury appointments including twin 13.1-inch entertainment touchscreens and smartphone-like handsets for wireless master control of all kinds of functions.

And, of course, traditional S-Class luxury stuff like footrests, quilted leather, and acres of legroom are present and accounted for. Our car was decked out in a Manufaktur trim, as well, with the highest level of customizability. We’re not sure if the extra cost brings enough extra opulence over the lower-priced trims with more fixed options sets, but then the S-Class buyer may well figure in for a penny, in for a pound. If what you want is a one-of-one vehicle tailored to your personal tastes, a Manufaktur setup is the way to go.

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Outside Perspective

So, what about that exterior styling? As we said at the outset, the S-Class had a tough task to accomplish with its new treatment. It needed to neatly synthesize past and present while hinting at a promising future. We think it succeeded—mostly.

Proportions and styling are pure S-Class and instantly recognizable, with gentle lines flowing rearward from its long, gently sloping hood. A sense of occasion? Oh yeah, the S580 brings it.

The one thing that might bug you? The three-pointed stars. At least a galaxy’s worth of them. Stars for headlights, stars for taillights, stars all over the rather expansive grille. Stars on stars. Mercifully, you’ll probably be able to ignore them, but the star-spangling was the one exterior aesthetic choice that puzzled us.

Bottom Line

Still, you’ll feel the presence of the S-Class every time you approach it. It has the look. And from behind the wheel, that sense of luxuriousness only increases. If your transportation budget stretches into six figures, we think you’d be hard-pressed to find a more desirable option than the 2027 Mercedes-Benz S580 4Matic. It isn’t perfect, but it’s darn close—an iconic sedan that’s a whole lot greater than the sum of its parts.

Photography byWilliam Walker

Deputy Director of Photography

Like many of my coworkers, my love for cars was cemented at a young age, thanks in part to Hot Wheels, car magazines, and every car poster I could afford when the book fair set up shop in my elementary school library. While most kids went straight for Where’s Waldo? and Goosebumps, I was torn between the poster of the Lamborghini Countach and the ’32 Ford hot rod with airbrushed flames on the cowling. In high school, I worked at Bergstrom's Antique Autos, a historic garage in Port Townsend, Washington. Surrounded by nearly a century of automotive history, I immersed myself in cleaning, sorting, and selling car parts and memorabilia. I also spent countless hours flipping through vintage car magazines and can comfortably say that I've looked through every Motor Trend, Car & Driver, Hot Rod, and Sports Car Graphic up until the early 1980s. Around the same time, I picked up photography—naturally, with cars as my main subject. Despite my high school photography teacher's advice to branch out, I stuck to my passion and attended every car show I could find. This led me to the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara, California, where I earned a bachelor’s degree with a focus on automotive photography. I began my career at Motor Trend as a photography intern. After freelancing for a few years, I joined the Motor Trend team full-time in late 2010. My passion for cars and photography continues to fuel my work, and I hope it shines through in every shot.

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