Aston Martin DBS vs Mercedes-Benz E300

What's the difference?

In mid-2018, to coincide with its global launch, CarsGuide was invited to a hush-hush, behind-closed-doors preview of the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera. 

Hidden within a maze of black velvet drapes at a low-key, inner-city Sydney location sat the famous British brand’s new flagship, a stunning 2+2 GT with the performance, dynamics and luxurious quality to match its exotic looks and $500K+ price tag.

On that day, for whatever reason, I never thought the opportunity to steer it would come my way. But two years later, almost to the day, the key to this ‘Sabiro Blue’ beauty was mine.

The DBS Superleggera sits at the top performance coupe table, mixing it with Bentley, Ferrari, and Porsche’s finest. But maybe you already have one (or more) of those. Which begs the question, does this imposing V12 machine do enough to qualify for an extra space in your garage? 

It might not be as tribal as Ford vs Holden, but there’s a rivalry between BMW and Mercedes-Benz that occasionally becomes more obvious - the launch of the new Mercedes E-Class only months after the BMW 5 Series being one of those times.

But Mercedes has done something different. Instead of multiple variants and electric cars under the E-Class banner, Australia gets just one, the E300.

Is it enough to tackle the big Bavarian sedan in the sales race? We attended the Australian launch just north of Melbourne to find out.