BMW 840I vs Mercedes-Benz S-Class

What's the difference?

If you’re the sort of buyer who wants a car that signifies a lifestyle that is ‘large and in charge’, the BMW M850i Gran Coupe could be just the thing for you. It isn’t as showy as some of its competitors, and mightn’t reach the same levels of excitement as those cars either - but it is a convincing offering in its own right, and a beautiful piece of design at that. 

Mercedes-Benz set out to restore the S-Class' place amongst the greatest sedans in the world.

In the heavily-optioned, near-$250K-plus S450 as well as the extended S450L at $300K as tested (the sweet spot of the range for now), we reckon the Germans have succeeded, pushing safety, comfort and technology boundaries, in a package that is true to the heritage of the series.

Tax-fuelled sky-high prices will certainly keep the S-Class niche in Australia, but the car is more than good enough to dominate its tiny corner of the upper-large luxury car sphere.

The best new car in the world? We reckon it's highly likely. Mission accomplished, Mercedes.

This could be BMW’s most convincing design in years. I mean, the X5 is predictably handsome, the X3 was unexpectedly muscled, and the less said about the frumpy 1 Series and busy 3 Series (apart from the wagon… drool) the better.

To my untrained but enthusiastic eye, the 8 Series Coupe is a bit too rounded over its rear haunches, and the rear screen is just a little steep - to me, that lets its dimensions down a little. But this. This is gorgeous. 

I mean, you might have questions over the tail-light design, which is a theme across a few BMW models now. But there isn’t as much confrontation between horizontal and vertical graphics for this model as you’ll find one other big Bimmers, like the X7. 

The M850i model has BMW Laserlight headlights, which throw a sharp beam and look menacing in their signature, while the grille and bumper are strong. The stance of the car is prominent - there’s a long body, a long wheelbase, and a long body in general. The standard wheel package consists of 20-inch rims, and they don’t look disarmingly large.

As our images show, there’s a lot to talk about when it comes interior design and finishes, but the cabin doesn’t quite benefit quite as mochas you might think it would from all that real estate. I mean, with dimensions of 5074mm long (on a 3023mm wheelbase), 1932mm wide and 1402mm tall, this is a squat, yet substantial vehicle. It’s just more cramped than you’d think inside.

Most Mercedes models have followed the Russian Doll-style cookie-cutter styling theme, and the heavy family look continues with the W223.

Still, the flush door handles do add a touch of Tesla-esque modernity, while the elegant silhouette and clean lines are in keeping with the luxury aspirations. Larger in every dimension compared to the old W222, the S450 is some 71mm-longer in wheelbase (3106mm) than before while the LWB's has stretched out by 51mm (3216mm), benefiting proportions as well as interior packaging.

AMG-branded wheels look sporty but – in the S450 at least – they're perhaps a tad too gangster. A set of flush alloys would give it a more-modern and techier appearance, in our opinion.

Overall, however, the S-Class ‘7' possesses the prerequisite richness of design. It isn't as bold and mould-breaking as models like the W116 were back in their day, but the styling is still a success.

By the way, the latest S-Class is the first Mercedes to employ the MRA2 longitudinal platform, which is rich in lightweight steels (50 per cent aluminium), is correspondingly stronger than before but also 60kg lighter.

With a drag co-efficiency rating as low as 0.22Cd on some overseas grades, the W223 is one of the most aerodynamic production vehicles in history.

I recall a Mitsubishi designer telling me, once upon a time, that he dreamed of making ‘a big car on the outside with a very small interior’. Maybe he made the jump to BMW, because that’s pretty much the 8 Series Gran Coupe.

There aren’t many other vehicles on the market, of this size, that offer less space inside. The boot capacity, for instance, is just 440 litres. Competitors like the Audi A7 (535L) and Mercedes CLS (520L) easily outdo it - but at least this car has more boot than the Panamera (405L), though the BMW is a smidge bigger. The cargo space is large enough for a couple of overnight suitcases, but you’re hardly going to fit a family of four’s luggage for a week away. 

And while we’re in the “not quite what you’d expect” column, the back seat space is hardly commodious. There’s enough space for me, at 182cm, to sit behind my own driving position, but not without wishing for a bit more toeroom, headroom and knee space. 

The big centre console section eats into the space in the rear, justifying the brand’s “4+1” seating claim, and unpleasantly it has a hard plastic finish to rest your leg against. Getting in and out of the second row isn’t easy for bigger people, and it’s quite a squat down into the rear seat - it really has taken inspiration from its squashy-back-seated predecessor in that regard.

If you have smaller rear-seat occupants, however, there will be catered for with dual ISOFIX and three top-tether points, plus there are air vents with climate controls (quad zone in total), and two USB-C ports as well. There are sun-blinds on the rear windows, too, which is a plus, and there is a pair of cup holders in the fold-down armrest, and map pockets in the seat backs, too. The door pockets are near-useless, though.

The front seats score better practicality, with bottle holders in the doors, bigger and sturdier cup holders, a covered centre storage bin between the seats with a USB-C port, and a wireless phone charger (Qi) with standard USB port in front of the gear selector.

Above that is the weird, very out-of-place quick buttons (1-8) that BMW could easily do away with, and further up are the controls for the climate control (thankfully with hard buttons for fan speed and temperature), and above that is the media screen, a familiar looking 10.25-inch touch display running BMW OS 7.0. 

The screen is quick and crisp, and is backed up by the rotary controller and buttons on in the centre console area. There’s wireless Apple CarPlay (now at no cost for three years), as well as a built-in SIM card for 4G data and access to the BMW Online news and weather stations, accessed through the screen.  

It’s all pretty easy to use, and the sound system is excellent - the standard setup consists of 16 speakers, with DAB+ digital radio, Bluetooth and USB plus the smartphone mirroring tech, provided you don’t have an Android device, as Android Auto is still missing from BMW’s range.

It’s a nice cabin, but I couldn’t help but thinking that I’d want a little more differentiation from the lesser models in the range if I was spending this much. Especially considering the optional cost of the interior trim fitted to our test car - see below for more detail.

For the beginning of our day with the S-Class, we were chauffeured from home to a mansion in Kew, a blue-chip Melbourne suburb. Our heavily-optioned S450L featured most of the aforementioned extras – including the Business Class Package and Rear Entertainment Package – and the experience was predictably, sumptuously memorable.

Reclining individual rear seats with easy-reach tablets, armrests offering access to all multimedia and available climatised and massaging cushions and backrests... we're no longer in our normal ride, Toto.

Yet, all these trinkets and gizmos are mere add-ons, that can turn a stretched Caprice into a flash hen's night carriage if enough money and glitz is thrown at it.

No, the new S-Class must impress in an altogether less tangible and more philosophical manner, involving all the senses, and not just what we see, hear and touch. It must appeal beyond the superficial. Otherwise, it is not a large Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan in the classic manner.

This is a Herculean task for the Stuttgart designers and engineers. By and large, though, the Three-Pointed Star has succeeded in achieving something special.

In its perception of peerless quality and engineering, the W223 is striving to move forward and look back simultaneously to the glory days of the seminal W126 (1980-1991). This is through meshing traditional virtues like solidity and quality materials while dazzling its passengers with technology that is still friendly enough to want to enhance your experience.

You can sink into the soft lounge seats, watch the world pass by silently outside and never be aware of the road underneath or the engine ahead. Double glazing, exquisite and aromatic fabrics and materials and lush tactile surfaces work their magic inside the car, while an airtight and aero body, solid platform, air suspension and a muted yet muscular powertrain all do their thing underneath. The atmosphere is special and rarefied. That's what an S-Class needs to be and that's what is happening in our $299,000 (as tested) S450L.

The same more-or-less applies up front, as the same trim, leather, wood and technology surrounds the driver and passenger. The spectre of the car that is surely The Car of the Last Decade – Tesla's Model S – is evident in the portrait touchscreen and sparse, almost wallflower dashboard design and layout. No big imposing architectures here.

Yet, while the American upstart actually takes stuff away, the S-Class packs the cabin with subtle features that – like when the planes stopped flying last year and the birdsong subsequently returned – only become obvious once the cabin's design simplicity clears all the white noise for you to be in a better frame of mind to enjoy them.   

Take the haptic interface, for example, as it is perhaps the best we've experienced; the sense of well-being garnered from the cumulative effects of profound seat comfort (the massaging function was never switched off), cocooning micro climate environmental control, orchestral levels of audio entertainment and the theatre of light and vision performed by the two available screens; it is an automotive experience like no other. And the eye-tracking 3D-effect navigation set within the electronic instrumentation. No need for cinematic glasses to get the effect. The driving position itself, by the way, is also first class.

Room to stretch and grow for sure, and in every direction. But room for improvement? You betcha.

Your tester had a headache after a little while staring at that woozy 3D map. The central vents – four at the front, two in the rear – look and feel cheap, leaving us mentally redesigning them; they are frightfully out of place here; the carryover column-stalk auto lever should have been binned in 2005. And, even though the digital instruments have a number of options, none are elegant enough for the S-Class. That's an especially subjective criticism, clearly, but one that – in the context of classic Mercedes luxury sedan contenders – is justified given how timeless the Bruno Sacco era of Daimler design was. Look him up, kids.

Still, after a couple of hours behind the wheel, with our senses reset to calm, it is obvious that the S-Class cabin is a unique and wonderful place – as it should be at a cool quarter-of-a-million dollars.

Job done.

PS At 550 litres (20L more than before), the boot is massive and luxurious enough to sleep in.

Right now, only two S-Class models are available – the S450 from $240,700 plus on-road costs and the 110mm extended-wheelbase S450L (LWB) for another $24,900 on top. Most buyers overwhelmingly opt for the latter.

Despite what the numbers may suggest, both are powered by a 3.0-litre in-line six-cylinder turbo petrol engine, delivering 270kW of power and 500Nm of torque to all four wheels via a nine-speed torque-converter automatic. Greater choices are coming later, including an all-electric version known as the EQS.

Almost every conceivable safety item is standard on the S-Class, including world-first rear-seat airbags located behind the front seats in the LWB model, taking the surround-airbag count to 10.

You'll also find route-based Speed Adaptation (adhering to the posted speed limits), Evasive Steering Assist (a sophisticated form of crash mitigation), adaptive cruise control with active stop/go, Active Lane Change Assist that automatically moves the car into the lane you indicate to), Mercedes' PreSafe crash-preparation tech that primes all the safety systems for impact, electronic stability program that encapsulates all the active driver-assist tech, Active Emergency Stop Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking front and rear (including for cyclists and pedestrians), Traffic Sign Assist, Parking Package with Active Parking Assist and 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitors.

On the equipment front there is the latest iteration of Mercedes' MBUX multimedia system with (another) world-first 3D display, complementing an OLED central display, powered closing doors, leather upholstery, air suspension, leather upholstery, velour floor mats, a multi-beam LED headlight system with adaptive high beams, heated and folding exterior mirrors, heat and noise-insulating acoustic glass for front side windows, dark privacy glass for rear windows, sunroof, roller sunblinds for rear windows, metallic paint and 20-inch AMG alloy wheels on runflat tyres.

Want cutting-edge multimedia? There's MBUX II's augmented reality for navigation and fingerprint scanner, as well as a more natural-speech Mercedes-Me Connect voice activation with global search.

Plus, predictive navigation with live traffic, parked vehicle locator, vehicle tracking, emergency call, maintenance management and tele-diagnostics, digital radio, Burmester 3D surround-sound system with 15 speakers and 710W amplifier, remote door locking/unlocking, geofencing, speed-fencing, valet parking, head-up display, Smart Phone integration with Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, wireless charging, ambient lighting, two-zone climate control, poplar wood trim, electric adjustment for front seats, steering column with memory function, climatised front seats, keyless entry/go with flush-fitting door handles offering hands-free access (including for the electric boot),

Besides the ‘forward facing' airbag for the rear-seat occupants, the S450L also scores electrically adjustable rear seats with memory and automatic rear climate control.

Key options – and the list is massive – include an $8700 Rear Entertainment Package, that brings rear-multimedia access, rear tablets with wireless headsets and rear-seat wireless smart phone charging, an AMG Line pack with a body kit, different alloys and larger front brakes ($6500), Business Class Package that includes aircraft-style reclining rear seating and tray tables ($14,500), Nappa leather ($5000), augmented-reality HUD ($2900), 21-inch wheels ($2000) and four-wheel steering ($2700). There's also a $14,500 Energising Package with contoured seating, heated-everything and massaging seats.

Please keep in mind our test cars featured many such extras. Tick all the boxes and you can add nearly $100,000 to the price of your S-Class.

So, is the S450 good value? Given some of the breakthrough safety and luxury features it offers, it is unique. Too bad the Federal Government's Luxury Car Tax makes them so much more expensive than they need to be.

If you’re going for the M850i, you’re getting the big bopper engine. It’s a 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 petrol engine, and it isn’t short on horsepower.

The outputs for this engine are 390kW of power (at 6000rpm) and 750Nm of torque (from 1800-4600rpm). Hardly numbers to sneeze at.

And the performance figures are exceptional, too: the claimed 0-100 km/h time is just 3.9 seconds. That’s because there’s the traction of BMW’s xDrive all-wheel drive system, and shifting gears is an eight-speed automatic transmission.  

For what it’s worth, your humble reviewer saw a 0-100km/h time very close to that (4.2sec). 

The quoted kerb weight for this model is 1995kg.

Where are the V8s?

Right now, the only W223 you can buy is powered by an all-new 2999cc 3.0-litre in-line direct-injection six-cylinder turbo petrol engine dubbed the M256, complete with double overhead cams, an electric compressor intercooler and assistance from a 48-volt mild hybrid system and integrated starter-generator, adding 16kW and 250Nm to the 270kW of power at 6100rpm and 500Nm of torque from 1600-4500rpm.

The 9G-Tronic torque-converter automatic transmission and 4Matic all-wheel drive system combination is a first for the S-Class in Australia.

Top speed is limited to 250km/h, while the 0-100km/h sprint-time takes just 5.1 seconds in both models. Impressive for a two-tonne-plus luxury limo.

You can’t really expect a big V8 beast like this to be a fuel miser, and it isn’t.

The claimed consumption is 10.7 litres per 100 kilometres. Which is alright, honestly, given the sheer volume of car you’re driving. 

But on my test - which consisted of more than 300km of mixed driving, including days of city commuting, some twisty mountain driving, and all the freeway floundering to get there - I saw an at the pump real-world figure of 15.4L/100km.

That’s not very efficient, and it’ll be expensive to run on the daily — yet the argument could be made that if you’re spending this much on a car, fuel costs won’t matter much to you. But with a small fuel tank capacity of 68 litres, it could become a little inconvenient as you’ll be seeing a lot of your local servo.

With the aid of the mild-hybrid system, the S450 returned a combined average of an impressive 8.2 litres per 100km, which translates to 187 grams of carbon dioxide emissions per kilometre. 95 RON premium unleaded (or higher) is recommended. In the urban run it consumes 11.3L/100km (11.5 for S450L), and just 6.4L/100km (6.5 for S450L) in the extra-urban result.

At 76 litres, the fuel tank will allow a combined average range of about 927km between refills.

It’s an impressive thing, this M850i xDrive Gran Coupe. But I’m just not sure who it’s trying to please.

It’s not the sort of German monster coupe-sedan that grabs you by the scruff of the neck and throws you around with its mammoth acceleration. Not unless you poke it and prod it and make it really angry.

And that might be exactly what you want to do - put it in Sport mode, sling the shifter across to sport or manual mode, hear the exhaust open up from a pursed-lip tongue-click to an open-mouth growl. 

You’ll push hard on the accelerator, watch the tacho needle jolt to the redline, and if you’re in auto mode you’ll feel the transmission whipcrack as it shifts rapidly up through the gears as you’re shoved back into your seat. Before you know it you’ll be in licence-loss zone, and you won’t have even made the tyres chirp - that’s how immense the traction from the all-wheel drive system is.

You’ll brake hard into a sharp bend, and you’ll feel the front end dip and the body of the car change direction more readily than you’d think given its size as you turn in. The steering response will meet your expectation, with rapid reaction to adjustments mid corner. And the Active Roll stabilisation system will mean you’re not being thrown around in your seat, because it’s sitting flatter and truer than you might have expected - you’ll notice how it works extremely well in conjunction with the car’s torque-vectoring-by-braking system. There’ll be little weight shift or body roll to be counteracted, and that’ll inspire you to push it even harder.

Put it in manual transmission mode and you’ll rejoice that it won’t overrule you and shift up, but you’ll also feel shortchanged because it gets to the end of its limit very quickly. And when it hits redline, it emits a breathless little cough rather than a “oh maybe I should stop” rev-bounce noise.

But, if you’re like me, you might be doing all this with a niggling thought in the back of your mind that, while this car is technically really good and it’s a clinical performance car, you might just think to yourself, “I’m not having as much fun as I thought I would”.

A Mercedes-AMG would be more fun; it’d be more raucous, more of a muscle car experience. An Audi RS7 (at least the previous one) would be noisier, brasher, more theatrical than this car. And likewise, a Porsche Panamera - no matter the model you go for - would be more entertaining in the bends.  

Maybe it’s just a bit too predictable - and maybe that’s a result of this car being honed for drivers who will spend more time on the Autobahn than anywhere else. I have to say, there are much, much worse (and slower) ways of getting from A to B, and the highway cruising comfort of the M850i Gran Coupe was what impressed me most. 

It’s also surprisingly adept at urban driving duties, coping well with unpleasant city surfaces, though potholes can still upset things because of the stiff-sidewalled run-flat tyres. The suspension does an exceptional job otherwise, however, and I switched between the Adaptive drive mode and Comfort mode for my commuting duties. Both proved comfortable and controlled.

The M850i is by no means a failure when it comes to fulfilling the expectations you might have of a luxury sports sedan of this size. In fact, it’s close to a distinction. But I just can’t help thinking that it’s not as much an ‘M car’ as that M850i badge might have you believe it should be.

In former times, as the Germans say, a ‘450' on the boot indicated V8 power. In the W116 S-Class era it was one of the world's most evocative badges when ‘SEL' was also attached.

As mentioned earlier, though, it's the M256 3.0-litre turbo-petrol with a 48-volt ‘mild hybrid' electrical system that's doing the driving, to all four wheels. The real V8 W223 will probably surface later this year or in early 2022 with the S580L flagship. Bring it on.

This is not to say that S450 isn't good enough. With that electrified assistance, the blown straight six is smooth and swift off the line and rapid as the auto seamlessly steps up through all nine gears. Because it's so hushed and refined, it doesn't feel 5.1s to 100 clicks quick, but watching the speedo says otherwise – acceleration is assertive and strong right up way past the legal speed limit.

All that's missing is the burbling soundtrack of a classic Benz bent-eight. Oh well. Outstanding economy is a price we're literally willing to pay in lieu.

Even more impressive is the S450's ability to hustle along mountain roads like an overgrown sports sedan.

Now, for Australia, all S-Classes are fitted standard with an adaptive ‘Airmatic' air-suspension set-up, including air springs and self-levelling tech. In Comfort up to 60km/h, the ride height can be raised by 30mm, or lowered by 10mm under the standard 130mm baseline in Sport at any velocity, while in Sport+ it falls another 17mm.

With that in mind, yes, the standard air suspension performs a magnificent job smothering out most surface imperfections around town. Yet its real other party trick is to tighten up the chassis when corners get interesting and Sport mode is selected. Aided by progressively weighted and reassuringly responsive steering, the Mercedes tips into turns with precision and poise, slicing through with virtually no discernible body lean or understeer.

Now, we're not talking a leisurely drive on rural highways here, but Healesville's famous Chum Creek Road, where even a Porsche Cayman would feel like it's had a strenuous dynamic workout. The S-Class can be hurried along with confidence and finesse, displaying outstanding handling and roadholding for a 5.2-metre long limo. And the fact that the ride quality only suffers marginally when the red horns are out is all the more remarkable.

Back in the cut-and-thrust of inner-city peak-hour traffic, the Benz in Comfort mode continued to reveal its driver-orientated yet passenger-focused twin-personalities, zipping in and out of gaps while remaining comfy and composed inside.

Only when parking in tight spots are you truly aware that the W223 is longer than a Mazda CX-9. The optional four-wheel-steering system is claimed to slash the turning circle to A-Class hatchback levels. 10.9 metres is the claim.

The 2021 S-Class never ceases to amaze and delight.

The W223 S-Class has not been crash-tested yet by ANCAP or European affiliate EuroNCAP, so does not have a star rating. However, Mercedes-Benz claims it has striven to create one of the safety vehicles on the planet. Who are we to argue?

Almost every conceivable safety item is standard on the S-Class, including world-first rear-seat airbags located behind the front seats in the LWB model, taking the surround-airbag count to 10.

You'll also find route-based Speed Adaptation (adhering to the posted speed limits), Evasive Steering Assist (a sophisticated form of crash mitigation), adaptive cruise control with active stop/go, Active Lane Change Assist that automatically moves the car into the lane you indicate to), Mercedes' PreSafe crash-preparation tech that primes all the safety systems for impact, electronic stability program that encapsulates all the active driver-assist tech, Active Emergency Stop Assist, Autonomous Emergency Braking front and rear (including for cyclists and pedestrians, at speeds from 7km/h to over 200km/h), Traffic Sign Assist, Parking Package with Active Parking Assist and 360-degree camera and tyre pressure monitors.

The Active Lane Keeping Assist works in a speed range of between 60km/h and 250km/h while Active Steer Assist helps the driver follow the lane at speeds of up to 210km/h.

BMW backs its cars in Australia with a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

You may be confused if you head to the BMW site and see that M models and 8 Series models aren’t covered by BMW’s pre-pay capped price servicing plan (as I saw when testing this car), but CarsGuide can confirm that the 8 Series is indeed covered - unless it’s the real M8, not this M850i jigger. 

BMW Australia has clarified that the Service Inclusive pack for five years/80,000km of maintenance cover is $2490 for Basic cover (no brakes/pads, no wiper replacement), or $5641 for the more comprehensive Plus pack. Hardly affordable, but nor’s the car. 

The company uses a condition-based servicing program, too - there are no set service intervals, but the car will tell you when it needs maintenance based on how you drive it.

For what it’s worth, we ran the numbers on resale value using Glass’s Guide predictive analysis tool, and after three years/40,000km the expected retained value for this version is approximately 66 per cent - which is impressive.

Unlike many luxury brands that persist with a sub-par three-year warranty, Mercedes-Benz offers a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Intervals are every year or 25,000km, with a capped price service plan starting at $800 for the first year, $1200 for the second year and $1400 for the third year, totalling $3400. Alternatively, there is a Service Plan starting at $2700 for the first three years (saving $700 from the normal capped-price service plan), $3600 for four years and $5400 for five years.