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Mercedes-Benz S-Class vs Lotus Exige

What's the difference?

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Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Mercedes-Benz S-Class

$169,800 - $189,800

2021 price

Lotus Exige
Lotus Exige

2017 price

Summary

2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class
2017 Lotus Exige
Safety Rating

Engine Type
Twin Turbo V6, 3.0L

Supercharged V6, 3.5L
Fuel Type
Premium Unleaded Petrol

Premium Unleaded Petrol
Fuel Efficiency
8.4L/100km (combined)

10.1L/100km (combined)
Seating
5

2
Dislikes
  • Price of entry prohibitive for most
  • 3D instrumentation can make you woozy
  • A tad conservative in design

  • Sheer impracticality
  • Heavy steering (at low speeds)
  • Getting in and out of it
2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class Summary

It's only in the running for the title of world's best luxury car. No biggie here, then.

Like Rolex and Concorde, S-Class has become a byword for ultimate, and deserved or not, the Mercedes-Benz defines its segment despite the best efforts of the BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus LS and (sadly now-defunct) Jaguar XJ, as well as pointing the way forward with new technologies that eventually trickle down to more proletarian models.

Replacing the half-million selling W222 unveiled in 2013, the W223 is the latest in a long line since the first W187 Ponton debuted in 1951, and includes the famous ‘Finnies' and Stroke-8 models that followed immediately afterwards, but it is the 1972 W116 that really set the template.

Now, seven generations in, the 2021 S-Class is all-new again, with progressive safety and interior features that should help keep it Australia's bestselling full-sized upper-luxury sedan.

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2017 Lotus Exige Summary

Driving naked is ill-advised, and possibly illegal, but taking a spin in the Lotus Exige 350 Sport is as close as you'd ever want to get. It's not so much that you feel you've left your clothes at home, but that the car has shed its accoutrements, and indeed its very flesh, leaving you with a kind of skeletal vehicle; just bare bones and muscle.

What this punishingly hard and fiercely focused machine does to your bones and flesh is best described as extreme chiropractry - in particular the stress of ingress and egress - but fortunately it makes up for the moans, bangs and bruises by fizzing your adrenal glands in a big way.

The question is whether the fun is worth the suffering, and the  $138,782.85 price tag.

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Deep dive comparison

2021 Mercedes-Benz S-Class 2017 Lotus Exige

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