Porsche 718 vs Mercedes-Benz S450

What's the difference?

“If this is to be our end, then I would have them make such an end as to be worthy of remembrance.”

King Theoden may have been talking about the men and women of Rohan in The Lord of the Rings, but he could have just as easily been talking about the team behind the Porsche 718 Boxster.

It’s been nearly 30 years (yes, that long) since the Boxster joined the Porsche line-up as the more affordable sports car alternative to the 911, but now it’s facing a dramatic change that will make it a very different beast.

Porsche has committed to an electric future for the 718 but before it does so, there was one more petrol-powered version to create, this one, the 718 Spyder RS. It stands to be the final 718 to have an internal combustion engine, but could also be the best.

The 718 Spyder RS is the Boxster version of the previously released Cayman-based GT4 RS. So it takes every element of the sports car and turns it up to 11. This is faster, more powerful, lighter and more dynamic than the Boxster has ever been.

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.