2015 Mercedez-Benz S Class Coupe review: Beauty at high speed

Mercedes has a long history of building beautiful, sexy cars and most of them, it can be argued, are coupes. Way back, it was the palatial 500K of the 1930s, then the pontoon-fendered 1950s 220S. They led to cars like the stately 1960s-era 280 SE coupe, the sexy 500SEC/560SEC coupes of the 1980s, and eminently beautiful 2001—2007 CL-Class coupe with its quad headlamps and distinct arching windows. Then came the outgiong CL-Class — a chunky, ungraceful car that's one of the modern missteps by the German make.

The CL’s all-new replacement, rechristened the S-Class Coupe for 2015, restores the flagship coupe’s lineage. Mark it down: This is one of the most beautiful cars Mercedes has ever built. A forceful grille, an impossibly long hood, and sensuous body surfaces combine with slim windows and minimal adornments to give the car an air of purposeful elegance. Some 9.5 inches shorter than the sedan, the coupe is dramatic yet clean, with exquisite details, even offering faceted Swarovski crystal LED running lamps and turn signals.

For tangible proof, look no further than the lack of a B-pillar. This was a serious challenge for safety engineers tasked with keeping a car with a nearly 10-foot wheelbase from folding like a taco during severe side impacts, but designer Gordon Wagener’s team knew this element was something the S-Class coupe simply must have. Creating a clean opening when the side glass is lowered, the pillarless windows also afford a pleasantly al fresco motoring experience at speed, which is perfectly in character with a luxurious coupe’s proclivities. Too bad the standard glass roof doesn’t open, or even tilt (though the optional $2,500 “Magic Sky Control” system turns it opaque at the touch of a button). Customers taking issue with the fixed roof glass would be advised to wait for the planned S-Class cabriolet model, which is due to appear next year. And for the record, Aston Martin and Bentley don’t offer sunroofs of any kind in their coupes, and the glass roof in the BMW 6-Series coupe only tilts.

Opening one of the long, damped doors grants access to a realm of luxury befitting of royalty from birth, not merely reality television, and it doesn’t take a genius to see that Mercedes is taking on Bentley, not BMW, with this car. Leather covers everything that’s not rendered in metal or wood, and depending on what hide and trim materials are chosen, the atmosphere can range from calming to haute couture. Dig deeper in the settings to tailor ambient lighting among several colors to set the mood even more to your liking.

Positioning and heating/ventilation controls for the front thrones are located on the door panels, but pneumatic adjustments of the side bolsters, lumbar, shoulder areas, as well as up to six massage programs (including two with heat) are handled via the 12.4-in center screen. If we had to choose — and let’s face it, most S-Class customers don’t have to choose, they just get it all — we’d skip the rear-seat refrigerator ($1,100), infrared night vision ($2,260), “Splitview” screen that allows movies to be watched without driver distraction ($710) and other sybaritic delights in favor of the 24-speaker, 1,540-watt Burmeister 3D sound system, which comes at a $6,400 premium.

There’s an inescapable sense of superiority that takes over a person when you drive a six-figure coupe, especially one like this, and driven calmly, the S550 wafts over the road with the pillowy grandeur of the longer sedan. Everything happens with grace and composure, and the car feels as regal as its 16.5-foot length would suggest. Kick it up a notch (and activate “sport” modes of both the powertrain and air suspension) and the S550 shrinks a size, exhibiting a surprising athleticism through in the responsiveness of the 449-hp 4.7-liter engine, aggressive exhaust note, predictive downshifts of its seven-speed automatic, and linear, well-weighted steering. It is effortlessly fast, with virtually no turbo lag and a very fat powerband, with all 516 lb-ft of torque available at just 1,800 rpm.

Horrific New England downpours all throughout our drive day gave us an appreciation for the S550’s standard 4Matic all-wheel drive system, and we even utilized the height-adjustable air suspension to raise the car when fording some drainage-challenged intersections in rural Massachusetts. Equally important in those conditions are brakes that are not just strong but deliver impressive pedal feel, and it was reassuring to know that, like many Mercedes models, the S-Coupe features predictive brake priming that periodically sweep the brake pads over the discs to keep them dry.

With 577 hp and a massive 664 lb-ft of torque from its twin-turbocharged 5.5-liter V-8, the S63 AMG accelerates quicker than the S550 —Mercedes claims that 0–60 takes 3.7 seconds versus a hardly-slow 4.5 seconds for the S550. And thanks to its more buttoned-down suspension tuning and more aggressive wheels and tires, it feels about as communicative with its powertrain and suspension in normal modes as the S550 feels with all sport settings activated. The seven-speed multi-clutch automated transmission stays as calm as the S550’s conventional automatic, that is until the Sport mode button is pressed, at which point it cracks off lighting-fast shifts, and thrilling, throttle-blipped downshifts. The AMG model also adds a fully manual mode for hot-shoes who insist on choosing the ratios themselves.

The rains kept us from discerning the level to which the S63’s brake-based torque vectoring helps the vehicle rotate when driving at 10/10ths, but we can attest to its unflappable roadholding when driven at, say, 7/10s—again, thank you 4Matic. Meanwhile, while road impacts are met with a bit more stiffness than in the S550, but no road bump feels harsh — ever — and the body’s never heaves, squats or dives even during hard corners and braking/acceleration events, thanks to the computer controlled air springs.

If there is a bone to pick with the S63 AMG, it’s that the transmission can take a disconcerting several seconds to shift into Drive from Reverse or Park (very frustrating/terrifying when backing out of a driveway onto a busy street). There’s also not a whole lot to visually set the AMG apart from an S550 with a $5,900 Sport package, which brings AMG wheels and sport styling: just a slightly different front bumper, silver bodyside accents, quad exhaust pipes, AMG gauges and some badges. And then there’s the matter that it doesn't feel all that much stronger than S550 — which is less of an indictment of the S63 than a testament to the S550's prodigious strength.

So is the S63 AMG worth the upgrade? Well, with the S550’s base price of $120,825 and the S63 AMG starting at $161,825, the AMG model only seems worth it when compared to the upcoming $231,825 S65 AMG coupe (which is actually slower than the S63 despite being powered by a 621-hp V-12), or the comparatively stodgy Bentley Continental GT. All told, all S-Class coupes could be considered some of the most beautiful cars Mercedes has ever built, but for $41,000 less than the S63 AMG Coupe, the S550 could be considered even more beautiful, and as such, the best compromise for a car that makes none.

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