Mercedes-Maybach S650 Review
Car Tested: 2018 Mercedes-Maybach S650; Road Test No. 1017; Test Location: Mumbai
Price OTR Mumbai: Rs. 3,01,85,035/-
The Mercedes-Maybach S650 is not just about luxury, it’s also surprisingly quick
The Mercedes S-Class is often referred to as the best car in the world but when the best isn’t enough, Mercedes will offer you the Maybach, a variant of the S-Class which ups the ante by offering even more space, luxury, performance and technology. The facelifted model is available in the locally assembled S560 trim and the completely imported S650 which also happens to be the flagship of the S-Class lineup in India, it has impressed us thoroughly.
MotorQuest: The sixth generation Mercedes S-Class was launched in 2014 and the Maybach variant was introduced in 2015. Both the S-Class and the Maybach variants got the mid-life facelift earlier this year. India is the second country in the world where the Maybach is assembled.
The Mercedes Maybach S650 is longer thanks to the increased wheelbase, it looks intimidating
Exteriors – The Mercedes S-Class got revisions to its design earlier this year and the same has been carried over to the Maybach as well which gets its own design theme with the bumper, grille and the wheels. The lights look beautiful at night and are very powerful too while the grille has the Maybach logo on it. The 20-inch wheels are unlike any wheels you have seen on a car, they simply look classy. Maybach logos on the C-pillar along with the massive length and wheelbase immediately point to this not being a regular S-Class.
Interior might be too similar to the regular S-Class but is more luxurious
Interiors – The interior is nothing short of a 5-star extravaganza. Everything feels rich, luxurious and stitched beautifully, right from the wood to the leather. The seats offer terrific comfort, no matter where you choose to sit while the attention to detail is simply marvellous. Loads of buttons in this car because it comes with a ton of features including some radar based ones. All the seats have V12 badging on them to remind you about the beast of the motor that propels this limo.
The rear seat can rival a room in a 5-star, no, we aren’t kidding!
There is so much attention to detail inside the cabin, the Germans have really thought it through
The twin 12.3-inch screens are supported by a single-piece glass and looks fab, one is for the instrument cluster and the other is for the infotainment system. The COMMAND unit works well but there is no touch-screen here, your choice of input is via the rotary knob or the touchpad. The colours are rich and the instrument cluster has 3 modes for the meters, we loved the progressive and you can change the tacho side to see what you like, right from the map to the G-force meter and the real time torque usage.
The screens are big but there is no touch-screen on offer here
At the rear, there is plenty of space, there is no dearth of kneeroom, legroom or under-thigh support. The left rear seat can be made a bed, complete with a footboard, both the front seat headrests also carry 10-inch screens with individual remotes and wireless headphones to consume media. The features list is of course endless but the things that stand out are the massage functions on all four seats (also gets heated and ventilated functions), twin panoramic Magic roof that changes colour based on temperature, 64-colour ambient lighting, soft door close, night vision camera, 360-degree cameras, Burmester 3D surround sound speakers that rotate out when you turn the volume up and rotate in when you turn the volume down. This car makes you feel truly special with all the comfort, luxury and technology.
The V12 motor might guzzle fuel but has power all throughout
Performance – Mercedes offers four engine options for the S-Class in India – S350d, S450, S560 and the S650, the latter two are for the Maybach. While the S560 uses a V8, the S650 uses a 6.0-litre bi-turbo V12 that outputs 630 HP and a.. hold your breath.. 1000 Nm. That’s enough to propel the car from standstill to the ton in 4.7 seconds. With all that torque, you might expect the car to pin you back in the seat when you floor the pedal, well, not quite. Power delivery is linear and the motor is thoroughly refined, emitting a sporty snarl in the top-end.
Refinement levels are simply super and so is the pull from the bi-turbo unit
You might not get pinned to your seat but the S650 will gather pace in a smooth and refined manner
There is good amount of grunt lower down and it builds pace quite effortlessly, in fact, the S650 pulls so strongly that you will not realise what speeds it has gathered, it’s extremely quick and yet effortless. Top speed is limited to 250 km/hr and this car never runs out of breath, it just keeps pulling and pulling, with the mid-range being strong and being quite a screamer in top-end too. Mated to this massive engine is a 7G-Tronic gearbox (not a 9-speed) which does a good job of swapping cogs smoothly. You can manually take control of gears using the steering mounted paddles but even when you don’t, you will never realise when the transmission is at work. With all the performance, fuel economy is around 5 km/l.
The S650 offers a terrific balance of ride and handling, it doesn’t feel its weight
Driving Dynamics – The Mercedes-Maybach S650 is a heavy car, it tips the scales at 2300 kgs but doesn’t feel so because the steering is light at low speeds and weighs up brilliantly at high speeds, offering a lot of communication too. There are 4 driving modes – Curve, Comfort, Sports and Individual which alter the engine, transmission, suspension and steering (there is no Eco mode here but there is an engine stop/start function). Individual seems the best bet as you can set the suspension into curve which tilts the car by 2.65 degrees into the direction the car is turning.
Ride comfort is exceptional thanks to Magic Body Control
The Maybach remains shockingly stable at all speeds, it belies its dimensions
This car also gets Magic Body Control which adjusts the suspension by reading the road surface ahead but the low profile tyres on our test car meant the ride was still a bit stiff for an S-Class. A slew of other technologies make sure the drive experience is great, like active brake assist that automatically applies brakes if it senses something ahead, lane keep assist that can auto steer, crosswind assist that applies brakes to ensure vehicle stability, self levelling suspension and anti-slip regulation. Power is channeled to the rear wheels while the cross-drilled brake rotors (sourced from AMG) ensure strong stopping power. The big gripe though is the poor ground clearance and you can raise the ride height (automatically goes back to low position once you cross 120 km/hr) but you still have to be careful over bad roads.
The Mercedes-Maybach S650 is everything that the S-Class is and some more
Verdict – The Mercedes-Maybach S650 is easily the best variant of the S-Class but you do end up paying almost twice the cost for it over the non-Maybach models. What you get is a limousine that pushes further the envelope of luxury and technology, with performance that is seriously quick for a car that measures 5.4 metres in length. You can also opt for a slew of optional extras to up the lux quotient. The S-Class is definitely more than the car you will ever need but the Maybach is the car you will always want.
The only Mercedes that offers more comfort than the Maybach is the Pullman
What’s Cool
* Supremely comfortable, luxurious and the seats are fab
* Technology of tomorrow, seen here today in this Mercedes
* V12 engine has enormous thrust, pulls like a locomotive but in silence
* Ride and handling balance is great, the steering offers good feedback
* High on safety, the S650 gets a ton of safety equipment
* Audio quality is surreal and the speakers look gorgeous too
What’s Not So Cool
* No touch-screens for any of the 4 screens in the car
* Low ground clearance makes it difficult to drive around speed-breakers
* Costs almost twice as much as a regular S-Class
Alternatives: BMW 7-Series, Audi A8L, Jaguar XJL
The matte grey paint job paired with the gorgeous alloys on our test car caught loads of attention
Further Reading
2018 Mercedes S-Class Review Review
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