22/09/2008 21:59. Where to begin? You don't need to read to the end of this test to realise how the new Mercedes-Benz S-class has moved the luxury-car goalposts. It does this not only with some ingenious and genuinely useful technology but also by being quieter and more cosseting than any of its rivals. Yet it's no floating, disconnected giant in which the driver plays but a bit-part: the grosser Mercedes is surprisingly agile and engaging to drive.

The previous S-class (W220 in Mercedes-speak) hardly seems old enough to be replaced, and has a kind of timeless beauty of a kind which Mercedes now seems to have abandoned. The new car (W221) is bigger, brasher, more imposing, and it features some revised engines plus a brand-new, 5.5-litre V8. One of the most visible bits of technology is the new Comand... // Channel 4 News