Mercedes-Benz S-Class – Driving Impressions: Parents prefer small class sizes to large class sizes in their childrens’ learning institutions because instructors are free to spend more one-on-one time with students when they have 10 pupils rather than 30. All things considered equal, as the students from the small schools with limited class sizes mature, they leap ahead of peers from large schools with overflowing class rooms, attending advanced placement courses in gifted child programs, landing scholarships to Ivy League colleges, and launching more lucrative careers with Fortune 500 companies. Then they buy Mercedes-Benz S-Classes, an icon of achievement which competes in a small class of premium luxury sedans, and with its 2007 redesign sits right up front, the apple of every engineer’s eye.

It would be easy to dismiss the Mercedes-Benz S-Class’s near perfection, considering the $104,475 price tag on the window sticker of our S550 test car. After all, for that kind of money, a car should be as close to perfect as possible. During the same week we drove the S-Class, however, we also had a Bentley Arnage R and a Rolls-Royce Phantom in the parking lot, vehicles priced more than double and triple, respectively, the price of our S550. Yet, the Mercedes was the best car of the trio. It was more comfortable, more pleasing to drive, and more sophisticated. It lacked the old-world British charm of the Bentley and Roller, sure, but the quality of the Benz’s materials was nevertheless up to par with both of the more expensive machines.

Let’s not discount the S550’s direct competitors, either. Lexus has a new LS sedan rolling into showrooms this fall, and it features some slick technology not found on the Mercedes, not to mention it will be available in hybrid form and likely priced below our test S-Class’s six-figure price tag. BMW, too, has a new 7 Series sedan in the works for the 2008 model year. Audi’s beautiful A8 is no slouch, and Jaguar’s XJ provides premium luxury sedan buyers with the same English character that Bentley and Rolls-Royce possess – just dialed down a few notches.

Ron Perry drove the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class last January in Arizona, and you can read his story for all the specifics on key technologies like Night View Assist and updated features like Distronic Plus and Pre-Safe. What you need to know is that the 2007 S-Class is completely redesigned, is chock-full of all the latest high-tech features in the Mercedes-Benz arsenal, and is on sale now in S550 and S600 styles. People who enjoy driving might wish to wait for the upcoming S65 AMG, which gets a full sport-tuned tweaking including a twin-turbo 6.0-liter V12 engine making 604-horsepower and 738 lb.-ft. of torque. If sublime cruising is the preferred method of travel, the S550 gets a 382-horsepower, 5.5-liter V8 while the S600 receives a 510-horsepower, 5.5-liter twin-turbo V12. Based on our test drive, the S600 and S65 AMG are overkill, because the S550’s engine is more than powerful enough.

That’s the model we drove, with a base sticker price of $87,175 including the $775 destination charge and a $1,000 gas guzzler tax. The EPA says the S550 will get 16 mpg in the city and 24 on the highway: we averaged 16.1 mpg during a week of driving the car all around the Los Angeles and Orange County regions. Our Mercedes-Benz S550 was loaded with just about every factory option, for an as-tested price of $104,475.

That included the Premium II Package ($2,850) with heated and active ventilated front seats, Sirius satellite radio, Parktronic park assist, and Keyless Go locking and ignition. Our car also had the Rear Seat Package ($2,900) with heated and active ventilated power rear seats, and a four-zone climate control system. Additional features on our test car were an Active Body Control active suspension that automatically limits body pitch, dive, and roll ($3,900); Distronic Plus adaptive cruise control that works in stop-and-go traffic ($2,850); and Drive Dynamic multi-contour front seats with four-stage massage function that has side bolsters that automatically inflate when the car is turning to add support for the driver and front passenger ($1,800). Rounding out the list of options on our test S550 were a panoramic sunroof ($1,000), power side window sun blinds ($700), a wood-and-leather steering wheel ($550), and a rearview monitor ($750).

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