Sector: Luxury Price: £62,650–£88,130 Fuel: 32.8–64.3mpg CO2: 115–242g/km

It takes enormous confidence in your own product to describe it not only as the best in its sector, but the best car on the market. So when Mercedes-Benz calls its luxury S-Class the best car in the world, it’s giving the luxury saloon a lot to live up to.

While this isn’t a volume seller – the outgoing car averaged just over 2,000 sales per year in the UK – it’s a backbone of the carmaker’s product offering. This is where the bulk of its innovation appears first, before being drip-fed into other models, and it’s a figurehead for a brand which thrives on offering high comfort and refinement.

In the UK, it also enjoys a commanding sales lead in its sector, even after a lingering eight-year run for the outgoing model. This means its successor has to build on what is already a benchmark, moving the pinnacle of luxury motoring forward a generation while bringing running costs down for the fleet-heavy sales mix. That’s a very tough task.

At the familiar end of the technology spectrum, the S-Class launches with the S500 V8 petrol and S350 BlueTEC V6 diesel engines, the latter predicted to remain as the biggest seller. It’s a remarkably quiet engine, too, now returning 51.3mpg with CO2 emissions of 146g/km (or 50.4mpg and 148g/km for the long wheelbase version) while delivering a near-silent 255bhp through its smooth if slightly lethargic gearbox.

Less familiar is the choice of hybrid versions available. Using technology deployed on the E-Class last year, the S-Class will be available with a 147g/km petrol-electric hybrid and the diesel-electric S300 BlueTEC Hybrid. It’s a unique product in this segment, returning an easily class-leading 64.3mpg and 115g/km. Despite using the only four-cylinder engine in the range, this is quieter than the E-Class can muster, with limited shudder while shifting between diesel and electric power.

For the first time, the S-Class has been designed to cater for the growing Asian markets where buyers tend to be sat in the back. The long wheelbase now offers five seating combinations in the back, comprising two or three-seat benches, the former available with two reclining options each of which can be specified with a centre console. Because the seats pivot at the hip, not the shoulder, there’s less of a reduction in legroom when fully reclined.

European buyers – generally found in the driver’s seat – are expected to opt en masse for the short wheelbase model, with either a two or three-seat rear bench. Regardless of wheelbase, the S-Class cabin comes awash with soft and impeccably stitched leather and remains the benchmark for ride quality even on its largest wheels. There is a slight sacrifice in comfort for the larger AMG wheels, though.

But where the S-Class really moves the sector forward is in its execution of everyday tasks autonomously. Six radars, six cameras and numerous other sensors mean it can analyse its surroundings in 3D, distinguish between pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and animals, adjust suspension settings to soften bumps on motorways, stop automatically and adapt its headlight beams to avoid other traffic.

This also means it can park itself with the driver only responsible for selecting reverse or forward gears, and eerily it’ll lock onto other vehicles in a traffic jam, intelligently deciding whether to follow their movements or the road markings at up to 40mph. Above this, it gently corrects steering to keep the car in its lane, while automatic cruise control makes long trips completely effortless.

Whether it’s fair to call a car this aspirational the best in the world is open to debate, but there’s no questioning that the S-Class is a march forward in technology which wows and delights in equal measure.

 Verdict: 

If effortless long drives and first class comfort are top of your priority list, the S-Class remains the benchmark in this segment. Its only potential fault is that it’s so conservative in the way it does so, firmly catering for its existing audience rather than rocking the boat to find new ones. That said, it’s done no harm in the past.