The 2026 Mercedes S-Class has changed 50% of its components, but none are as important as the M177 Evo engine that it has under the hood.
Photo courtesy Mercedes Benz Media
On the occasion of its 140th anniversary, Mercedes-Benz has presented a new Mercedes S-Class, which in reality is not a new generation of the current one, but rather an update, but so important that more than half of its components are new.
The important thing, however, is what it has brought with it on a mechanical level; the profound renovation of its V8 engine, which has meant the arrival of the M177 EVO. This engine replaces the previous M176 V8 that was used in the Mercedes S580.
Thus, the range of engines is based on combustion blocks that already comply with Euro 7 regulations and, at the moment, is made up of seven options, gasoline and diesel, all of them electrified to a greater or lesser extent, with six and eight-cylinder gasoline and diesel options, with ECO and ZERO labels.
The initial range is made up of two Diesel MHEVs with powers of 313 and 361 HP for the S350d and 450d, three gasoline ones of 381, 449 and 537 HP in the S450, S500 and S580, and two plug-in hybrids of 435 and 585 HP with electric ranges of between 118 and 103 km maximum in the S450e and S580e respectively.
All engines are associated with a nine-speed automatic transmission and 4Matic all-wheel drive except for the S450e plug-in hybrid, which is rear-wheel drive, with all engines offered in long and short body styles.
In the aesthetic section, the three-pointed star also becomes the protagonist in the S-Class, in headlights, taillights, grille and in its most distinctive symbol, the one that appears on the hood and which is now illuminated.
The physical switches, the wood in the interior and the circular air vents on the dashboard also return, which is now a glass surface with three 12.3-inch screens for the instrumentation and the passenger and 14.4 in the central one, in addition to another two 13.1-inch ones for the passengers in the back and that allow video meetings to be held from the back seat.
Photo courtesy Mercedes Benz Media
The cabin then becomes a spaceship of comfort with a supercomputer whose “brain” is called MB.OS developed with Nvidia, taking advantage of all the resources of ChatGPT4o, Microsoft Bing and Google Gemini Automotive AI so that the interaction with the driver and passengers is easy and natural.
Inside the new S-Class, everything has that special aroma that the leather gives off and mixes with the quality of what is well made, with the heated seats, the center armrest and the doors also being heated.
As a great novelty, the German brand adds thermal belts that can heat up to 44º C, an element that ZF has been developing for years and that the S-Class has debuted.
The new S-Class once again takes ride comfort to another dimension with the evolution of the Airmatic air suspension with E-Active Body Control. Previously, this equipment read the road to anticipate speed bumps, potholes and other irregularities and prepare the suspension so that the occupants would not notice the irregularities in the road surface.
Now the system takes advantage of the information provided by other Mercedes and which is stored in an exclusive “cloud”, the Mercedes Intelligent Cloud. Thanks to this, the S-Class prepares its suspension system to avoid those speed bumps or road deformities that can alter the absolute comfort of the occupants with the information from that “cloud” to make them feel that they are really in a cloud.
Of course it still has four-wheel steering, as standard with a turn of the rear wheels of up to 4.5º to facilitate maneuvers and dynamic behavior and which, as an option, can reach up to 10º, which reduces the turning diameter by up to two meters, something that will be of great help when the immense Maybach arrives with its almost 5.5 meters long.
Prices in Germany start at 121,356 euros with taxes included but we must remember that Germany has a VAT of 19% to which we must add how the range available in the rest of the countries will be configured and with what standard equipment it will arrive in each of them.
