Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet 2016 Review

Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet    
First Drive
Nice, France

The S-Class Coupe has charmed just about everybody who has driven it, and the Cabriolet version is likely to do exactly the same. It looks good, drives beautifully and is utterly composed and balanced – and it even hustles along nicely. This, and its hard-topped brother, would be close to the best Benz on sale today.

If you were born the last time Mercedes-Benz launched a convertible version of its S-Class limousine, you'd be 45 years old today.

In that time, Benz's iconic W111 passed into history, followed by a succession of successors, until Daimler's heir apparent, Ola Kallenius, decided the time had come to spread the S-Class's footprint again.

And so there is now an S-Class limousine, a longer S-Class limousine, an even longer S-Class Maybach limousine, a getouttahere-long S-Class Pullman, an altogether lovely S-Class Coupe and now, finally, the S-Class Cabriolet.

The Cabriolet is based off last year's biggest surprise packet, the S-Class Coupe, and it's equally surprising and equally high-class in everything it does, and everything it projects.

It borrows heavily from the S 500 Coupe, including lifting the entire 4.7-litre V8, rear-wheel drive powertrain, and fitting it beneath its open-topped bodyshell.

That gives it 335kW of power and 700Nm of torque, and even though it's 85kg heavier than the Coupe at 2115kg, that's plenty of gristle.

It gets the big, four-seat convertible to 100km/h in 4.6 seconds (quicker than the far smaller SLC 43 AMG, for example) and is limited to 250km/h, which it gets to rather quickly.

Then things get silly over at AMG, with the 5.5-litre twin-turbo V8 building output to 430kW and 900Nm, although it swaps out the S 500's nine-speed automatic for its own seven-speed unit to cope with the added torque.

Plenty of urge, then, and it hits 100km/h in 3.9 seconds, though only as an all-wheel drive (it's 4.3 seconds as a rear driver) and has the same 250km/h top speed.

At its core, the Cabriolet borrows all of the S-Class's safety and driver-assistance systems (which would run to over 2000 words alone if we listed them here) and adds pyrotechnic (err, explosive-driven) rollover bars that shoot up from behind the rear seats.

That's to allay fears of body flex creeping into the 5027mm convertible, and they're fears that were well founded. Most things with this big a hole cut into the top will react poorly when torsional forces are shoved into them.

Benz has done such a good job of shoring up the underbody of this one, with reinforcing beams beneath the cabin, in the rear structure and under the bonnet, that it feels only a bit less rigid in the body than the Coupe. Even if it's considerably less rigid, it gets away with it by virtue of being superbly engineered in every other respect.

There are multi-link suspension systems at both ends, and the car runs continuously variable, adaptive dampers as standard equipment, along with big brakes and 245/50 R 18 tyres all 'round.

They've worked even harder over at AMG, with the S 63 getting its own tune of the Airmatic air suspension system, more camber at both ends, a thicker front anti-roll bar and a stiffer rear sub-frame. It can even raise or lower its ride height by 30mm, though the car will lower it again automatically in Sport mode, or when the car exceeds 120km/h. And AMG's bodywork tweaks mean it's a touch longer than the S 500, stretching to 5044mm.

Benz claims an astonishing coefficient of drag figure of 0.29Cd, and that's with the roof down. There has also been some underbody reinforcing to go with its aero-enhanced floor and its slippery three-layer cloth roof. Calling it a "three-layer" cloth roof somewhat understates the work that's gone into it, and it's probably closer to six or seven layers once you take the different material mixes into account.

Both cars hint at being a good package on the road, and that's exactly what they prove to be.

The S 500's engine is initially calm, but with a lovely deep burble to it that the two turbochargers fail to utterly muffle, and it's always strong and willing.

You won't notice the motor much until you need it, then it lets you know it's there both vocally and in its performance.

It's not as far from the S 63 AMG's acceleration numbers as you first think, especially when the right-hand drive versions of the S 63 come in rear-drive only, rather than the all-wheel drive that claims the faster car's 3.9-second burst to 100km/h. Rear drive stretches that out slightly to 4.3 seconds, which is only half a second quicker than the far cheaper S 500.

The reality is that the S 500 Cabriolet is more than quick enough, but more than that, it's quick enough all the time. Real performance is never far away, and it's effortless, seemly and sophisticated in its delivery.

It simply can't be caught off guard and never displays bad manners.

It's the same in its handling. There are the usual array of comfort and sport driving modes, but the S 500 is always best left to its own devices to sort things out, which it does with little apparent effort.

It can be hustled surprisingly quickly for a huge, heavy machine, especially with the way it hangs on mid-corner and strings together a series of corners into one seamless surge of silkiness.

It's an incredibly comfortable cruiser, of course, and that's its main forte. There is some buffeting with the roof down, though Benz supplies neck-warming air vents and the windscreen uglifying air cap as standard and there's a wind-blocker that extends and retracts electronically.

It's barely noticeable at urban speeds, and probably won't be an issue in countries with lower limits, but at 130km/h on cruise control, it's just verging on unpleasant, even up front.

Crossing the continent is best done with the roof up, and then the S 500 Cabriolet barely loses anything to the Coupe for noise levels or comfort. All of them can raise or lower the roof in 20 seconds at up to 50km/h.

It's delightfully designed inside (and out), the seats are sumptuous and glorious at the same time and there are two 12.3-inch TFT screens that double as the instrument cluster and the multimedia screen.

Even if Benz has ignored this market for 45 years, others haven't. There's one obvious competitor for the S 500 Cabriolet, and that's the Bentley Continental GT, which is more expensive and, maybe, not quite as refined or charming.

Then there's the S 63 Cabriolet, which is simply a different animal altogether. It's aimed at being an angry beast, and that's what it becomes.

It's not just faster, but it's more aggressive in its sound, in its vibrations in the cabin and in its ride.

Grip levels from the 19-inch tyres are astonishing in something weighing 2185kg, and it changes direction with an alacrity that simply has to be experienced to be believed.

It's more raucous at every step, with bumps crunching into the cabin that just weren't there in the cheaper car, though it features stronger brakes and reacts faster at every turn.

And, somehow, while it's terrific and a great accomplishment in engineering, it's not as complete or organised or coherent a car as the S 500. It's as though it's being pushed into being something that it was never conceived for and it can do it, but it's obviously not a natural at it.

Not that that will stop anybody with their eyes firmly planted on one.

2016 Mercedes-Benz S 500 Cabriolet pricing and specifications:
Price: TBA
Engine: 4.7-litre, 32-valve V8, twin turbochargers
Output: 335kW/700Nm
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Fuel: 11.8 litres/100km
CO2: 212 grams/km
Safety Rating: TBA