New cars: Mercedes-Benz S550 4Matic

The New York Times

Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff drove this car, if that’s any endorsement. This top-of-the-line, full-size luxury sedan offers some options “that may be frivolous,” including an electronic seat masseuse and an infrared night-vision system. With options, the price can reach $111,330. But “why stop there?” The AMG package, with a twin-turbocharged V12, ups the price to $200,000.

The Washington Post

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Five adults still have plenty of room in this “vault-like” sedan. With a curb weight of 4,630 pounds, the base model comes equipped with a 5.5-liter, 382-hp V8, linked to a seven-speed transmission. This “motorized fortress” also moves with a sports car’s nimbleness, though highway mileage is only 21 mpg. Crash-avoidance and passive crash-mitigation systems make this one of the safest cars in the world.

Car and Driver

The S550’s “bridge-girder solidity, advanced technology, pulse-raising performance,” and other features are tops in its class. The interior, though, is not as quiet as that of the BMW 7 or Lexus LS series. And in back-road driving with no speed limit, the S550 is merely competent, while its BMW rival is eager.