I spent my Saturday afternoon at a local MB dealership, watching a friend of mine review the current MB line. First candidate was a beautifully-appointed black E350 4Matic sedan, with black and tan interior and panorama roof. He was trying to warm up to the prospect of moving down to an E-Class (while exhibiting the body language of a cat being given a bath), then he quickly broke down and went for another S550 4Matic, also black with a tan interior. This S was a fairly lightly-optioned version, with the salesman calling it "Just your basic $100,000 sedan." Nevertheless, I found it a somewhat tolerable alternative to my Xterra as I drove it around a bit.

EXTERIOR APPEARANCE

Compared to earlier w221's, the 2010 S-Class is a little more twinkly, courtesy of a fistful of LEDS in the headlight buckets, foglights and taillamps. The backside sports a more aggressive look with exposed trapezoidal dual exhaust outlets. The five-spoke wheels remove a bit of the stodginess generated by the earlier base rims, but might seem a little too Rockford Files Firebird for the hardened-artery set.

APPOINTMENTS/ACCOMMODATIONS

This S550 is equipped with the Premium 2 package, which includes among other goodies, a rearview camera and massaging seats. The camera offers a clear image with a graphic designed to show the outline of the vehicle, and, in concert with the bumper sonar system should ensure that even the most dedicated park-by-sound Pasadena matron can inexpensively ease into urban parking spaces. I didn't get a chance to grab a massage, which was just as well as I was already pretty close to a happy ending without one.

If you cannot find a comfortable position in a S550 seat, you're either 4' 3" and 750 lbs., or an utter neurotic. The seat goes up, down, in, out; it becomes cool in summer, warm in winter; the squab length can be adjusted to suit your inseam, etc. The only improvement would be to motorize it to allow the driver to hand the car off to the valet and subsequently Jazzy Chair to his restaurant table. The leather facings seem to be made out of a decently thick hide (for a 2010 car), but had ample "give". I rode in the back seat later that day and felt coddled, cocooned and pretty damned executive. Although heated and cooled, the rear seat did not appear to have any power adjustments, but it really didn't need any.

RIDE

This car is equipped with driver adjustable shocks, offering a "C" and "S" setting. I was flipping back and forth between these settings while driving over some fairly textured road surfaces at city speeds and was unable to detect a significant difference in damping ability. I have driven an older S550 with this feature over some undulating country roads at a good clip, and the difference was readily evident under those circumstances. Even on the comfort setting, the new S550 offered a plush ride comparable to an early-Seventie's Ameribarge, but had a sense of resilience never found in an Electra 225.

HANDLING

I turned the steering wheel and the car changed direction - success!

BRAKES

I stepped on the brake pedal and the car stopped - incredible!

ACCELERATION

Oh yeah - 5.5 liters and 382 horsepower at your service. MB appears to have improved upon the already satisfactory sound insulation in the 2008 model, and the 2010 just emitted this nice muted but authorative growl as you were shoved back into the seat. Supposedly, the S550 is good for a 0 - 60 time in the mid-to-upper fives, and I can buy that. I can't imagine what the AMG or S600 must be like. Upshifts were very smooth, as befitting a car of this level, and this is one car that warrants one eye permanently glued to the speedometer if you value your license.

DRIVER ASSISTS

As this is a lightly-optioned car, Night Vision and Distronic adaptive cruise control were nowhere to be found, but it did have a standard feature called Attention Assist, which evaluates speed, road condition and driver behavior (particularly steering wheel inputs for path correction) against a previously-recorded driver profile, and sounds off a tone, presents a warning message, and lights up a little coffee cup icon in the instrument cluster if you're spoiling for a nap at 50+ mph. Although wide awake, I was able to set off the system a time or two. Perhaps the system will be a bit more discerning with more mileage and greater opportunity to sample normal driver-specific behavior.

I also noticed a feature I haven't detected before on earlier S550's, a service brake lock that is activated if the car comes to a full stop on a hill. Removing one's foot from the brake pedal does nothing to persuade the car to move, and a fairly deliberate stab of the accelerator is required to allow the car to roll. It's a nice feature in concept, but might prove interesting when trying to deftly parallel-park in a tight space on a hill.

FIT/FINISH

This car sports gloss black non-metallic paint and I did not detect any orange peel on hood, roof or trunk. Panel fits are virtually perfect and the incredibly complex interior is perfectly put together - zero issues.

CONCLUSION

A gracefully-aging solid and solidly-luxe sedan with minor but perceptible refinements over earlier w221's. Worth knocking over a bank or initiating a Ponzi scheme for.