In 1992, Mercedes launched a car internally known as the C140, the first big coupe from the brand officially referred to as the S-class coupe. Obviously Mercedes had been building luxury coupes since the 50’s that were often seen as the two-door version of the S-class at the time, but the name S-class coupe had never been used before.

The C140 was based on the W140 S-class that was a bulky, heavy-looking thing, never considered particularly beautiful. It quickly became popular in the former eastern block, notably in Russia, which only a couple of years earlier had lifted the Soviet curtain for good. In the short time since, Russia had transformed to the wild East, and as I could see myself, living in Moscow in 1992-1993, the preferred mode of transportation for the Nouveaux Riches was the C140, alternatively the fully grown W140. Tasteful is neither a word you would associate with those times, nor with the W140/C140, and as much as it was loved in the East, as little it was considered beautiful in the West.

Fast forward to 1999 and the C140 was replaced by the better-looking CL-coupe (C215), which would live on until 2008. The S-class coupe name was thus dropped again in favour of CL, which means “Coupe Leicht (light)”, where the “light” part must be one of the biggest misnomers in history. After the CL, it would take six long years before the next S-class coupe called C217 was launched, and in terms of design, Mercedes has come a very long way from the bulky C140. Most people would agree that in terms of GT’s, the C217 is one of the most beautiful cars around.

Last week I had the opportunity to try out an S560 Coupe from 2018, a jaw dropping exercise that made me confident enough to state that the C217 is most probably not only good-looking, but actually the best GT in the world, if you define in line with ChatGPT: “a GT car is a type of high-performance luxury sports car designed for long-distance driving at high speeds while maintaining comfort and practicality”. I can’t imagine a single car that fits the bill better than the big Merc!

In C217 terms there’s before and after 2018, knowing the car was discontinued in 2020. The 2018 facelift didn’t change the looks much, but it gave the car a far more modern infotainment system with notably integrated Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a 9-gear auto box on most models. In terms of engines, both pre- and post-facelift cars had a six-cylinder engine with 333 resp. 367 hp as entry model in most markets. You should disregard both. As ChatGPT correctly states, a GT should be a “high-performance” car, and given the C217’s weight of around two tons, none of them fit the bill.

Luckily most buyers agreed, and those buying any kind of S-class new usually also have the money to do things properly. And doing it properly in this case means a V8, of which there were two pre-facelift: a 4.7 litre V8 twin turbo with 455 hp in the S500, and the well-known and quite wonderful 5.5 litre V8 twin turbo in the S63 AMG coupe with 585 hp. Post facelift, the S500 became the S560 and got the new 4-litre, twin turbo V8 with 469 hp, and the updated S63 had a developed version of that same engine with 612 hp. To round it off, both cars were also available with a V12, which was thirstier and made the car even heavier, so not making it faster. You can safely ignore those as well.

The S560 I had the pleasure of trying set the tone from the moment I opened the very large door and notice it’s both frameless and has double-glazing. I slid into what must be not only one of the most comfortable, but also one of the biggest car seats ever built, and with a discrete tone, the seatbelt butler brought the seatbelt forward. Looking around the cabin with its fantastic materials and beautiful wood applications, it struck me that this must be one of the most beautiful car interiors ever built. Plastic? Aber nein! The S coupe is leather and wood only, wherever you look.

Looking around is also helped by the absence of a b-pillar, a Mercedes tradition that gives the car a uniquely elegant line with the windows down. The back seats are less opulent than the front but they will carry two adults in full comfort with enough head- and legroom, which is a big difference to most other large GT’s such as the Bentley Conti GT or the Aston Martin DB 11, two of this car’s natural competitors (although both are more expensive at similar build years to the Merc).

Turning the key (sorry, pushing the button) produces a somewhat surprising growl – mein Gott, ze engine zounds schporty! After having signaled it’s alive, the V8 quiets down quickly as you roll away. The steering is very light, and you quickly notice that you have a lot of car with a considerable width around you. Picking up speed, you see the needle moving, but you don’t hear anything. This must be the quietest car I’ve ever been in. Luckily the motorway ramp left enough room for me to floor it and after a slight hesitation, the V8 was back in full force, pushing the car forward more like an airplane engine than a sports car, but again with a surprisingly nice tone. The needle was at 150 kph in no time and this being Switzerland, I had to lift off. Any outside noise was still largely absent.

Having settled down for a while in the fantastic chair and turned up the volume of the absurdly good Burmester 3D sound system this car was equipped with, I left the motorway and chose a country road back. With little traffic around, I put the car in sport and started pushing a bit. To my great surprise, the car tightened up quite a bit and felt far more light-footed than I expected, and the V8 became far more present. Of course it’s no sports car, but the big Benz proved to be far more agile than you would expect. The gear changes are still so perfect that you don’t notice them, and the steering was now a touch heavier, but still didn’t communicate much of what was happening on the road. I guess in this segment, it’s not supposed to. It also became clear to me that no one needs the S63 version of this car. This is not an AMG car, it’s not supposed to be driven like one, and the “standard” V8 has enough power.

Returning the S-class coupe to its rightful owner, I felt humbled by a sense of having just experienced automobile perfection in the GT sense of the world. An S-coupe from this generation is Mercedes at its finest, before things started going south with King Plastic making as a necessary consequence of the EV trend and required weight savings everywhere. An S-class coupe of this generation must truly be one of the finest automobiles ever built. A Conti GT or a DB11 may be more exotic (at least the latter), but in terms of sheer quality, they’re not on this level. I’d bet that even the number of dead cows used in the interior is higher in an S-coupe than in a Conti. That probably deserves to be checked though…

The good news is of course that if a big GT is what you need (and who doesn’t?), you should know that no other car type other than EV’s loose value quicker. That means that you can pick up a S560, i.e. a facelifted car, that cost more than EUR 200′ as new, from around EUR 80-90′, with 70-80.000 kms on the counter, which means that the car is just about run in. If you don’t need the infotainment upgrade, a pre-facelift car will give you largely the same experience for 15-20.000 less, but be aware that some first generation cars are RWD rather than AWD, and have a seven- rather than a nine-speed box, which in my experience is less smooth, and also slightly less economical.

Then again, if you focus on the economy, this is quite obviously not the car for you, but I’d still claim that a C217 coupe on average will be far less costly and far more reliable than most of its competitors. Consumption-wise I know from personal experience that those engines are good for 11-12 litres per 100 km if driven legally, which given the size of the thing is impressive, but of course parts and maintenance will be on the expensive side. As always, buy wisely from trusted dealers and with enough history to make you confident – and always buy the best car you can afford.

If you disregard the S-class coupe as an old man’s car, you most probably haven’t driven one. I would suggest you do, because if you find it in the right color combination (which isn’t the one I drove) and with at least 20″ wheels (which mine didn’t have) it just looks beautiful, especially with those side-windows down. So if you’ve reached the age when the kids have moved out and you’re looking for something to move your partner and you in in style across longer distances in southern direction at brisk speed, and have no ambitions for track days, at least not with this car, I don’t think there’s a better car around. Did I just describe myself there? Jawohl Herr Doktor!