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Thread: W220 S-Class vs. E38 7 Series [Video]

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Québec, Canada
    Posts
    318
    My Cars
    2001 BMW 740iL

    W220 S-Class vs. E38 7 Series [Video]

    Ever since I bought my E38 I wanted to shoot a video comparing it with the W220 S-Class. For the better part of 2016 and into 2017 I put the word out looking for an early model S430 LWB and never found one until a few months ago. After crappy weather and getting busy selling our house, I finally had the chance to film a 2000 Mercedes-Benz S500 LWB and pin it against my 740iL.



    Which of these luxury flagships is the best? Only you can decide, but maybe I regret my purchase after spending some time with the S-Class. Find out by checking out our TestDrive Showdown!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    Finland
    Posts
    1,913
    My Cars
    1999 540i M-sport
    BMW is for the driver.
    Mercedes is for the one that sits in the back seat.
    Simple as that.


    Отправлено с моего SM-G935F через Tapatalk
    -E34 M60B40 + Tremec TKO 600 (sold)
    and sadly no old BMW anymore, only high powered Seat Leon Cupra 4Drive as a daily driver.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2015
    Location
    Québec, Canada
    Posts
    318
    My Cars
    2001 BMW 740iL
    Quote Originally Posted by nike32 View Post
    BMW is for the driver.
    Mercedes is for the one that sits in the back seat.
    Simple as that.


    Отправлено с моего SM-G935F через Tapatalk

    Agreed 100%! I felt that way when I was being driven by both haha. Hadn't had the chance to film me driving the S-Class but my hope is to get that done tomorrow for a followup video on the S-Class. I definitely don't regret my purchase after seeing the S-Class.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    warwick RI
    Posts
    2,522
    My Cars
    E30/E32/F25
    Airmatic is unreliable and expensive to maintain, very bad rust issues compared to the e38, the 600 is terrible and has what they call a "coil cassette" I think they are around $1500 a side and fail frequently, they didn't get projectors till almost the end of the chassis. Had free form xenon the light output is awful

    That said the 220 has some nice features we didn't get.

    -Active cruise, used it in a few it works great. We never got it in the us e38
    -220 has a 4matic model. Driven 2-3 of them in the snow they were great
    -the 600 interior is amazing sued headliner factory, lots of wood like our 750's
    -a lot of them have hydro trunk open close
    -ac seats . In almost all Mercedes I noticed they aren't very good. But they still have them
    Me E30 87/ 325i + F25 12/ M-Sport + E32 94/ 740i

    G/F’s E34 92/ 525iT + F48 18/ X1

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2015
    Location
    Tempe, AZ
    Posts
    7,657
    My Cars
    1995 525i/5
    Quote Originally Posted by e30luv318i View Post
    Airmatic is unreliable and expensive to maintain, very bad rust issues compared to the e38, the 600 is terrible and has what they call a "coil cassette" I think they are around $1500 a side and fail frequently, they didn't get projectors till almost the end of the chassis. Had free form xenon the light output is awful

    That said the 220 has some nice features we didn't get.

    -Active cruise, used it in a few it works great. We never got it in the us e38
    -220 has a 4matic model. Driven 2-3 of them in the snow they were great
    -the 600 interior is amazing sued headliner factory, lots of wood like our 750's
    -a lot of them have hydro trunk open close
    -ac seats . In almost all Mercedes I noticed they aren't very good. But they still have them
    Airmatic is no more expensive to maintain than the regular coil suspension, as long as you don't buy new air springs from the dealer. Arnott and Rebuild Master Tech sell remanufactured air springs for a fraction of the price. The main difference is that you can't ignore the Airmatic springs when they're bad, whereas you can drive shot coil shocks for a pretty long time.

    The sweet spot is the facelifted 2003+ S500. It's got the 5.0L engine that gets the car moving at a good pace, while still being super reliable. The engine itself is a dead-simple SOHC design with a double timing chain and no variable valve timing. I owned a 2003 S500 and I never had to touch the engine, it was a real peach. The transmission is the ancient 5G-Tronic that'll outlive most people as long as you change the fluid every once in a while— it even comes with a dipstick tube that can be used for measuring the fluid and filling it, unlike the 5HP24.

    The interior leather quality is light years ahead of the leather in the E38, and everything feels a lot more solid. My S500 had like 90k miles on it but it honestly felt brand new. The seats are 100x more comfortable, the overall design is much more modern, the cluster gauges look awesome, and the headlights are better than anything on an E38.

    The ride comfort and noise isolation beat out the E38 easily, and the stock sound system is amazing. The 2003 W220's also got a factory aux-in in the glovebox, which is pretty awesome.

    That being said, E38 vs W220 isn't exactly a fair comparison, since the W220 debuted in 2000 whereas the E38 debuted in 1995. That might not seem like the biggest gap, but in the car world that's an eternity. A more fair comparison would be E38 vs W140 or E65 vs W220.

    I'm a total W220 fanboy, if you haven't noticed already. I've since moved on from big luxury barges in favor of the smaller E39, but if were to get back into a luxury flagship it would be a W220 no question about it. I don't need sporty driving feel in a car that weighs 4500+ pounds, I just need something to glide along and seal out the cries of the proletariat.
    Last edited by dannyzabolotny; 05-29-2017 at 12:14 PM.
    1995 525i 5-speed - Thread

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