Nobody needs a V-12. But the top Maybach version of the S-Class makes an excellent case for still wanting one. The 2027 Mercedes-Maybach S680 is a testament to old-world opulence, featuring a silky-smooth V-12 engine and a luxurious interior.
No matter the form, Maybach’s take on the Mercedes S-Class is not for the sort of person worried about the optics of arriving in style. For the past decade, Maybach has been turned into a theater of opulence. Over the top is the whole point, with the Maybach logo as prominent on some cars as the Louis Vuitton emblem on hugely expensive bags.
View Price on AmazonThe V-8-powered Maybach S580 is there if you want it, and any rational person probably should, but the ultraluxury-sedan buyer is rarely rational. For those who demand the most Maybach version of a Maybach sedan, the S680 still packs 12 cylinders of silky-smooth urge under its elegant hood. The 2027 Mercedes-Maybach S680 is, as its name implies, positioned about 100 points of badge better than the S580.
The key distinction here is a twin-turbocharged V-12 that can trace its origins back over 20 years. The rest will look familiar, from the traditional three-pointed star hanging atop the massive front grille to the light-up Maybach wordmark below it. V-12 aside, the centerpiece is still the air suspension, Airmatic in Mercedes-Benz parlance, that is in this application aided by tech that scans the road to adjust the system for whatever it faces next.
Despite having 50 percent more capacity and cylinders than the V-8 S580, the range topper’s power output is not correspondingly higher. The S680 makes relaxed peaks of 621 horsepower and 664 lb-ft, those figures being 91 horsepower and 111 lb-ft higher than the corresponding ones for the smaller-engine car. Mercedes claims identical 4.3-second 0–60-mph times for both cars.
More Specs:
Engine: 5980-cc twin-turbo V-12
Power: 621 horsepower @ 5800 rpm
Torque: 664 lb-ft @ 2000–4000 rpm
0–60 MPH: 4.3 seconds (manufacturer claim)
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
EPA Fuel Economy: 12 mpg city, 20 mpg highway, 14 mpg combined
Many modern Mercedes products, AMG badged ones in particular, are harsh and explosive things. For the past decade, the company’s performance badge has been building all shapes and sizes of car that explode off the line with turbocharged power and stay flat under heavy cornering loads. The Maybach S680 does none of that.
The twin-turbocharged V-12 produces a superabundance of torque, but the 664 lb-ft delivers an effortlessness that makes it easy to experience acceleration that is both impressive and relaxing at the same time—satisfying an owner-driver behind the wheel but not disturbing them if they experienced the same forces while luxuriating in the back.
Source: roadandtrack.com
