Everything Mercedes knows is baked into the brand's iconic ber-sedan. The new generation arrived early in '06 as a very early '07. We selected it as our Editors' Choice in the segment last year, and, as you can see, it is our choice once again. With the competition significantly upping their games, the new S-Class had to be a quantum leap in refinement, power, and especially luxury -- not just a larger helping of more of the same. We believe Mercedes succeeded.

Aside from the sharp styling and excellent hushed road manners, the Benz offers the latest in radar-based cruise control, and air suspension, not to mention toys like Night View Assist, which displays an infrared image of the road in the instrument cluster.

The S-Class debuted Stuttgart's new 382-hp, 5.5-litre V8 in the S550. The V8's sublime blend of aggression and refinement should be enough for anyone, but in the spirit of "nothing exceeds like excess," there are also two twin-turbo V12 options: a barely adequate 510-hp, 5.5-litre in the S600; and the real-deal 6.0-litre, 603-hp unit in the S65 AMG. Ironically, while the S550 4Matic gets a re-engineered AWD system (lighter, more fuel-efficient, no 0-100 penalty), the V12s, which need all the traction they can get, are rear-drive only. Mid-year tweaks on all add standard Neck-Pro head restraints and new colours.

The current state of the art in sedan design

Extra power of V12 models virtually unusable within Canadian realities