It's impossible not to think of the previous six generations of Mercedes S-Class as you approach this seventh iteration. Think of them and pity such piffling technological world firsts as anti-lock brakes (1978, on the W116) or airbags (1981's W126). Remember the awe you experienced the first time you saw a car with double-glazed windows (1991's W140 behemoth)?
It's tempting to fast-forward four decades and ponder what might lie in store for future masters of the universe, because this all-new S-Class - W223, if you're so inclined - is arguably the biggest reset since the Sonderklasse first arrived in 1972. It's a head-spinner, a car that looks further ahead than ever, and takes contemporary obsessions such as connectivity, digitisation, electrification and autonomy and gives them the mother and father of all Mercedes twists.
