German Car Zone

Everyone knows the S-Class has brought a lot to the table, there's no denying that. Never mind the big things, even the little things such as Parktronic and the MB Smart Key ( and the switch blade key before that) were an S-Class first.

I've always wondered who brought Sat Nav into cars? I noticed it first in a W220 S-Class, but COMAND was optional outside of the US, so not all W220's had it.

LOL! Well said, guys.

I remember their V6 (lexus) was a great technological masterpiece.

The W201 was AFAIK the first production car with that multi-link suspension. However it's not an S-Class...

I would say that the S-Class has a very long history of innovationj behind it. For BMW it is only with the e65 that they were really serious about R&D technology (with the reliability we know, however), and Lexus with the latest LS460 (but the rest of the car is sub-par).

However, even with the W221 where MB was conservative because the reliability came first, an innovation like the Distronic+ with emergency braking and jam-function is very interesting.

What I like is that BMW always try to innovate in its own way: Adapted Drive, active steering, etc. These are truly BMW-typival innovation, dedicated to the driving's pleasure, and I would say could only come from BMW.

Same with Audi,even if they are not very tech-oriented (despite their surprising image in that concern), but their innovations are Audi-typical, like quattro or the Alu space-frame, or the fingerprint-starter.

Whereas Lexus is really trying to copy MB, they have Pre-Safe, they have the Distronic+... these are typical MB-innovations, and Lexus only takes them, or develop them slightly differently.
But we can see that Lexus has no real way, no real philosophy, no real idea of what a perfect car is. They decided to follow MB (BMW with the IS), and even copy its philosophy. Same kind of conservative design (even if a bit more personal this time), same kind of equipments, etc. Same goal of comfort.

However, MB manages to ally it with a pleasant drivetrain, because they are always re-thinking themselves, and always trying to improve their game, whereas lexus does not. They are always one generation behing, you can be sure that the next LS will be a bit more driver-oriented, but both BMW and MB will have moved their game a bit further.

The current 7er is dismal. Even audi have more innovations than BMW.

You make Audi sound like a chinese maker,it's a leader

Correct me if i am wrong. the start/stop engine botton on BMW dashboard first i saw in TATA school bus ohhhh very old days